Great strip. I wonder how the military feels about Bush hiding behind Petraeus? Is Petraeus competence actually prolonging the inevitable?

the lyrics rhymed. Remember the famous:

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice -" **blank stare**.

'West Side Story' is one of my all time favorite shows, and 'Maria' is one of its most beautiful songs. Now I'm just afraid I'll never be able to listen to it in the same way again! Thanks for the laugh!

He's doing a heck of a job.

... I'll bet most of your dumb ol' audience would have gotten the joke even if you hadn't stomped the life out of it with that setup.

First time Opus has made me laugh out loud in, well, ever.

Yeah, this was funny, but there should have been a Burqini in it somewhere. Is this one going to get banned? Berk, I doubt this one will get you invited to the White House.

Seldom, if ever, do I actually laugh at an Opus cartoon. But this one got me laughing out loud. Thanks, Berkeley.

That's what I when someone beats me over the head with the concept.

BB should just trust the audience, his art and the cleverness of the parody. He didn't need to explained what the song was and then, in the final panel, explained it was the president as a punchline.

At most all he had to write was "is that West Side Story?" People are either going to recognize the song it or have no idea.

Faaabulous visuals,BB. My, how you have grown in wisdom and talent since I stopped reading you for aesthetic reasons. And you don't seem to be a sexist any more. Thanks!!!

Ouch wrote:

Ouch. That's what I when someone beats me over the head with the concept.

BB should just trust the audience, his art and the cleverness of the parody. He didn't need to explained what the song was and then, in the final panel, explained it was the president as a punchline.

I reply:

Ouch back at ya. That's what I (sic) when someone beats me over the head with a hypercritical letter full of errors.

...standing.

Just the streetlight shot alone I'd frame.

how to save the Iraq fairy this week!

I can't wait to hear his plan!!!

Catchy tune Berke!

No matter what General Petraeus' report shows, Bush is going to put spin on it, of course; knowing his boss needs this, Petraeus himself, like any dutiful subordinate, will customize the report to give Bush what he wants. After all, Petraeus doesn't answer to Congress, just the Commander-in-Chief, and so his career depends on whether his boss likes it. Bush knows this, so as BB has predicted, Bush thinks he'll have something to sing about - and he's likely correct, as inaccurate as the report will likely be. After all, Westmoreland never complained about the conduct of the war out loud; he just kept asking for more troops, didn't he?

Raven

To those who feel it was heavy handed--what are you too smart for the comics?

Great toon--I'm emailing it to my mother!

He wanted to thank you for that flattering "lift" of his dancing characters. But next time, a little credit maybe?

He wanted to thank you for your homage to Mad Magazine's many song parodies. But next time, a little credit would be nice.

This week we don't have to be subjected to the travesty of Joan Walsh posing as the enemy of all censorship.

If Berke did a cartoon supporting medical marijuana, then Salon would be the only place where you couldn't see the cartoon.

What the hell are you on about? You've got a personal, vicious animosity targeting Joan Walsh that makes you look like a dangerous, sociopathic stalker. Salon's editors would do well to consider you a real threat to her safety.

It must have just been me, but the drawing of Bush seemed, well... poor. In context, that's who must have been singing, but the lack of his face from any angle just seemed to show that Breathed can draw many many things and people, but not the current president. The first and last panels removed all subtlety from this strip, but given the vague quality of Bush's graphic representation, the final panel wound up being important.

Garry: dead on with the criticisms regarding Mad (though i don't think that Don Martin was its primary song parodist) and Jules Feiffer.

However, I am not getting the hostility from Silenced's post that you are. Sure, he's a one-trick pony (though at least he now has the guts to post as himself and not as Anonymous), but your reaction seemed a little over the top. It's almost as if you are trying to shut off all criticism of either Joan walsh or Garry Owen.

Anyhow, good critique. Meh.

Of course it's heavy handed! It's a Berkeley Breathed strip! Those looking for subtlety should apply elsewhere.

And I can't believe the art critique a comic strip gets!

Can't draw the Prezzy's face...or doesn't feel the need to? Good grief! I, for one, am only anxious to see his backside heading to Crawford one last time.

I feel sorry for Gen. Petraeus. He's just a guy doing his job. The name alone makes me see a Roman soldier's costume, and I can't get it out of my head. It's just sad, sad, sad that president Bush is using this whole report thing to hide his own deficiencies. So much attention to it should never have been brought up, and he did it himself! It's like, why even play with us like this (unless he's a sadist). We've seen this movie before.

Clever West Side Story play on words. I saw a headline that asked if Petraeus would turn into Betray Us.

Why, thank you Anonymous. Say ... you're not "Silenced" in disguise trying to pull me middle leg now wouldya be?

Anyway, stalking and getting more and more irrational and personal about it is not mere criticism. It's wobbling over into dangerous loony territory.

Berk's use of the Feiffer dancer theme is too blatant to ignore and I'm calling him on it. And I guess I could have been more specific that if Berk's dancer just had one of Don Martin's famous hinged feet, he would be uh, "borrowing" from Martin's catalog also. I can't remember who at Mad Magazine did most of the song parodies.

I quit reading Mad and stopped watching Saturday Night Live when they ceased to amuse me. It's interesting that some people like to say "When Mad stopped being funny." But the truth is, Mad is still funny, and so is Saturday Night Live. It's just that people pass a certain age and suddenly the things that were so damned hilarious in their youth just seem passe later on.

And it's true for cartoonists too. They get a hit strip and it gets syndicated and they start making a ton of money going for the same repeated gags and cute characters over and over again until it's stale. But the money is too irresistible so they keep churning out the crap until they can buy a place in the south of France, or Aspen, or both, and retire.