DarylCagle.comIs anyone else sick of the Chris Christie “will he or won’t he ” dance? Maybe not if if your presidential hopes lie in either Rick Perry or Mitt Romney beating Barack Obama.
It was a busy week of news. Catch up and laugh at the same time with our big Week in Political Cartoons slideshow.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi marks his 75th birthday today, but as our cartoonists are quick to note, the notorious horn-dog has very little to celebrate. From his own personal legal woes to the possibility of Italy being swallowed by Europe’s ongoing debt crisis, one wonders how much longer Italians can tolerate Berlusconi and his bunga bunga parties.
We’ve had a lot of funny cartoons about Berlusconi and his antics come in over the years from our foreign contributors. Here are some of the best:
Will he or won’t he? New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has repeatedly said he’s not running for president, yet the GOP faithful continue to beg the Garden State Republican to jump in and save them from their slate of lackluster candidates.
What do cartoonists think about the Christie’s presidential dance? Check out our Christie for President cartoon slideshow to find out.
On this day back in 1840, Thomas Nast, the father of the American Cartoon, was born in Landau, Germany. He came to the United States as a young man and quickly became one of the country’s most influential cartoonists, drawing for Harper’s Weekly and becoming a celebrity in the process. Following his death on December 7, 1902, Thomas Nast’s obituary in Harper’s Weekly stated, “He has been called, perhaps not with accuracy, but with substantial justice, the Father of American Caricature.”
Nast’s drawings were instrumental in the downfall of Tammany Hall’s William “Boss” Tweed, who so feared Nast’s cartoons that he unsuccessfully attempted to bribe the cartoonist to stop. Tweed said famously, “Stop them damn pictures! I don’t care what the papers write about me. My constituents can’t read. But, damn it, they can see the pictures!”
Tweed was eventually convicted for stealing between $40 million and $200 million from New York City taxpayers through political corruption.
Nast is perhaps best known for his political cartoon that first showed the GOP as an elephant, and the Democratic Party as a donkey, symbols that both parties (and cartoonists) use to this day.
He also created the bearded, plump image of Santa Claus we recognize today, for the cover of the 1862 Harper’s Weekly Christmas season cover. At the time, most depictions of Santa Claus showed jolly St. Nick as a tall, thin man.
I always laugh at this cartoon by my friend Sandy Huffaker, about the taste of editors and publishers when it comes to cartoons today:
Class warfare was the name of the game this week. Critics used the phrase to criticize President Obama’s new jobs plan, due to its call to increase taxes on the wealthy. Maybe it’s the reason Mark Zuckerberg is punishing us with all these new Facebook changes.
To see what the news looks like through the eyes of our cartoonists, check out our big Week in Political Cartoons slideshow.
Stupid Facebook! As most of us have just gotten use to all the previous changes, here they are again updating our “user experience” to entice us to put our entire life on their web servers!
(Did I mention we’re on Facebook, and how much we love it? Don’t forget to “Like” us.)
To find out what cartoonists think of Mark Zuckerburg’s recent updates, check out our Facebook Changes cartoon slideshow
Tonight, Republican Presidential candidates face off in swing-state Florida in yet another bid to win the hearts and minds of conservative voters. You’d better tune in – you don’t know what the GOP crowd will cheer for next!
Check out what our cartoonists think of tonight’s get together with our new GOP Debate cartoon slideshow.
Today, President Obama proposed $1.5 trillion in new taxes aimed primarily at the wealthy as part of a deficit reduction plan. Predictibly, politicians on the right have labeled this “class warfare” and claim Obama wants to “punish success.”
What do cartoonists think about all this class warfare stuff? Check out our Class Warfare cartoon slideshow to find out.
This wasn’t a good week for President Obama. Not only is the economy still struggling, but he’s getting opposition from both Republicans and Democrats on his new jobs bill. And the whole Solyndra bankruptcy didn’t help is job creation street cred either.
Check out a week’s worth of news through the eyes of the nation’s best cartoonists with our new Week in Political Cartoons slideshow.
