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Last Call: When Obama/Gates Cartoons Are All the Same Draft
Perhaps more than anything, the purest aspect of political cartooning is the ability to distill. To distill an idea, to concentrate a truth. So when you've suddenly got a "beer summit" falling into your creative lap, you root around for an iconic phrase or image that you can graft your distilled metaphor on to.
Budweiser Clydesdales? Not so much. Smug Heineken speeches? Uhh, no. You need to tap something that summarizes the entrenched depths of the brouhaha.
Ah, you're way ahead of me. Arguably only one beer brand's ad copy fits the occasion to a T. The catch is: You've got to be way ahead of everyone else, too.
Here are just three cartoons that struck the same vein of cartoon gold. Even with fewer political cartoonists in daily-newspaper perches, it seems there's always at least two great minds that...well, you get the idea. To wit:
JEFF DARCY (courtesy of cagle.com)
JERRY HOLBERT (courtesy of cagle.com)
MIKE LUCKOVICH (courtesy of cagle.com)
If you've seen other cartoons that tap this same idea, you're invited to share them links.
By
Michael Cavna
| July 31, 2009; 2:05 PM ET
Categories:
The Political Cartoon
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Posted by: kilby | August 3, 2009 12:39 AM | Report abuse
It was a good idea, and ALL were funny. I think MC's order helped. It looked like the argument was escalating and O was getting more and more POd.
Posted by: filfeit | August 3, 2009 7:19 AM | Report abuse
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There should have been a poll to choose which of these three identical cartoons is the best (or worst). Another idea would have been a poll to divide the readership chorus into two chanting sections:
a) BORING MATERIAL!!!
b) LAZY CARTOONISTS!!!
Seriously, it would have been nice to see even ONE cartoon take the ultra-obvious cue just a little bit further than merely repeating the exact text of the beer commercial.