News-Record.com

We have again offended readers with a Terri Schiavo-related editorial cartoon, this one by Hillsborough's Doug Marlette.

The cartoon in question ran March 24 and depicted Congress as a clown barging into Schiavo's hospice room.

My interpretation of the cartoon: that Congress had no business intruding into a deeply personal family matter.

Believe me, I hesitated before choosing it. Ninety percent of the cartoons related to this issue have struck me as course and heavy-handed.
This one, I thought, was provocative but not objectionable.

This life-and-death issue has evoked such a strong debate that I felt we needed to run a cartoon related to it. I didn't want to cop out. But I'm not certain any cartoon that addresses this issue, pro or con, won't offend somebody.