For the two or three of you who may not know, Tom Tomorrow is the nationally syndicated political cartoonist and author of This Modern World.
He's the guy who does this great stuff (click to see the whole strip):
He also curates the Comics section at Daily Kos. Feel free to visit some time; there are a number of good cartoonists displayed there.
You can find more about Tom Tomorrow here — he's quite an accomplished fellow.
For the interview, I asked Tom our standard four questions, plus a fifth specific to him and his profession: Given the state of print media, how are cartoonists like himself making a living? He gave an interesting answer.
We started talking in what was at first a quiet hallway — until it wasn't. I think the interview is listenable, but please forgive the poor choice of location. At one point a group of talkers noticed us and apologized; I thank them for that but I'm not sure it did much good.
Five Questions: Tom Tomorrow with Gaius Publius, recorded at Netroots Nation 2012. Enjoy:
Tom Tomorrow occupies an interesting space and offered answers that surprised me. "There's a fundamental tension between advocacy and satire" he noted at one point.
Nonetheless, he's for applying greater pressure to Democrats and is not at all blind to what we all see. "If it's wrong under Bush, it's wrong under Obama," he said later, a reference to assassination lists. I found this interview fascinating.
If you wish to support This Modern World, here's that Sparky's List link — one good way to help a brother.
The full list of "Five Questions" interviews includes the following. Links to names will take you to previously-published interviews.
- Alan Grayson, former (and perhaps future) U.S. Congressman
- Marcy Wheeler, of emptywheel.net
- Cliff Schecter, who comments regularly with Sam Seder at Majority.fm among many other places
- Tom Tomorrow, cartoonist with DailyKos and This Modern World
- Alex Lawson of StrengthenSocialSecurity.org
- Josh Orton, with Russ Feingold's Progressives United
- Frances Causey, producer–director of Heist, the documentary
- Chris Pearson, a Progressive Party Vermont state legislator
- Susan Smith, Progressive Caucus chair of the Florida Democratic Party
- Sarah Burris, labor activist and progressive youth organizer
(If you have trouble with this audio, please let me know in the comments and I'll address it as quickly as I can. Thanks.)
GP
To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
