Q Toon: Buttigieg Out

Pete Buttigieg's suspension of his presidential race caught me just as I was about to draw something else for Q Syndicate, and it was something of a scramble to come up with a cartoon marking his withdrawal. Given that the syndicate's market is the LGBTQ+ press, I figured it was what those editors would want.

Even though one or two of the other candidates in this cartoon were bound to drop out after Super Tuesday.

Originally, this cartoon had Amy Klobuchar in it, but then she pulled out of the race just a few hours after I sent my cartoon off to the syndicate. Fortunately, I had put her somewhere where she was easy to remove — although that bit of plaid betrays where she had been. (It's gone from the higher-resolution files I sent chasing after the first emails to Q Syndicate.)

Some of my newspapers won't be on the newsstands until Thursday or Friday, by which time the more difficult task of removing Bloomberg and/or Warren is likely to be warranted.

Well, that's the drawback to not having my cartoons printed within a day of being drawn. Events have a way of ganging agley of expectations. For all I know, Tulsi Gabbard could ride her second-place finish in American Samoa all the way to November. And then this cartoon would look pretty stupid.

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Buttigieg's campaign was remarkable in that a young, gay, married, small-city mayor was taken seriously at the presidential level; and that the small-city part, and perhaps the young part, probably ended up being larger obstacles than the gay thing.

What might the future hold for Mayor Pete? The political landscape in Indiana being what it is, he has little chance of being elected to higher office there. He might try taking on four-term Republican Congressman Jackie Walorski, but getting elected Governor or Senator there would be a steep uphill climb. 2020 seems an unlikely year for a Democratic white male presidential nominee to select another white male as his running mate, so perhaps a cabinet post would be a more realistic opportunity.

But the guy showed that he could be taken seriously; so even as he heads into the sunset for now, I hope we haven't heard the last of Pete Buttigieg.

This Week's Sneak Peek

I was all set last night to draw a cartoon for Q Syndicate about Mike Pence, Coronavirus Czar, but I guess it'll have to wait.

Leap Day Toons 1920

February 29 falls on a Saturday only once every 28 years; so in honor of this magical occasion, Siderealback Saturday presents a collection of editorial cartoons that happened to run on Sunday, February 29, 1920.

"There's No Law Against Running for President" by Don Herold in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 29, 1920

Humorist Don Herold was equally at home drawing full-fledged cartoons such as this one, or providing illustrations to his own humor columns. From September 29, 1918 to July 11, 1920, he syndicated a Sunday strip nationally while working at the Indianapolis Star. The Star had stopped running this strip a month before this cartoon appeared, suggesting that the series was self-syndicated.

"Standing Room Only" by Jay N. "Ding" Darling in New York Tribune, February 29, 1920

"Ding" Darling also commented on the crowded field of presidential candidates that day. The eventual winner, Warren Harding, is somewhat hidden toward the back; in spite of Darling's Republican sympathies, the cartoonist never warmed to isolationist candidate Harding. Darling's "Nonpartisan Public," for some reason, seems to be the happiest person on the train.

"The Old Story" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 29, 1920

Speaking of trains: President Wilson had just signed legislation on February 28 returning the railroads, taken over by the government during the war, to private ownership.

"Here's Your Junk..." by Frederick Boyd Stevenson in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 29, 1920

Frederick Stevenson was another writer who dabbled in cartooning. I would differentiate him from Don Herold in that Herold did more than "dabble" in cartooning (but doesn't seem to have kept up any comic title for more than a few years at a time). Furthermore, Stevenson wasn't a humorist in his writing and lecturing at all; illustrating his full-page opinion pieces was often done by one of the Eagle's other artists.

"I Certainly Hate to See Him Go" by Clifford Berryman in Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, February 29, 1920

Interior Secretary Franklin Lane resigned effective at the end of February, so Clifford Berryman drew this fond send-off for him. Canadian-born Lane oversaw construction of the first Alaskan public railway; previous railroads in the territory were privately owned. He also saw a bill regulating oil and coal lands become law at end of his service, so it's somewhat ironic that he went on to work for the oil company that would be the center of the Teapot Dome scandal (although he died well before that scandal broke).

Another cabinet member to leave in February was Secretary of State Robert Lansing. Wilson was angered to learn that Lansing had urged Vice President Marshall to assume presidential duties after Wilson's stroke in September, 1919. It may or may not have been the First Lady who forced Lansing out of office, depending which historian you ask; either way, when Lansing offered his resignation on February 12, the President accepted it.

"Really a Most Remarkable Exhibition..." by Fred Morgan in Philadelphia Inquirer, February 29, 1920

The gravity of Wilson's condition was public knowledge by this time, and so were the reasons for Lansing's resignation. Still, President Wilson must have been healthy enough for a stalwart Republican cartoonist like Fred Morgan to safely criticize the President's "egotism" and "autocracy" as he skated away with Uncle Sam's "U.S. People's Prerogative" hat. The hole in the ice is labeled "League of Nations."

"Proof of Life After Death" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, February 29, 1920

John McCutcheon comments on New Jersey's new, anti-Prohibition Governor, Democrat Edward Edwards. Edwards and his cohorts bring a pulmotor to John Barleycorn's grave and strain to listen for signs of life: "What Does He Say?" asks an aide. Edwards reports, "He says he wants to get into politics."

"Posing for the Allies" by Edwin Marcus in New York Times, February 29, 1920

Turning to foreign affairs: cartoonists had finally figured out what Vladimir Lenin looked like. The New York Times cartoonist put Lenin and Trotsky in this parody of Raphael's putti cherubs. Hidden behind their facade are "Loot," "World Revolution," and a dead female.

"Gasoline Alley" by Frank O. King in Chicago Tribune, February 29, 1920

As long as we're here, I'll take note that by this point, Frank King's "Gasoline Alley" had become a stand-alone comic strip, now independent of his full-page "The Rectangle" feature. "The Rectangle" was discontinued two weeks earlier, along with Sundays' separate editorial section, which it had fronted. "Gasoline Alley" hadn't yet migrated to the color comics section of the Tribune, running instead across the top of page 13, section 7, the start of the Automobile news and advertising pages.

Not to Worry

"The vaccine is coming along well, and then speaking to the doctors, we think this is something that we can develop fairly rapidly, a vaccine for the future, and coordinate with the support of our partners. We have great relationships with all of the countries that we’re talking about, some fairly large number of countries. Some it’s one person. And many countries have no problem whatsoever, and we’ll see what happens. But we’re very, very ready for this, for anything. ...
"This is a list of the different countries. United States is rated number one. Most prepared. United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Thailand, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea, Finland, this is a list of the best rated countries in the world by Johns Hopkins. We’re doing something else that’s important to me, because he’s been terrific in many ways, but he’s also very good on health care and we really followed him very closely. A lot of states do. When Mike was governor, Mike Pence, of Indiana, they’ve established great healthcare, they have a great system there. A system that a lot of the other states have really looked to and changed their systems, they wanted to base it on the Indiana system, it’s very good. He’s really very expert at the field, and what I’ve done is, I’m going to be announcing, exactly right now, that I’m going to be putting our Vice President, Mike Pence, in charge and Mike will be working with the professionals and doctors and everybody else that’s working. The team is brilliant. I spent a lot of time with the team over the last couple of weeks, but they’re totally brilliant and we’re doing really well, and Mike is going to be in charge, and Mike will report back to me. But he’s got a certain talent for this and I’m going to ask Mike Pence to say a few words please. Thank you. Mike?"

Q Toon: Ric's Place

You may never have heard of Richard Grenell, but he has shown up in my cartoons a few times by virtue of his being gay. Religious Right-wingers pressured Mitt Romney to drop him as a foreign policy adviser during Romney's 2012 presidential run. More recently, he has been behind the Trump administration's lip service to LGBTQ issues, at least as far as asking foreign countries to be less homophobic is concerned.

Trump named Grenell as his Ambassador to Germany in September, 2017; he took office the following April. He promptly irked his German hosts by adopting Trump's propensity for Twitter and decidedly undiplomatic language, tweeting in his first day at work a demand for German companies to stop doing business with Iran.

He has weighed in on domestic politics in Germany and elsewhere, praising xenophobic ultra-right-wingers such as Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz and Germany's Alternative für Deutschland Party, and criticizing moderates and liberals including German President Angela Merkel.

On February 10, Trump named Grenell as Acting Director of National Intelligence, replacing Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, who fell afoul of the Corrupt Trump Administration when a subordinate briefed the House Intelligence Committee on Russia's efforts to get Trump reelected. As an "Acting" Director, Grenell bypasses the need for Senate confirmation; he can continue in office until March 11, or, if a permanent Director is nominated before then, until that person takes over.

The Corrupt Trump Administration is riddled with "Acting" officials. Mick Mulvaney has been "Acting" Chief of Staff since January 2, 2019. The Department of Homeland Security has been led by a series of "Acting" Secretaries since April of last year.

Trump has had an acting head of the Small Business Administration for 277 days, which is about one-quarter of his presidency. He’s had one in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency for 234 days, or about 20 percent. The Defense Department has been run by an acting head for 203 days, and the directorate of national intelligence is now at 188 days and counting. Four other Cabinet jobs — attorney general, interior secretary, Veterans Affairs secretary and Health and Human Services secretary — have all had at least 99 days of acting control.

It took seven months for the Senate to confirm Grenell as Ambassador to Germany. Since Trump believes, and the Republican Senate has acquiesced, "I have the right to do whatever I want," don't expect anything to deter Trump from keeping Grenell on as aDNI until the day finally arrives that we become a constitutional republic again.

I only hope I live to see it.

This Week's Sneak Peek

The stein is for keeping her coffee warm.

Primary Cullers

The last couple of Saturday posts ran pretty long and required exhaustive research, so this week, I'm just digging up a handful of my own cartoons and wasting less of your time. Let's take a quick trip down Memory Lane to Primaries Past, shall we?

in UW-Parkside Ranger, February 4, 1988

I've learned not to get too heavily invested in a single favorite candidate this early in the presidential race. Like Bruce Babbitt in 1988 (anybody remember him?) they tend not to fare particularly well. Oh, sure, I'd like to have seen Julián Castro do better this time around, but I'm not bereft or befuddled over his having to drop out before a single vote was cast.

in UW-Parkside Ranger, February 18, 1988

Iowa and New Hampshire have, by virtue of cutting to the head of the line, acquired outsize status in the nominating process. The two have awarded a total of 65 delegates this year, less than 1.5% of the 4,750 that will meet in Milwaukee this July. But three candidates shuttered their campaigns as soon as New Hampshire's votes were in; and for whatever reason, non-white candidates could gain no traction in these two overwhelmingly Caucasian states this year. #PrimariesSoWhite.

for UW-M Post, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 23, 1992

I cast my first presidential vote in Minnesota's 1980 caucuses, which were held on the same day as the New Hampshire primary that year (and were promptly shooed back by the national parties in deference to the Granite State). But ever since, I've voted in Wisconsin's caucus (1984) and primaries, which have usually been held in April.

in UW-Milwaukee Post, February 27, 1992

At the current state of the race, you often hear pundits drooling over the nightmare scenario of a brokered convention. The fact, however, is that by April, the field has winnowed down to two or three candidates, one of whom is on his/her last legs.

But at least we have April 7 all to ourselves this year. In 1996, Wisconsin moved its primary to mid-March and got lumped in with Illinois, Michigan and Ohio in what was dubbed the "Big Ten Primary." Each of those other states were significantly more delegate-rich than the Dairy State. We're not accustomed, as Iowa and New Hampshire voters are, to running into presidential candidates every time we walk out the front door; but in 1996, we saw even less of them than usual.

in Racine, WI Journal Times, March 15, 1996

Moving our presidential primary to March also meant that with Wisconsin's non-partisan elections in April and primaries for those elections in February, voters were asked to come to the polls three times in three months. In 2000, Wisconsin moved its presidential primary back to April.

Wisconsin Democrats and local election officials around the state successfully fought Republican efforts to move up this year's presidential primary, which will be held on the same day as the nominally non-partisan election for the state Supreme Court. There is a de facto partisan Republican majority on the Court, with an appointee of Scott Walker up for election to a full ten-year term this year; Democrats thought that the presidential primary would energize their base enough to vote him out.

What Democrats have failed to consider (aside from the possibility that the nomination might be settled by April 7) is that there will be plenty of Republican voters coming out to elect mayors, school boards, city council members county supervisors, and other non-partisan officials, and to vote on whatever local referenda might be on the ballot. The Democratic presidential primary will be the only openly partisan race on the ballot, and there will be nothing preventing Republicans from voting in it.

Do not be surprised if polls of "likely Democratic voters" prove to be way off the mark.