Tom Toles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Gregory Toles (born October 22, 1951) is a United States political cartoonist. He is the winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. Similar to Oliphant's use of his character Punk, Toles also tends to include a small doodle, usually a small caricature of himself at his desk, in the margin of his strip.

Toles left The Buffalo News in 2002, accepting an offer from The Washington Post to replace Herblock, their late, legendary cartoonist, and is under contract by Universal Press Syndicate. His cartoons appear in more than 200 newspapers throughout the country and on several websites. He received the National Cartoonist Society Editorial Cartoon Award for 2003. Toles and his wife Gretchen have two children: Amanda and Seth.

A cartoon published January 29, 2006 attracted the ire of the Pentagon in the form of a protest letter signed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With regard to some recent assessments of the United States Army, the cartoon depicted the Army as a quadruple amputee soldier with a doctor resembling Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, declaring the Army "battle hardened". [1] Though the subject of Toles' mockery was Rumsfeld, the military stated, "Using the likeness of a service member who has lost his arms and legs in war as the central theme of a cartoon [is] beyond tasteless." Toles was quoted responding, "I think it's a little bit unfair in their reading of the cartoon to imply that is what it's about." Asked whether he was offended by the cartoon, Dave Autry, deputy communications director for Disabled American Veterans said, "Certainly not." Other Toles defenders were less polite and more scornful; AMERICAblog's John Aravosis wrote, "Now that the Joint Chiefs have addressed the insidious threat cartoons pose to our troops, perhaps they can move on to less pressing issues like getting them their damn body armor."

On February 14, 2006 Tom Tomorrow made a cartoon comparing the reactions to the Muhammad cartoons to the Tom Toles cartoons pointing out the double standards.[2] Of course, while the argument can be made that both cartoons were in poor taste, nobody rioted, burned embassies or died as a result of the Toles cartoon.

On March 15, 2007, Toles published a cartoon showing a letter critical of General Peter Pace, who had recently referred to homosexual acts as "immoral" and compared homosexuality to adultery. Toles' letter, clearly written to mimic the style of the letter he received from the Joint Chiefs, read:

To Peter Pace, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

I was extremely disappointed to hear you question the morality of some of the men and women who serve this country in uniform, many of whom have suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds. I find it beyond tasteless.

These are brave men and women with a sense of purpose and self-commitment from the cities and farmlands of this great nation. I believe you have done a disservice to your institution and your reputation by using such a callous description of those who have volunteered to defend their nation.

Your pen pal, Tom Toles

The author's note at the bottom of the cartoon reads, "P.S. I trust this will sound familiar."