I was part of the mob in Baltimore that had to be dispersed by the riot squad last night. I have to go back to the night I asked my fiancee to marry me to remember when I was so happy. I fully expect conservative butthurt on par with the Clinton years, but for now I'm content to drink my Natty Boh and crow. Eat it, you fucking assholes. Enjoy living in your delusions for four years.
For the record, this is yet another generic comic that would have been just as relevant had McCain won.
How lazy can you be as a political cartoonist to draw your election cartoons in advance? And while I'm at it, why does caricature-Obama have a chin penis when the real Obama's face is rather round?
Or to rephrase what Tinsley wrote: Obama can finally start reflecting the positions and hopes of the folks who actually elected him.
Let's be perfectly clear about this: Tinsley's quarrel is not with Obama. It is not even with the Democrats. If Tuesday made anything clear, it is that his quarrel is with the American people.
Tinsley, you and the rest of the neocon/wingnut wing of the Republican party were wrong. And you lost. Badly.
So we must assume that for Tinsley, "conservative" means "person who endlessly pushes idiotic, slanderous bullshit about his opponent." At least we're in agreement on that one!
Ralph Nader's open letter to Obama puts it all in perspective. Take a look at it and stop celebrating. E.g., "Far more than Senator McCain, you have received enormous, unprecedented contributions from corporate interests, Wall Street interests and, most interestingly, big corporate law firm attorneys. Never before has a Democratic nominee for President achieved this supremacy over his Republican counterpart. Why, apart from your unconditional vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, are these large corporate interests investing so much in Senator Obama?"
What gets me is, Obama is actually a pretty centrist politician (you know, a uniter, not a divider). Read his books, listen to his speeches. Much of his message can be summarized by his 2004 convention speech - we have gay friends in red states, we love God in blue states, really we are the United States.
The "most liberal senator" tag arises from the campaign trail, i.e. when you're running for President, you don't feel like you have to show up for resolutions that will pass 90-10, and only come to the Senate for contested issues. In a 51-49 split Senate, party-line votes are the ones that are most split, therefore the Presidential candidates tend to vote much more on party lines. QED.
For Mallard and his non-ironic readers, "QED" means "suck on that".
Tinklanonymous: so yer sayin' Obama is not a moderate because he's CONSERVATIVE?
Sorry, but nlc got it right: "Obama can finally start reflecting the positions and hopes of the folks who actually elected him." If Obama is indebted to campaign contributors, it is to the more than 3 MILLION Americans who contributed an average of under $100 each. Certainly the big corporate players chipped in, but they don't have the sway they do in the GOP because the army of mice outweighs them.
Which is as it should be. Part of Obama's success is that he figured out how to make community work!
I'm wearing my Obama shirt, and yeah, it's a day late, but people are still smiling.
I never thought Obama was a far left liberal. He never would have made it this far if he had been. He's still better than the last 8 years.
We talked a bit about the election in History today, and my teacher said that in his concession speech, John McCain sounded like his old self, the guy people wanted to vote for in 2000.
We talked about the election the entire class time in anthropology yesterday, and there were 2 McCain supporters that spoke and stand out. One is my friend, one I have never liked. (His voice bugs the shit out of me, even if he was the biggest Obama supporter in the world.)
My friend is anti-abortion, and voted for McCain. The other guy, well, he mentioned this has been building since the civil rights days, when black people started voting in larger numbers. I'm not sure where he was going with that, thankfully the teacher cut him off before he got too insane. Earlier he said he'd have a book in January about nuclear holocaust and we'd be fine in our own state or something. This was a pissed off McCain voter. He's also the oldest guy in class - he's older than Obama.
Gary Trudeau actually made a very gutsy move by projecting Obama as the winner in a strip he drew two weeks ago (and slated to appear on the day after the election). He ran a great risk of looking foolish if the election had gone the other way. You'd never catch Tinsley taking a risk like that. That's because, as mentioned before, Trudeau has talent and Tinsley doesn't. Which is why Mallard Fillmore will never be, as he calls it, a "conservative Doonesbury."
I submit that the talent gap is greatest where ideology handicaps Tinkley. In draftmanship/sheer drawing, they aren't that far apart, considering that Doonesbury has been at it a long time. Tinkley chooses to draw grotesquely but, apart from his laziness, it looks like he could do better in that department if he wanted to. And Doonesbury's art is not in his drawing.
Doonesbury's genius (like that of Scott Adams) is in the writing. He has situations and ideas and characters that relate to real life, which he then twists (but only slightly) into humor. You have the sensation that he's merely repeating something that almost might have actually happened.
Take, for example, the election day strip. It's funny because it's chitchat among people we might meet on the street; imperfect human beings that have good and bad in them. They're in a situation that most of us have never been in, but Doonesbury understands and empathizes with their basic humanity, and so is able to communicate it to us, the readers.
The entire scene could actually have happened!
Tinkley OTOH has an ideology that disdains empathy; it's strictly id-based, driven by fear and hate and, above all, not understanding that humans are complex, both good and bad, and have feelings like you. Thus his characters that don't have personalities; they merely embody types (the feminists, the liberal frightened of offending someone, the evil black political activist.
Embodied types are boring and predictable; they cannot transmit their intended message because we cannot care for them. And I doubt Tinkley can even understand the problem.... it would require empathizing with his readers.
18 comments:
I was part of the mob in Baltimore that had to be dispersed by the riot squad last night. I have to go back to the night I asked my fiancee to marry me to remember when I was so happy. I fully expect conservative butthurt on par with the Clinton years, but for now I'm content to drink my Natty Boh and crow. Eat it, you fucking assholes. Enjoy living in your delusions for four years.
For the record, this is yet another generic comic that would have been just as relevant had McCain won.
How lazy can you be as a political cartoonist to draw your election cartoons in advance? And while I'm at it, why does caricature-Obama have a chin penis when the real Obama's face is rather round?
Bruce Tinsley's worldview: The voters who weren't duped by a phony conservative were duped by a radical extremist lefty.
Or to rephrase what Tinsley wrote: Obama can finally start reflecting the positions and hopes of the folks who actually elected him.
Let's be perfectly clear about this: Tinsley's quarrel is not with Obama. It is not even with the Democrats. If Tuesday made anything clear, it is that his quarrel is with the American people.
Tinsley, you and the rest of the neocon/wingnut wing of the Republican party were wrong. And you lost. Badly.
Deal with it.
You know what's hilarious?
Watching this "pretty, conservative woman" ex-VP candidate get dumped by FOX.
Why does caricature-Obama have a chin penis when the real Obama's face is rather round?
Because he's a Democrat. You'd be hard-pressed to find a caricature of someone Tinsley disagrees with that looks even remotely like they really do.
So we must assume that for Tinsley, "conservative" means "person who endlessly pushes idiotic, slanderous bullshit about his opponent." At least we're in agreement on that one!
Apparently, now that the election is over, McCain can get the Jack Nicholson Joker/Troll Doll surgery he's always wanted.
Obama: "Whew! I can finally quit pretending to have only moderate ear gigantism." How long until they are bigger than his head?
exanonymous: Are you referring to this? OMG.
Ralph Nader's open letter to Obama puts it all in perspective. Take a look at it and stop celebrating. E.g., "Far more than Senator McCain, you have received enormous, unprecedented contributions from corporate interests, Wall Street interests and, most interestingly, big corporate law firm attorneys. Never before has a Democratic nominee for President achieved this supremacy over his Republican counterpart. Why, apart from your unconditional vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, are these large corporate interests investing so much in Senator Obama?"
What gets me is, Obama is actually a pretty centrist politician (you know, a uniter, not a divider). Read his books, listen to his speeches. Much of his message can be summarized by his 2004 convention speech - we have gay friends in red states, we love God in blue states, really we are the United States.
The "most liberal senator" tag arises from the campaign trail, i.e. when you're running for President, you don't feel like you have to show up for resolutions that will pass 90-10, and only come to the Senate for contested issues. In a 51-49 split Senate, party-line votes are the ones that are most split, therefore the Presidential candidates tend to vote much more on party lines. QED.
For Mallard and his non-ironic readers, "QED" means "suck on that".
Tinklanonymous: so yer sayin' Obama is not a moderate because he's CONSERVATIVE?
Sorry, but nlc got it right: "Obama can finally start reflecting the positions and hopes of the folks who actually elected him." If Obama is indebted to campaign contributors, it is to the more than 3 MILLION Americans who contributed an average of under $100 each. Certainly the big corporate players chipped in, but they don't have the sway they do in the GOP because the army of mice outweighs them.
Which is as it should be. Part of Obama's success is that he figured out how to make community work!
Tinsley/Anonymous:
You mean the same Ralph Nader who called Obama an "Uncle Tom", and was so offensive he was called out by FOX NEWS!?
Now there's a relevant and trustworthy source. Is that the best you've got?
Take a look at it and stop celebrating.
Sorry, anonymous, I'm not done celebrating yet.
I'm wearing my Obama shirt, and yeah, it's a day late, but people are still smiling.
I never thought Obama was a far left liberal. He never would have made it this far if he had been. He's still better than the last 8 years.
We talked a bit about the election in History today, and my teacher said that in his concession speech, John McCain sounded like his old self, the guy people wanted to vote for in 2000.
We talked about the election the entire class time in anthropology yesterday, and there were 2 McCain supporters that spoke and stand out. One is my friend, one I have never liked. (His voice bugs the shit out of me, even if he was the biggest Obama supporter in the world.)
My friend is anti-abortion, and voted for McCain. The other guy, well, he mentioned this has been building since the civil rights days, when black people started voting in larger numbers. I'm not sure where he was going with that, thankfully the teacher cut him off before he got too insane. Earlier he said he'd have a book in January about nuclear holocaust and we'd be fine in our own state or something. This was a pissed off McCain voter. He's also the oldest guy in class - he's older than Obama.
Ah, Nader. Spent the beginning of his career putting seat belts in automobiles. Spending the end of it putting turds in punch bowls.
I'd be so embarrassed if this strip was on the same page as Doonesbury these days.
Gary Trudeau actually made a very gutsy move by projecting Obama as the winner in a strip he drew two weeks ago (and slated to appear on the day after the election). He ran a great risk of looking foolish if the election had gone the other way. You'd never catch Tinsley taking a risk like that. That's because, as mentioned before, Trudeau has talent and Tinsley doesn't.
Which is why Mallard Fillmore will never be, as he calls it, a "conservative Doonesbury."
"... Trudeau has talent and Tinsley doesn't...."
I submit that the talent gap is greatest where ideology handicaps Tinkley. In draftmanship/sheer drawing, they aren't that far apart, considering that Doonesbury has been at it a long time. Tinkley chooses to draw grotesquely but, apart from his laziness, it looks like he could do better in that department if he wanted to. And Doonesbury's art is not in his drawing.
Doonesbury's genius (like that of Scott Adams) is in the writing. He has situations and ideas and characters that relate to real life, which he then twists (but only slightly) into humor. You have the sensation that he's merely repeating something that almost might have actually happened.
Take, for example, the election day strip. It's funny because it's chitchat among people we might meet on the street; imperfect human beings that have good and bad in them. They're in a situation that most of us have never been in, but Doonesbury understands and empathizes with their basic humanity, and so is able to communicate it to us, the readers.
The entire scene could actually have happened!
Tinkley OTOH has an ideology that disdains empathy; it's strictly id-based, driven by fear and hate and, above all, not understanding that humans are complex, both good and bad, and have feelings like you. Thus his characters that don't have personalities; they merely embody types (the feminists, the liberal frightened of offending someone, the evil black political activist.
Embodied types are boring and predictable; they cannot transmit their intended message because we cannot care for them. And I doubt Tinkley can even understand the problem.... it would require empathizing with his readers.
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