Sean Delonas, the New York Post's Page Six cartoonist, announced yesterday that he is taking a buyout, ending his 23-year run as the newspaper's mean, mediocre, gibbering id. His work was a mix of the conventional (flitting homos lusting for sheep, filthy hairy terrorists rooting for Democrats) and the inexplicable (flyblown angels in heaven)—crude and cruddy, appalling yet predictable. Like the Post as a whole, he specialized in punching down, while pretending to be punching up. Though he spanned eras, his hostility, sadism, and contempt were the essential tone of Giuliani Time. We can offer no better farewell than this cartoon, by Jim Cooke, depicting Delonas enjoying his retirement.

[Illustration by Jim Cooke]