Sunday, February 1, 2015

Sunday morning toons: Celebrating our billionaire Randian Bircher plutocratic New Guilded Age overlords since 2015!

That's right, we're going to go all-Koch, all the time here at p3.  

Well, no, not really. But there are a lot of Koch- and campaign spending-themed toons this week. And why not?

After all, they've got over $900 million they're ready to invest (heh) in the 2016 elections. True, it's only about one-eighth the amount of of cash – just cash – the Bush administration apparently planned to use as walking-around money to bring elections to Iraq (before they mislaid it). But my hope is that the Koch millions will have as little desired effect on our form of government as all those lost presidents apparently did over in Iraq.

Well, there is one other hope: If the brothers Koch are dumping all that money in cash (and, after Citizens United, why would they bother with paperwork?), maybe a pallet of shrink-wrapped Benjamins could land turn up in my rental storage unit? A modest-sized pallet, say? A foot locker? Even just one of those titanium briefcases they always make payoffs with in the movies? My case is this: If I spent the next fifteen months doing everything I could as a blogger to hurt the Republican cause, I'm sure it will be utterly insignificant compared to the damage some of their own whackjob candidates might yet do, so I'm really sort of a good place to send some money. So if they're really serious. . . .

Missing in action this week: Romney pulls out of the 2016 presidential race, Super Bowl anything, and deflated-footballs anything. And I think that the whole Boehner-Netanyahu thing is going to ripen like a Carlotta cheese mold for another week or two, so we can wait on that.

Today's toons were drawn 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 – after being left in the unsupervised care of some unnnamed person on the Patriots' payroll. (Oh, lighten up. Of course the fix was in. But it's 2015; I'm not even certain that cheating is against the rules in sports anymore.)


p3 Order of the Annuciation of the Theme: Tom Toles.

p3 Best of Show: Jim Morin.

p3 Legion of Exceptional Merit: Milt Priggee.

p3 Political Bestiary Award: Jeff Danziger.

p3 "Sympathy for the Devil" Medal: Scott Stantis.

p3 Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium: Pat Bagley.

p3 World Toon Review: Martin Sutovec (Slovakia), Ingrid Rice (Canada), Christo Komarnitski (Bulgaria), and Miguel Villalba Sánchez (Spain).

(Okay, fine, one "Romney pulls out" toon from Dana Summers. But that's it. I mean it.)


Ann Telnaes watches as John McCain's favorite candidate for the 2016 GOP nomination confuses . . . wait – what's that phrase for a comparison that makes no logical sense?


Mark Fiore's Suzie Newsykins marks the passing of a partner in peace.


Tom Tomorrow raises an interesting point: How did right-wing pseudo-science exist before the invention of air-quotes?


Keith Knight examines the free exchange of political thought.


Tom the Dancing Bug worked so diligently to set up his joke I decided to break another of my above-stated rules today. (And for those who are curious, Chagrin "rhymes with pig-pen" Falls is a real town.)


Does Red Meat's The Old Cowboy wish he could quit Lyle?


The Comic Strip Curmudgeon returns to the question: What is the deal with Heathcliff's garbage? (No one will be seated during the terrifying cat-aphrodisiac scene!)


Comic Strip of the Day begins by magically knowing the reason I pay even the slightest attention to pro sports. (Is he psychic? Spoiler: Nah.) I guess this breaks the third of my above-mentioned promises. See what even the thought of Koch money does? It corrupts.


Don't worry about me – I've got plenty of food! And right now I'm going swimmin'! On the heels of last week's New England blizzard, but just in time for tomorrow's rodent ritual, comes one of the very few golden-age cartoons that actually involve a groundhog. "Pantry Panic," directed by Walter Lantz in 1941 from a story by Ben Hardaway and Lowell Elliot, hangs on what would become a standard Woody Woodpecker peg: Woody's pretty irresponsible. Uncredited voice work by Portland's own Mel Blanc as Woody (the laugh); Danny Webb as Woody (the dialogue), Korny Kat, and the Moose; and Sara Berner and Bernice Hansen as the birds – all uncredited. Prof. Weatherby Groundhog might have been voiced by story guy Ben Hardaway – this was only the third Woody Woodpecker cartoon and it appears that both voice casting and character design were still somewhat in flux.






The Big, And Getting Bigger Since We Welcomed Back The Departed, Oregon Toon Block:

Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman looks at the blizzard forecast last week.

Possibly Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen brings us a real double-threat: Someone whos not only is already being touted as a potential running mate for whoever the 2016 GOP nominee might turn out to be, but is a lifestyle coach, too!

Matt Bors doesn't like the looks of the trend lines.

Jesse Springer wonders which cloud is currently hanging over the governor's mansion.




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

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