Election 2008 Sketchbook

Above is a sample of sketches I have done recently on the election and posted to a special Election 2008 Sketchbook Page. I am too freaked out right now about all the things that could go wrong today, so I can’t really think straight. So in lieu of an actual political cartoon, please enjoy these sketches. A real cartoon will appear Thursday.

In Contempt (10/14/2008): Backfire

Click that image to expand it for happy reading.

In Contempt (7/29/2008): Messing With Romney, Part Two

Click the image to read in full-fledged form.

Flip-flopping is Evolutionary!

Mike Madden on candidate “flip-flops”, campaign strategy, and the voters’ moods:

What this discounts, though, is how American voters may really feel about each candidate’s evolving campaign in 2008. They probably don’t want to see their candidate abandoning campaign promises once they take office — but after seven long years of a Bush administration that refused to change course until it was too late, they may see something entirely different in a leader who is not locked into the first thoughts he had on a given issue. This election may prove to be the one in which the flip-flop, as political weapon, finally fizzles. Both Obama and McCain are trying to play up their commitment to changing the country’s course. And it may be that as that course looks increasingly difficult, voters will pay the most attention to how the candidates are adapting to and planning to deal with the war or the economy, rather than punishing them for lacking George W. Bush’s dogmatism.

See? Your criticism of Obama’s vote allowing immunity for telecom companies that broke the law by spying on you wasn’t inconsistency on his part; it’s dogmatism on your part. Silly voter.

Idiot Wind

Bob Dylan doesn’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows:

“America is in a state of upheaval,” Dylan told The Times. “We’ve got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up.”

The 66-year-old went on: “I’m hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.”

Yes, the times they are a-changing. Or is he only a pawn in their game? Something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is. There is no truth outside the gates of Eden.

When Quinn the Eskimo gets here –

Okay, I’ll stop now.

Er… Not So Much

From the Gaurdian’s Hillary Clinton campaign retrospective photogallery. Suzanne Goldenberg also writes not the first and certainly not the last autopsy of Clinton’s candidacy. Also, Goldenberg and Ewen MacAskill join most of the American media to declare Obama the Democratic winner.

But I am not so sure. Clinton still claims a popular vote majority – if you count Michigan and Florida, and discount at least four caucuses (but why you would do that, I don’t know) – and her campaign has spent all day fighting against an Associated Press story reporting that she would concede Obama’s win. Sure, she’ll acknowledge he got the necessary delegates, but she won’t actually concede the contest. Does this strategy put pressure on Barack Obama to accept her as a Veep? To risk an already loaded historical analogy, it worked for Kennedy and Johnson. But that only sends chills down my spine.

Mr. Helpful

Man, if I were Hillary Clinton – currently riding high on a 10 point margin of victory in Pennsylvania – I would find a way to remove the tongue from my husband’s mouth. Because I (Hillary Clinton, that is) can’t really enjoy my hard-won win without Mr. Megaphone saying dumb crap like, say, accusing black Democrats of “playing the race card” on him and driving the black vote toward Barack Obama. Ya see, they totally took his comparison of Obama’s victory in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson’s the wrong way. He wasn’t making a racially charged, dismissive and douchebaggy comment; he was just answering a question. And, best of all, this was part of the Obama plan aaallll alooonngg!

Hat tip to Aisha Music.

UPDATE: Now The Master Equivocator is refusing to acknowledge he ever said anything about a “race card.” Dude, it’s on audio! WE CAN HEAR YOU! This is why the right wing thinks you’re on drugs, because you refuse to look reality in the face or take any responsibility for your words and actions. Man! That guy is a piece of work.