Chimps? Chumps.

If you want to be completely charitable, you could talk yourself into believing that the New York Post cartoonist was just conflating two issues in the news, with the joke being that the chimp isn't bright. But that would neglect the history of race relations in this country:

Gov. David A. Paterson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others expressed concern on Wednesday morning over an editorial cartoon in The New York Post that showed a police officer, having shot a chimpanzee, saying to his colleague, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

Critics said the cartoon implicitly compared President Obama with the primate and evoked a history of racist imagery of blacks. The chimpanzee was an apparent reference to the 200-pound pet chimpanzee that was shot dead by a police officer in Stamford, Conn., on Monday evening, after it mauled a friend of his owner [...]

A newsroom employee at The Post, who spoke on condition of anonymity because employees were not permitted to comment on the matter, said its newsroom received many calls of complaints on Wednesday morning after the publication of the cartoon. “Every line was lit up for several hours,” the employee said. “The phones on the city desk have never rung like that before.” Many Post staff members were dismayed by the cartoon, the employee added.

I'm sure all the conservatives are Twittering "get over it" or "liberals have no sense of humor" on this one. This is a sure way to get African-Americans back in the fold, by invalidating their feelings.