Secret Service "Studying" Pro-Bush Cartoon as Possible Threat
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

First, the cartoon in question, by Mike Ramirez. Basically, Ramirez is saying that Bush is being politically assasinated over WMD and intelligence issues. He's a conservative pro-Bush pro-tax-cut cartoonist (who as you may recall was not too fond of anti-war protestors).

Yet somehow, the Secret Service became convinced that the cartoon was a possible DEATH THREAT against Bush. Um, I'm totally serious here. From Reuters ("Officials See Threat in Bush Newspaper Cartoon ":

The Secret Service is studying a pro-Bush cartoon in the Los Angeles Times, showing the president with a gun to his head, as a possible threat, U.S. officials said on Monday.

..."We're aware of the image and we're in the process of determining what action if any can be taken," John Gill, Secret Service spokesman, said.

What exactly is there to study? It should have taken two seconds for them to realize it was a cartoon, not a death threat. And of course, the really bizarre part is that it was a really ridiculous PRO-Bush cartoon:

Ramirez said that he used the image because it represented to him the "political assassination" of Bush. "President Bush is the target, metaphorically speaking, of a political assassination because of 16 words that he uttered in the State of the Union," he said, referring to the controversy over Bush's accusation that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Africa.

In sum: as Ann Telnaes put it, it's yet another fine example of Bush's intelligence gathering.