Boston Herald Cartoonist Is Shocked His Racist Watermelon Reference Is Seen As Racist

But cartoonist Jerry Holbert never dreamed his reference could be taken as a racial slur! Good heavens, no!  And in the right-wing rag Boston Herald, too!

That's not a dog whistle;  that's an air raid siren.

BONUS:  Charles P. Pierce weighs in:

Of course, it was not meant to offend anyone. That was just a bonus. What it was meant to do was to appeal to the base prejudices of the elderly white suburban demographic to which the Herald has been pitching itself for three decades. It is racist hooey pitched to fans of racist hooey. Period. And, like so many other things, it is different with this president. It is different because there are no rules.

(Image:  Not-racist cartoon approximation of Jerry Holbert.)