Respect... - is apparently what Ted Rall is missing in his life, and attempts to get some by disrespecting Pat Tillman, an ex-NFL player and fallen war hero. Remember, the theory is that negative attention is better than no attention.

Michele over at A Small Victory displays the despicable cartoon and reactions to it, none positive. The cartoon represents Tillman as a mindless thug working for the American War Machine killing civilians. When Tillman gets killed by Afghan fighters the reporter has one word come to mind, "idiot". This is a slap in the face to the dedicated Americans fighting terrorism abroad to keep Mr. Rall's freedom of speech free. Even liberals are appalled at Rall's representation of their views.

Mr. Rall has got the attention he so desperately was looking for, but at what cost...

MSNBC.Com explains why it pulled the Rall Cartoon.

Andrew Sullivan (not a daily read of mine) weighs in on Rall's attention getting cartoon:

"But I'm particularly struck by how someone like Tillman would offend Rall so much. Tillman was a true patriot, a quiet hero, an American to his core: of course Rall had to smear him. Tillman represents all that the far left hates about America, and fears might be true."

"The hate-monger is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. It's not censorship or "McCarthyism" for people to complain about any syndicate that peddles the poison that Rall lives off. Today's disgusting diatribe against Pat Tillman is so vile, so utterly devoid of any motive or argument but personal malice and hatred, some form of protest is surely merited. Email the vice-president for print syndication, Lee Salem, and tell him what you think of Rall's cartoon. Please, please, be civil. His email is lsalem@amuniversal.com. He needs to hear from you."

Thanks to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit for the Sullivan link.