Political cartooning, like most creative fields, is dominated by artists from the liberal side of the political spectrum. However, there do exist exceptions that prove the rule: from small towns to big cities, in the pages of magazines and newspapers, that rare creature — the right-wing political cartoonist — lurks among us. What follows is the second (click here for the first) in a weekly series chronicling the latest in right-wing cartoon hackery, for your Saturday-morning-coffee-time enjoyment.
This week, we tackle the scribblings of Michael Ramirez, Chuck Asay (his 2nd appearance), Ken Catalino, Henry Payne (also his 2nd appearance), and Glenn McCoy (also his 2nd appearance).
[Cross-posted at my "web-log".]
Michael Ramirez, Investor's Business Daily, 2/27
First Look: Michael Ramirez, like Henry Payne (see RWCR #1), is an excellent cartoonist in a technical sense. His detailed, densely-crosshatched scenes and distorted, fleshy characters are a pleasure to look at. It's a shame his talents are wasted on schlock like this. Is Obama adding the pin or taking it away? Does it matter, since the cartoon's real purpose is just to associate Obama with radical Islam? Only Mike Ramirez knows for sure.
Look Closer: Good Lord, Louis Farrakhan's teeth are huuuuuuuge. Someone needs to give him some wood to gnaw on before they grow too long for him to open his mouth. On the other hand... maybe that wouldn't be so bad.
Look Closer Still: Like many editorial cartoons, the action in this panel is taking place in a vast, featureless white void. The first things that come to mind may be that scene from The Matrix, or a Mac commercial. Personally, I like to think that these cartoons take place in a surreal Waiting For Godot landscape, with a rock and a barren tree lurking somewhere out of frame.
Chuck Asay, Creators Syndicate, 2/27
First Look: Big Government! Taxes! Spending! Class envy! Peace signs! Run for the hills! Asay's use of these shopworn conservative bogeymen further bolster my theory that Chuck Asay is a 102-year old man who never leaves his house. You'd also think that after 7 years of Dubya, conservatives would stop throwing "big government" and "spending" epithets at liberals.
Look Closer: Obama is such a good speaker that his words physically manifest themselves as flowers, streamers, and music notes that cascade from his mouth — thus creating jobs for people like our friend the smug janitor. How about some gratitude, buddy?
Look Closer Still: In the second panel, someone appears to have thrown an old-timey stovepipe hat into the air in celebration. I'm not ruling out the possibility that Obama's words sometimes manifest themselves as 19th-century haberdashery.
Ken Catalino, Creators Syndicate, 2/28
First Look: Here, Catalino speads the "Michelle Obama hates America" meme, dutifully catapulting the propaganda. You don't think she's a black militant, do you, Ken? As an added bonus, he lets us know that this is taking place "at the Obama White House," in case you couldn't tell who his horrible caricatures were meant to represent.
Look Closer: Conservative political cartoonists draw people burning American flags roughly 3,500 times more often than people actually burn them. Make of that what you will.
Look Closer Still: If we're to take the Capitol Rotunda outside the Oval Office window to be accurate, and not just Catalino's ham-fisted attempt to indicate that we're in Washington, that would mean that the White House is floating some 50-60 feet in the air and at least a mile away from its foundations. I, for one, am looking forward to Obama's Flying Pleasure Dome White House. Now that's change we can believe in.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News, 2/25
First Look: The extreme lameness of this "joke" cannot be measured by any instrument yet devised by man.
Look Closer: Really? New York Slimes? Is that what now passes for witty, insightful commentary on the affairs of the day?
Look Closer Still: At least Payne drew McCain as the angry, cantankerous old bastard that he is, scowling at an oversized large print edition of the Times Slimes.
Glenn McCoy, Belleville News-Democrat (Illinois), 2/26
First Look: Ladies and gentlemen, Glenn McCoy. For my money, this has got to be one of the most offensive political cartoons in the history of the medium.
Look Closer: I fear that if I look closer, I may lose my breakfast.
Look Closer Still: [click] "Paging Ralph; you have a call at the white courtesy telephone. Repeat, you have a call at the white courtesy telephone. Thank you." [click]
That’s all for this week’s edition of RWCR. Stay tuned next Saturday for an all-new lineup of disingenuous, hateful, or just downright stupid conservative cartoons for your reading pleasure.
UPDATE: Looks like Glenn McCoy walked away with it this week, garnering nearly 80% of the vote. Chalk one up for him.
Last week, Mike Lester of the Rome News-Tribune (Georgia) was voted by an overwhelming margin of Kossacks to be the biggest jerk of the lot. The current standings:
Mike Lester: 1
Glenn McCoy: 1