“Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.”
“second-guessing editors. They're obliged to be responsive to their individual communities, and I'm not the one who has to deal directly with reader blow-back.”
“Editors finally began to understand that the audience was largely self-selecting, and that the readers the feature attracted were unlikely to be offended.”
“Well, it's a humor strip, so my first responsibility has always been to entertain the reader, ... But if, in addition, I can help move readers to thought and judgment about issues that concern me, so much the better.”
“Those were very self-serious times, ... The end of the Vietnam War changed all that. The nation exhaled, `Saturday Night Live' hit big, and satire really took off.”
“That's for the readers to adjudge, but I will say that in general public commentators have nowhere near the clout that we enjoyed 35 years ago, the age of four TV channels and no Internet, ... As far as I'm concerned, it's all good. You can't have too many voices in a democracy. Talented people will find their audiences.”
