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Rob Rogers, see reader comments in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Buy this cartoon
This election season has brought out some real ghouls, some, but not all, as a result of the Tea Party. These monsters are great for cartoonists, but not so great for the voters. The saddest part is, none of these characters offers a message of hope. It is all about tearing the other guy down. I know this kind of negative campaigning happens with every election. It just seems more frightening this year.
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PLEASE READ THIS: Because of the length of this weekly diary, sometimes Daily Kos reacts negatively -- isn't it always MB's fault? :-) -- and makes the Rec Button (and other stuff that you usually find in the upper right corner) disappear. Don't worry if that happens. Just scroll to the bottom of the diary past the last diary comment and you'll see the Rec Button there.
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THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS
This weekly diary takes a look at the past week's important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.
When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:
- Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?
- Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?
- Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?
The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist's message.
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Paladino Makes a Point by Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon
Paul Szep, Comics.com
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader and David Cohen, Asheville Citizen-Times
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader and Pat Oliphant, GO Comics/Washington Post
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Paladino and Pals by Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon
Chan Lowe, Comics.com, see reader comments in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The phenomenon defies all the standard, cynical political logic. These extremists can’t win in the general election, say the experts. Don’t people have any sense? Do they have a death wish?
The experts are playing by the wrong set of rules. Those who voted for the Tea Party candidates don’t care if they win, and they have no particular affection for the Republican Party in its current form. They would rather go down in defeat now, knowing that having flexed their muscles as an internal force, they will drag the party even further to the right the next time.
-- Lowe on the future of the Teabaggers within the Republican Party
Screech! by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see the large number of reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Lalo Alcaraz, LA Weekly, Buy this cartoon
Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News and David Cohen, Asheville Citizen-Times
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon
Paul Szep, Comics.com
Peter Dunlap-Shohl, Frozen Grin and Peter Dunlap-Shohl, Frozen Grin
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Clay Jones, see reader comments in the Freelance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), Buy this cartoon
I’m Not An Idiot
Let’s add up a few dumb things the Teabag people have done lately:
In Alaska, where they need federal funding, they’ve nominated a guy who’s promising to end government handouts.
In Delaware, they had a GOP candidate who was polled to beat the Democrat...and they nominate a witch.
In New York they nominate a homophobe who likes to send emails of beastiality as their candidate for governor. He also has this idea where we can house poor people in prisons.
In Ohio they nominate a congressional candidate who likes to wear swastikas but it’s OK, he’s bonding with his son.
In South Dakota, they nominate a Congressional candidate with over 30 tickets for her driving and multiple arrests for skipping court.
They nominate a candidate for Senate in Nevada against abortion which is understandable...but even in the case of rape and incest. She says when she’s counseled youth against getting an abortion (and having that incest baby) they turned lemons into lemonade.
They nominated a congressional candidate in Delaware who says anyone who believes in the separation of church and state is a Nazi (what is it with Delaware?....and Nazis?).
A congressman in Arizona who says Obama is an enemy of humanity.
Not to mention Rand Paul of Kentucky or that they actually pay Sarah Palin to hear her thoughts.
I didn’t show this cartoon to my editor for us to put in the print edition. Hey, I’m not an idiot.
-- Jones listing some of the policy positions taken by Teabagger wingnuts
Hitler Approves This Message by Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon
Don Wright, Comics.com (Tribune Media Services)
Birds of a Feather by J.D. Crowe, see reader comments in the Mobile Register, Buy this cartoon
Hate happens when you look at your enemy and see yourself... In the end, Pastor Terry Jones said, "We feel that whenever we started this out one of our reasons was to expose that there is an element of Islam that is very dangerous and very radical."
He could have been talking about himself.
-- Crowe compares Terry Jones' intolerant behavior to the very people the crazy "pastor" was condemning
Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon
Party Poopers by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Howling Mad by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon
John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)
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Read more about outrageous statements made by several of the wingnuts portrayed above and many others in this excellent diary series by occams hatchet. The diaries also include numerous videos.
- The Republicans, in their own words (Part 1): bats#!t crazy.
- The Republicans, in their own words (Part 2): bigotry, hate and violence.
- The Republicans, in their own words (Part 3): Big Fat Liars (and hypocrites).
- The Republicans, in their own words (Part 4): 'Let 'em eat applesauce'.
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INTRODUCTION
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Juan Williams and Fox News by Mike Thompson, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Detroit Free Press
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Of the 8,000-10,000 editorial cartoons I have posted in this weekly diary and in comments in front page posts/diaries written by others since April 2009, the response to the above cartoon perfectly encapsulates the attitude of most Teabaggers and their wingnuts friends over at Fox News. These people are not about civil discourse. They hate free speech that doesn't conform to their narrow-minded beliefs.
During a recent appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, Juan Williams made dumb and insensitive remarks about being fearful of people in Islamic garb while flying. The comments resulted in Williams being fired from National Public Radio and soon after, getting a fat contract from Roger Ailes and Fox News. When Editorial Cartoonist Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press posted the cartoon on his blog a few days ago, Bill O'Reilly encouraged his viewers to contact Thompson, basically to shut him up.
Thompson posted several of the emails he received from these wingnuts on his blog and wasn't entirely unhappy that O'Reilly had directed a great deal of traffic to his blog
Bill O'Reilly and some of his Fox News fans should take their own advice to heart
Last Sunday I drew a cartoon about Fox News and the Juan Wiliams affair. O’Reilly apparently took offense to my cartoon and showed it on the air Monday evening. He then gave out my work e-mail address and instructed his viewers to "let him know what you think." O’Reilly stressed that his viewers should take the high road in their e-mails to me, which is a little like placing a bowl of Halloween candy in front of kids and telling them not to gorge themselves. O’Reilly’s smart enough to know what would happen.
And e-mail me they did, more than 2,500 e-mails, many of them unsuitable to publish here, clogged my inbox. I bring this up not because I’m upset; I’ve grown pretty much immune to insults after 20 years in my profession and realize that I forefit the right to complain about getting bopped in the nose when I voluntarily step into a boxing ring. Besides, I’d like to thank O’Reilly for the significant bump in traffic to my blog. No, I bring this up because I find it strange that O’Reilly and some of his followers followers fail to grasp the irony of their actions.
While defending Williams’ right to free speech, O'Reilly and a number of his viewers tried and failed to bully me for exercising my right to free speech. What it all boils down to for people who behave like this isn’t defending the concept of free speech, rather defending free speech that agrees with their partisan point of view.
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Read all of Mike Thompson's entries, a few emails from Bill O'Reilly's minions, and reader comments regarding this feud with O'Reilly here, here, and here.
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Bill Day, Comics.com (Memphis Commercial-Appeal)
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Egged on by Fox News, aided by the Citizens United decision rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court and one which allowed the free flow of undisclosed corporate money (perhaps some of it in the form of illegal foreign contributions), and given vague promises of "fiscal responsibility" by the cynical Republican leadership in Congress, many of these Teabaggers are probably on the verge of being elected to Congress where their primary responsibility is to draft and enact laws that govern this country.
A recent article in NEWSWEEK magazine berated these authoritarian-minded Teabaggers for their blatant refusal to adhere to constitutional principles upon which this country was founded
Tim Eagan, Deep Cover, Buy this cartoon
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America’s Holy Writ
Tea Party evangelists claim the Constitution as their sacred text. Why that’s wrong.
The Tea Partiers belong to a different tradition -- a tradition of divisive fundamentalism. Like other fundamentalists, they seek refuge from the complexity and confusion of modern life in the comforting embrace of an authoritarian scripture and the imagined past it supposedly represents. Like other fundamentalists, they see in their good book only what they want to see: confirmation of their preexisting beliefs. Like other fundamentalists, they don’t sweat the details, and they ignore all ambiguities. And like other fundamentalists, they make enemies or evildoers of those who disagree with their doctrine.
The point is always the same: to suggest that the Constitution, like the Bible, decrees what’s right and wrong (rather than what’s legal and illegal), and to insist that only the fundamentalists and their ilk can access its truths. We are moral, you are not; we represent America, you do not. Theirs is the rallying cry of culture war.
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Mike Thompson, Comics.com (Detroit Free Press)
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Does this group of Know-Nothings believe in limited government or no government at all? In other words, do they seek a libertarian paradise with minimal rules and a "night watchman state" as Robert Nozick once described it? Not coincidentally, Nozick was one of Margaret Thatcher's and Ronald Reagan's favorite political philosophers in the 1970's and beyond.
Some of Nozick's so-called libertarian beliefs -- openly espoused by many a Teabagger -- are contrasted with liberalism in this article
Patrick Chappatte, International Herald Tribune, Buy this cartoon
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Libertarianism should not be confused with liberalism. They were considered the same in the early to mid nineteenth-century, both sharing the same beliefs such as limiting state power and the benefits of a free market. But around the 1870s liberals were gradually moving toward the belief that the government was necessary in guaranteeing social justice. Liberalism developed into a philosophy which wants an increase in government power, taxes, and regulation. Libertarians feel this philosophy is very close to socialism and therefore do not agree with it. Libertarians believe that collecting taxes is another form of robbery.
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I have deliberately tried to keep my comments and analysis to a minimum in this diary so as to include many more editorial cartoons in the text of the diary. There are over 120 cartoons and I will try to post another 15-20 in the comments section, dealing with a number of issues not included here such as the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, energy and oil, the riots in France, awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident, Iraq, Afghanistan, and rescue of the Chilean mine workers. Time permitting and even if in abbreviated form, I will try to post Part II of this diary by Tuesday 11/2 late morning/early afternoon. Thanks.
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1. Cartoons of the Week
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Teabaggers
Rob Rogers, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Nonexistent Bush
Ok. Bring it on all you "Bush is no longer president" ranters. I know that every time I refer to the disaster that was the Bush administration I set myself up for criticism. But even the most severe Obama haters have to admit that the republicans have conveniently forgotten who really got us into this mess in the first place. Bush racked up the huge deficits, started the wars and created the stimulus and bailouts and yet Obama gets all the blame. Bush may no longer be in office but his presidency is still adversely affecting us.
-- Rogers remembers all too well the horrendous mess that George W. Bush left as a parting "gift" for the Obama Administration in 2009
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Tom Tancredo's Motorcycle by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon
Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)
Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)
Paul Szep, Comics.com
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon
Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Buy this cartoon
Lemon Pledge by RJ Matson, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Buy this cartoon
Bill Day, Comics.com (Memphis Commercial-Appeal)
Rally to Restore Sanity by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon
Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)
Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Buy this cartoon
Jeff Koterba, Omaha World Herald, Buy this cartoon
Signe Wilkinson, Comics.com (Philadelphia Daily News)
Decision 2010 by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see the large number of reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Voters Abandon Ship by John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune, Buy this cartoon
Trickle Down by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see the very large number of reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press
Poor in America by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon
Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Mother's Milk Of Politics by John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Buy this cartoon
Jen Sorensen, Slowpoke, Buy this cartoon
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2. Wingnuttery at its Best
The Republicans New Wing by David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star, Buy this cartoon
The Elephant in the Room by Randall Enos,Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon
NY State - Paladino for Governor by Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News, Buy this cartoon
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)
Cal Grondahl, Utah Standard Examiner, Buy this cartoon
Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Tead Off Party by John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Buy this cartoon
Christine O'Donnell by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Buy this cartoon
Stuart Carlson, Go Comics
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Where the Tea Party Stands by David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star, Buy this cartoon
David Cohen, Asheville Citizen-Times
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Drew Sheneman, Comics.com (Newark Star-Ledger)
Dan Wasserman, Comics.com (Boston Globe)
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Jim Day, Las Vegas Review Journal, Buy this cartoon
Christine O'Donnell by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon
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3. The Corrosive Effect of Secret Corporate Money in This Election
Career Politicians by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Buy this cartoon
Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Unlimited Campaign Donations by Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record, Buy this cartoon
Bruce Beattie, Comics.com (Daytona Beach News-Journal)
Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Dan Wasserman, Comics.com (Boston Globe)
Midterm Election by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see the large number of reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press
RJ Matson, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Buy this cartoon
Jen Sorensen, Slowpoke, Buy this cartoon
John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)
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4. The Republican Pledge to Enhance Their Own and Not the Country's Future
Dinosaurs on Parade by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon
Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
The Platform by Nick Anderson, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Houston Chronicle
Bill Schorr, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon
Gary Varvel, Comics.com (Indianapolis Star-News)
Drew Sheneman, Comics.com (Newark Star-Ledger)
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5. Call Me, Call Me Any, Any Anytime*
Chan Lowe, Comics.com, see reader comments in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
* with
apologies to Blondie
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Imagine this scenario: it is late at night in a typical suburban home in Northern Virginia. The couple that lives there is upper middle class and affluent. The husband is a noted legal scholar, probably the best that this country has ever seen. The wife is a political activist whose activities on behalf of the poor and downtrodden in this country have made this a much fairer society. But beneath this facade of affluence and suburban tranquility, there is trouble brewing in this marriage.
I'll let Lowe explain what happened next and why it did
Virginia Thomas, Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas
What is more disturbing than her questionable dialing practices is her high-profile involvement in conservative and libertarian causes, especially in an organization funded by anonymous sources. Of course, as an American, she has every right to do this, and no one is asserting that the ethical rules that apply to her husband also apply to her.
Nevertheless, it would be logical that anyone who is concerned enough about her husband’s personal reputation to ask for an apology from his accuser after almost two decades would also consider his reputation as an impartial jurist, and soft-pedal the partisan passion.
I doubt, however, that Mrs. Thomas looks upon this logically.
Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)
The Tea Party Headquarters by David Horsey, see reader comments in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Clarence Thomas and Wife by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon
At the Sound of the Tone by David Cohen, Asheville Citizen-Times
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Bruce Beattie, Comics.com (Daytona Beach News-Journal)
Dan Wasserman, Comics.com (Boston Globe)
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon
Jen Sorensen, Slowpoke, Buy this cartoon
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Sorensen expresses her unhappiness with Clarence Thomas and his unsavory behavior in the past
Clarence Thomas Video Club
I have always been appalled by the amount of blind hatred directed at Anita Hill merely because she spoke up about being sexually harassed by Clarence Thomas. So I confess to enjoying the outpouring of corroborating evidence in the wake of Ginny Thomas's ill-fated voicemail to Hill.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have no problem with Supreme Court justices having a few kinks. They can watch all the porn they want, though I prefer not to think about it. But to give someone who harassed his female subordinates (at the EEOC!) a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land, where he would be responsible for adjudicating on those very issues... well, it's unconscionable. Also, dude totally perjured himself!
Lots of Serious Pundits (such as the flaccid Richard Cohen of the Washington Post) are saying we should just forget the whole unseemly episode. I guess talking about pubic hair on Coke cans doesn't seem very dignified. But as far as I'm concerned, you only get dignity when you correct the injustice.
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6. Juan Williams' Firing By National Public Radio
The Winner by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press
NPR Fires Juan Williams by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon
Tony Auth, Philadelphia Inquirer/Washington Post
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)
Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate/Yahoo Comics
(click link to enlarge cartoon)
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7. Can the Economy Withstand Another Round of Trickle-Down Economics?
Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Randy Jones, inxart.com, Buy this cartoon
Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Diapatch)
GOP Deficit Lumberjack by Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News, Buy this cartoon
Matt Bors, Comics.com (Idiot Box)
Jim Day, Las Vegas Review Journal, Buy this cartoon
Bruce Beattie, Comics.com (Daytona Beach News-Journal)
Anonymous by Rob Rogers, Comics.com (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Candidates are setting new records for campaign spending in 2010. A lot of those additional millions are coming from anonymous donors. Some think the anonymous cash may be coming from corporations seeking political favor and/or overseas interests. It hurts my stomach to think of all the good things we could do with that money.
-- Rogers is disgusted with the amount of money spent by shadowy figures and corporations, most of whom are only interested in their bottom line
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8. RIP Barbara Billingsley, Tom Bosley, and Johnny Sheffield
Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon
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Read more about Barbara Billingsley, Tom Bosley, and Johnny Sheffield. They made important and lasting contributions in movies and television. If you missed it, I also wrote a diary tribute to Barabara Billingsley -- June Cleaver (Beaver's Mom) Has Died -- a couple of weeks ago.
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9. Final Thoughts
Lloyd Dangle, Troubletown, Buy this cartoon
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Finally, are you an "opportunist?" And if so, where do you fit in the above editorial cartoon?
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A Note About the Diary Poll
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A great deal has been written on these pages about the upcoming elections this coming Tuesday, November 2nd. You have probably heard it all and there's not much more that I can add except to say that please vote and encourage all family members, friends, acquaintances, and co-workers to do the same. As most people are probably anxious to get past the elections, you may email your friends and family a link to this diary which, I'm fairly sure, most have probably never seen. It might give them a different perspective on issues confronting the country and the political party which is best qualified to tackle these problems.
Finally, I wanted to share this speech given by FDR's grandson Curtis Roosevelt this past summer in Washington, D.C. In it, he compares the challenges facing FDR in 1934 to the ones facing President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in 2010.
Here's an excerpt
So let us review, just sketchily, the events leading up to Franklin Roosevelt's first mid-term election -- November of 1934. There are some striking similarities between then and now. In 1934's mid-term election, presidential leadership was central, indeed decisive. And note: FDR had as much hanging on that election as President Obama has with next November's vote...
Yes, the New Deal was rolling again. Referring to the autumn term of Congress in 1934, just at the time of the November elections, Charles A. Beard radically changed his tune from only a few months before. "Seldom, if ever, in the long history of Congress had so many striking and vital measures been spread upon the law books in a single session."
And the results of mid-term election of November 1934? The Democrats increased their congressional seats in both houses, increased their governorships, and chalked up a higher proportion of the popular vote. So much for the pundits!...
In closing, I would like to note that Franklin Roosevelt and Barrack Obama both entered the national political arena with visible handicaps-one, a black man, the other, a cripple. The cripple went on to be elected President of the United States four times.
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Crossposted at Docudharma and The Stars Hollow Gazette