CSotD: Legitimate commentary
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Todd Akin's remarks on "legitimate rape" provided the kind of moment you know will spawn a thousand editorial cartoons. I wanted to give it a few days to swirl, because it didn't seem like the sort of cartooning prompt that was going to produce good work in a short period.
And, true enough, the first few cartoons to hit merely pointed out that it was a damn stupid thing to say. Not a lot of nuance you can put on that observation, but I liked how Malc McGookin framed the implications of Akin's tilted reality:
I can't find a website for Malc, but here's an amusing and worthwhile 2006 interview, and you can find him and friend him on Facebook, which is where I picked up this cartoon as part of an ongoing stream of mordant Aussie wit and thoughtful commentary.
The scramble of Republicans to disassociate themselves from Akin's comment provoked cartoons even from conservative artists, who seem at such moments more likely to either hide under their drawing boards or else to draw cartoons pointing out that liberals are talking about such-and-such a GOP failing despite the obvious greater priority of such-and-such a Democratic failing.
But they did step up this time, if only to cast Akin as a pariah without much evaluation of the reason why.
There were, from both sides of the aisle, a couple of cartoons depicting a pregnant elephant wanting to abort Akin, and then, with the apparent convergence of the GOP convention and Tropical Storm Isaac in Florida, several showing the storm as "abortion" or "reproductive rights" or whatever.
Scott Stantis rose above the rest with this one, which even features a delightful comb-over and an absolutely wonderful pair of cargo shorts:
The rest of the "here comes a hurricane" cartoons were pretty non-descript. A lot of cartoonists avoid looking at each other's work for fear of being influenced, but most of the Akin cartoons might as well have been traced on a lightbox, because there really were only four or five takes on it and they came from a mountain of cartoonists.
But one factor that bred a little bit of actual analysis, as the Republicans ran away from him, was that they did so amid a cloud of non-apology-apologies, which I found quite interesting. It became clear that they were disassociating themselves from his remarks without quite disassociating themselves from his position.
And Kevin Siers nailed that critical factor:
There were also a number of cartoonists who went after the men-dictating-to-women aspect of things, which, by the way, has this ironic twist: If Akin is persuaded to drop out of the race at this stage, the GOP county committees in Missouri that will choose his replacement are required by their own charter to consist of one man and one woman.
Granted, that "one woman" — being a Missouri Republican — is probably not likely to be mistaken for Bella Abzug or Angela Davis, but it's a nod to parity that other political parties might want to emulate.
Anyway, the cartoons on women's rights were, again, predictable and kinda preachy.
However, John Cole managed to transform a pair of relevant shapes into something that inspires me to quote Shelly Duval's rock critic character from "Annie Hall":
The only word for this is transplendent… it's transplendent!
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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