Michael Ramirez

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Michael Patrick Ramirez (born May 11, 1961) is an American Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist. His cartoons present a conservative viewpoint.

Ramirez was born in Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine, in 1984 with a bachelors degree. He has worked for The Commercial Appeal of Memphis for seven years and then for the Los Angeles Times. In 1994, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. He has also been awarded the 1996 Mencken Award for Best Cartoon. He is a regular contributor to USA Today and his work has a subscription/distribution of over five hundred and fifty newspapers and magazines through Copley News Service.

Ramirez initially studied premed in college and considered journalism a hobby but became hooked when his first cartoon for the college newspaper, lampooning candidates for student office, had the student assembly demanding an apology.

[edit] Hate cartoon controversy

In October of 2000, the Los Angeles Times published a Ramirez cartoon that appeared to depict a Jewish man worshiping the word "Hate" embedded into the Western Wall. According to the Times Associate Editor Narda Zacchino ombudsman, this provoked an "unprecedented" negative reaction.

Ramirez denied singling out Jews, claiming that the wall in the cartoon was not meant to suggest the Western Wall, and that while there was a Jew worshiping at the hate wall, there was also a figure bowing before it wearing a kaffiyeh (though it is difficult to see). [1][2]

"If I don't get at least one phone call a day that says I'm a moron, I'm not doing my job," Ramirez says of his penchant for sparking controversy with his cartoons.

[edit] Cartoon discontinued

On November 12, 2005, the Times announced that his cartoon would be discontinued at the end of the year. Ramirez expressed disappointment about the discontinuation. Ramirez joined Investor's Business Daily as a senior editor/editorial cartoonist, and his cartoon is syndicated in more than 400 newspapers by Copley News Service. He has been syndicated by Copley News Service since 1988.

Ramirez was named a Lincoln Fellow by the Claremont Institute in 2004.