My colleague J.D. Crowe has been sending shots across the bow of Boeing again. Why, er, yes, as a matter of fact, he does happen to be the cartoonist for the Mobile Press-Register, and Mobile is where the Airbus tanker would be assembled. Nevertheless, he’s doing a fine job of defending his local economy. But according to our article last week about the Air Force’s bidding process, the cards are still stacked in Airbus’ favor. And now Boeing is considering not bidding on the new contract.
There’s a big hoo-hah today about that New Yorker cover drawing by artist Barry Blitt that depicts Barack and Michelle Obama as a Muslim terrorist and a militant Black Panther. The Obama and McCain campaigns have expressed outrage, and there’s much sputtering and indignation nationally. The New Yorker magazine said in a statement that the satirical cartoon “combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are.”
As an editorial cartoonist, I have to say that I love it. Every time a piece of graphic satire gets a lot of attention like this, it underscores the power of the visual image. Images can short-circuit our emotions like few other things can do. That’s why some of us are so drawn (no pun intended) to them.
Of course, with edgy satire there’s always the chance that the literally minded will miss the irony and the artist will lose his balance, tumbling into the canyon like Wile E. Coyote as his cry gradually diminishes to nothingness, a small silence and then a tiny puff of smoke signaling his flattened countenance against the boulders of literalness. But, hey! It’s cartoonland! He’ll be back in the next panel, good as new!
What say you, gentle blog persons? When does a cartoon go to far? Or is that even possible?
The National Portrait Gallery in Washington has a new exhibit of editorial cartoonist Herblock’s cartoons. It’s entitled “Herblock’s Presidents: ‘Puncturing Pomposity,’” and it covers no fewer than than 11 American commanders in chief. Corresponding with the exhibit is an online presentation of “The Dean of American Editorial Cartoonists” works. Anyone interested in political satire should take a minute to view this fun site. Herblock, as Herbert Block signed his cartoons, won three Pulitzers, cartooned for The Washington Post for more than seven decades and, most impressively, ranked a listing on President Nixon’s infamous “enemies list.” When viewing the cartoons on the Web site, you can click on an area of the drawing for an extreme close-up and see the blue pencil lines and the corrections — the next best thing to watching Herblock as he actually drew it. It’s a window into a master’s creative process. The pompous rest a little more peacefully now that this great cartoonist is at rest himself. Thanks for puncturing them for all those years, Herb.
Congratulations to Don Bennett of Arkansas City, this week’s caption contest winner. Here are some of the others:
Karen Jerman of Wichita: “Now that is what I call splitting hares!â€
Karen Wallace of Wichita: “Talk about road rage!†and also “Give me a call at 3:00 in the morning. . . .â€
Richard Hopper of Derby: “Looks like the Dems are having a bad-hare day!â€
Cliff Jayne of Wichita: “Where did I park my Airbus?â€
Richard Julius of Belle Plaine: “March Madness! It’s fun to watch!â€
Janet Cook of Wichita: “100 years right here!â€
And this fine entry, which came in after the deadline so was disqualified, from Travis Metcalf: “There you go, Hillary! Give him that Wright hook!â€
Congratulations to Jim Holler of Bentley who won this week’s cartoon-caption contest. Here are some of the other entries:
Jason Griffin: “Where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are…are…oh, forget it.â€
Bill Hess: “It’s to the stars through greenhouse gases!â€
Drew of Great Bend: “Sure most of the electricity goes out of state. But the pollution made the illegal aliens leave.â€
Karen Wallace: “Is this what they mean by a state coal-ition???â€
Becky Hilt: “To the stars through dinosaur dust!â€
Burt Parry: “Add aspirator per coal plant.â€
Richard Gottlob: “I’d rather see haystacks than smokestacks.â€
Richard Brown: “This really is the Sunflower State. Sunflower writes the laws and the legislature rubber stamps ’em.â€
Kim Dunakey: “Rough road to the stars my foot. Just line the right pockets and the road becomes an 8-lane expressway.â€
Cheryl Sullenger: “That’s no coal plant! That’s Tiller’s incinerator! Is he burning babies or incriminating abortion files?â€
Rebecca Martindell of Benton was this week’s cartoon-caption winner. We liked her reference to the roller coaster issue and the way she tied it to City Hall.
Jim Thomas of Wichita nearly won with his: “If he pulled his kerchief up above his nose, he’d fit right in!†Bill Bauck had a good one too: “Kolb’s payout was nothing compared to what this guy will get!â€
Preston and Tammie Pannell of Haysville had this dour entry: “I can’t wait till the arena auctions.†From Aaron M. Wells of Wichita came, “The bondholders better hope for good weather if he gets hired!â€
Wichita’s Charles Churchman submitted, “Who’s better qualified to manage the wild west world at City Hall?†Haysville’s Roger Neugent had this one: “He said something about naming the arena the Prairie Palace and holding Sunday services!â€
From Jerry Busch of Wichita came, “His fiscal planning is close enough for government work!†Stan Nunnenkamp of Wichita said, “We probably wouldn’t notice the difference.â€
From Ryan Cole (former marketing director for Etheredge) came, “Kansas’ biggest business failure — I guess he has the right qualifications for city manager!†Finally, my favorite, submitted by Sue Dresher: “What happened to my wallet? Have you seen my wallet?â€
My colleague J.D. Crowe has been sending shots across the bow of Boeing again. Why, er, yes, as a matter of fact, he does happen to be the cartoonist for the Mobile Press-Register, and Mobile is where the Airbus tanker would be assembled. Nevertheless, he’s doing a fine job of defending his local economy. But according to our article last week about the Air Force’s bidding process, the cards are still stacked in Airbus’ favor. And now Boeing is considering not bidding on the new contract.
