Sunday morning toons: Witches are so last week (or next week, whichever)

There were three big stories last week, although they almost Bigfooted one another: 

Joe Biden officially dropped out of a presidential race he was never in; Paul Ryan, apparently having learned nothing from the demise of John Boehner, tentatively agreed to step into the latter's becrapped shoes as Speaker, placing him for the moment the closest in the line of Presidential succession he'll ever, ever be; and Hillary Clinton got a better boost from eleven hours of swatting away questions from Rep. Trey Gowdy's band of yahoos than her campaign strategists could have won for her in the next eleven months.

And you can tell which cartoons were worked up before Thursday's Benghazi! hearings: they're the ones with the witch-burned-at-the-stake theme. (Too many of them for Harmonic Toon Convergence recognition; we'd have run out of certificates.) Any toons released after the hearings tended toward contempt for Gowdy's pointless hearings or celebration of Clinton's mixture of bemusement and contempt for the committee's clueless bumbling. Jack Ohman and Jeff Danziger are pretty much the alpha and omega of this trend today. What a difference a day makes! (And if your only point is that anything Hillary says is a lie, you didn't make the cut today.)

Today's toons were selected based on leaks to Maureen Dowd and day-before predictions by Bill Kristol, from the week's offerings at McClatchy DC, Cartoon Movement, Go Comics, Politico's Cartoon Gallery, Daryl Cagle's Political Cartoons, About.com, and other fine sources of toony goodness.

p3 Picks of the week: Mike Luckovich, Jeff Danziger, Jim Morin, Signe Wilkinson, Pat Bagley, Matt Wuerker, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Clay Bennett.

p3 Legion of Merit: Drew Sheneman.

p3 Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium (tie): Matt Wuerker and Tom Toles.

p3 World Toon Review: Paresh Nath (India), Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), and Ingrid Rice (Canada).

Ann Telnaes' live sketches from last Thursday's Bengazi! hearings pretty much capture the tone. (Bonus points if you find the one where she captures Hillary's Chuck Jones-y moment. Check out the daydreaming Ralph Phillips, at right and below.)

Mark Fiore reminds us: drones aren’t the policy, assassination is the policy. Also, you should read The Intercept.

Tom Tomorrow paraphrases an old saying. Also, you should be reading The Intercept.

Keith Knight imagines a best-case scenario (free market edition).

Reuben Bolling brings us a story of the unsocial media, from Chagrin Falls OH, which is a real town.

Red Meat's Ted Johnson and his son discuss what Mad Magazine's Dave Berg might call the lighter side of family traditions. Or he might not.

The Comic Strip Curmudgeon feels actively angry about Chaplain Stainglass’s flippant answer.

Come to Comic Strip of the Day for the Benghazi! roundup, stay for the moment of Zen.

"I shall return!" And he did: "From A to Z-Z-Z-Z", directed in 1953 by Chuck Jones from a story by Michael Maltese, was the first of five appearances by young Ralph Phillips. Voice work (all uncredited): Portland's Own Mel Blanc (Numbers, Indians, Sailors, and Shark), Dick Beals (Ralph Phillips), Bea Benaderet (Teacher), Norman Nesbitt (Captain and Sailors), and Marian Richman (simply listed on IMDB as "Various Voices.") Watch "From A to Z-Z-Z-Z" at Gogocartoon.

The Modestly-Sized Oregon Toon Block:

Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman goes medieval on the Benghazi! committee.

Hypothetically Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen uses the word "funnies" ironically.

Matt Bors notices that something happened north of the border.

Jesse Springer imagines where the State of Oregon will end up if cities and counties feel free to ignore gun laws that they decide might "infringe on the Second Amendment."

Test your toon captioning midichlorians at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.) And you can browse The New Yorker's cartoon gallery here.

The p3 Sunday Comics Read-Along: Pearls Before Swine, Doonesbury, Rhymes with Orange, Zits, Adam @ Home, Mutts, Over the Hedge, Get Fuzzy, Prince Valiant, Blondie, Bizarro, Mother Goose & Grimm, Rose is Rose, Luann, Hagar the Horrible, Pickles, Rubes, Grand Avenue, Freshly Squeezed, The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee, and Jumble.