Michael Ramirez Quotes

I started my own magazine with drawings, commentary, news, film reviews and drawings.

I decide who's right and who's wrong, and go from there. But I can't just comment on an issue. I've got to take an editorial position. Too many cartoonists simply illustrate the news. Well, the readers know the news, and a cartoon that illustrates doesn't tell them a thing they don't already know. So, I formulate an opinion and draw it.

If political cartoonists continue to rely on newspapers, we may be in serious trouble. It's a very transferable form of journalism, though - it works great on Web sites.

Drawings don't have a point. Cartoons, you want to have an opinion; you want them to express a viewpoint.

But to me what seems to be missing in a lot of portfolios is Cartooning.

Generally the aesthetics of broadcast journalism seem to me to be incredibly primitive.

I respect newspapers, but the reality is that magazine 'photojournalism' is finished. They want illustrations, Photoshopped pictures of movie stars.

Comic-strip stuff isn't really my cup of tea, really.

I don't use names or captions for my many portraits of politicians and authors for newspapers. The drawing has to be self-explanatory, so I spend a lot of time sketching to find an idea and an angle that is clear.

… establishment bobblehead Fareed Zakaria

There are a lot of columnists who get out and opine.

Even though I started off being interested in news, and I spent 13 years of my career working in television sports, I always was passionate about television and movies.

It's funny, I never watch TV. I watch Fox News.

My uncle was a photographer for 'The Irish Times.'

If I had to name my favorite media personality, it would be a tie between Jon Stewart and Trey Parker/Matt Stone. Honest, wise, funny, and right. Sam Sifton was right up there when he was writing food criticism for the 'New York Times.'

As a fan and collector of 'MAD' magazines as a kid, I am well aware that my art is unworthy. I remain in absolute awe of 'MAD' artist Mort Drucker and loved Wally Wood and Harvey Kurtzman and Al Jaffee and Don Martin and Angelo Torres and Peter Kuper and Sergio Aragones.

Media really excited me. As an undergrad, I majored in radio, television, and film and did internships with CNBC and CNN. My first job was at Sky News in London.

The men of the press, who despised their own profession, did not know why they were enjoying it today. One of them, a young man with years of notorious success behind him and a cynical look of twice his age, said suddenly, 'I know what I'd like to be: I wish I could be a man who covers news!'

News is almost more interesting to me than other people's fiction, if that makes sense. But other people's fiction in terms of design is still incredibly interesting to me.

She said she was working for the ABC news, it was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use.

Fortunately, cartooning is not a job. It's something like eating or sleeping.

I'm not focused on the outrageousness. I'm just focused on being funny, and raising my kids. I don't even read the newspaper, I don't read that crap.

Seems like every other day there's somebody on the news, somebody gets killed or does something crazy and all the neighbors and everybody says, "I can't believe he did that, I can't believe she did that."

Sarah Palin is joining Fox News. The new slogan is 'hair and unbalanced.'

I've always felt privileged to cover the White House and to have that ringside seat to history