Newt-Hogs Day

In this cartoon there are two groundhogs reading a billboard with a picture of republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on it. On the billboard Gingrich is saying "And I'm not going ANYWHERE!" This is in response to the Super Tuesday results. Even though he didn't win a single state he will not bow out off the race. After reading this, one of the groundhogs say "Looks like six more months of Newt...". This is the clear irony of the cartoon, we celebrate Groundhog day to see if winter will end soon and the groundhogs in this cartoon represent republicans that can't wait to get rid of Gingrich.

Romney Exploration Committee

 

This cartoon shows Mitt Romney exploring in a forest. The first thing he says is "NOTHING TO SEE SO FAR... ALL A BLUR... EMPTY SPACE, LACKING FOCUS, A VAGUE, SHIFTING FOG....". The second quotation reads "OH WAIT. THIS IS A MIRROR." This cartoon voices most republicans' problem with Romney. All of the "observations" made by Romney in his first quote are actually critisisms by republicans. they feel as though he changes his ideals when he changes states in order to win votes. This cartoon is liberal.

Super Tuesday Wish

This cartoon shows the republican elephant wearing four casts sitting on a bench. On each of the casts there is the name of one of the four remaining presidential candidates (even though now santorum dropped out). The elephant is saying "with any luck,Ill get to take one of these off today!" This cartoon is saying that overall the republican presidential candidates are liabilities to the republican party; Because Super Tuesday passed  we can say it is good that at least Santorum resigned. This cartoon is on  the conservative side.

Let The Republican Race Begin

Why'd I choose this picture to start? Because whether the first day or middle of the race, it is the most accurate depiction of the race we've been seeing! It's every man for himself out there. And I chose this particular phrase to start off because it was undeniable that everyone would have they're own opinions, and I believe that EVERONE out there has that one candidate they would pick anyone or anything over. And what really stood out to me was that, what seems to be all the Republican participants all having their say about one another, there's that one pin, the only one with the reversed color scheme. Can you tell which one I mean? No matter how much turmoil goes on in the Republican party, they'res one thing they will all come to a concensus on. "ANYONE BUT OBAMA." As long as the power will go into they're hands, they'll figure out who can lead later on. The picture is a representation of all the candidates in the beginning of the election now, which officially commenced back in the end of 2011. The ideological perspective of this picture just might be some kind of mockery towards the right sided conservatives. They can't do so much as at least not slander the other opponents by NOT making buttons expressing they're efforts for certain candidates not to win? Guess not. 
       Satire relates to this picture because it is a humorous way to view a more exaggerated but current version of the reality of the situation. It's ironic because you'd think candidates would at least respect themselves and not turn on each other like that

Well, good to know I’m not the only one that loves liberty.

 This week we'll be taking a closer look at the lovely, blatant Mrs. Palin, and whether its twenty days or twenty years, this political go-getter has certainly proved never to trail too far off from any campaign spotlight. Since she proved unsuccessful in the last race, she now has renewed hopes on becoming the new running mate and hopefully vice president for the 2012 election.

        So let's start with the title of this piece. "Sarah Palin and Lady Liberty." Just from the title you can assume that the picture is a representation of the two figures in unity, right? I mean, it is Lady Liberty. How could she not be in unity with everyone. Well, not in this picture. These words are ambiguous, leaving quite a bit of room for speculation, and after seeing the picture itself, one can come to the possible conclusion its some kind of mockery? Maybe. In this picture you see one of the most popular symbols of freedom in the United States, Lady Liberty, and polititian Sarah Palin. In this cartoon, you see a lively Palin announcing that she and the famous symbol of freedom herself are "...just two freedom-lovin' gals!" As she says this, Ms. Liberty is eager to flick her off the top of her head! Can this be seen as a clash of beliefs? I think so. Maybe to Palin, both of these women stand on the same grounds in terms of they're beliefs, but Ms. Liberty says otherwise. This relates to a very current event, which is Palin being re-nominated for the position of vice president in the 2012 presidential race on behalf of the Republican party. This relates to our in class discussions because we've been following the campaign trail closly (hence these blogs). And oh, to me this entire picture practically spews satire! The hidden mockery of Palin taking a stance on her being a freedom lover is a little silly, because if you examine her political ideology, you can sit and ask yourslef, freedom for what, or who?

He Shoots but Will He Score?

March Madness. The time of year when all the basketball fans get together and watch they're teams either fail in a well played season, or some lucky fans get to watch their boys bring home the gold. So what's all this got to do with the race? Well, in honor of the month, one witty cartoonist gives us a wonderful drawing of our friend Mr. Gingrich, and him being on the court because, according to him, "he still has a shot". The title of this piece is "March Madness" (as you can see at the bottom of the drawing), and you see here what would be a regular basketball game. Except aspiring Republican candidate Newt Gingrich is playing. And he happens to be around the same size as the sneakers of the players. Could his extremely small size signify his inability to finish off the race and succeed? And although he is so small, you can see Newt strongly suggesting otherwise, contradicting the beliefs of many others. In the cartoon you can see that Newt is struggling, but still pushing himself to shoot the ball and hopefully score points for  team Gingrich. You can see all the larger figures doing everything to block him from scoring. Could these figures represent the other Republican candidates, and show that they are trying to do what they can to stop him from pushing forward? Or could these figures be a metaphorical representation of Gingrich's own beliefs, and how him being such a radical conservative is what will ultimately stand in his way for the Republican Presidential nomination. This picture relates to a current political event because this is a picture of the current position if you will, of Mr. Gingrich. Because he is so far right, statistics have shown he is progressively losing popularity amongst many voters. This picture relates to our in-class discussions because we just finished discussing the political spectrum and ideology and what these things are. This picture has many influences of the satirical and ironic natures. For one, as said before, it is ironic how small Gingrich is on the scale of all the other shown players, and how he is still expressing his belief that he will make it. He cannot even hold the ball (or his own  campaign) right, and shoot it so that he will score the majority of the votes and his numbers will go up. As for the Gingrich campaign, we'll just have to see if his numbers will rise, or they'll plummit in a failed effort to succeed. 

Leap of faith

This cartoon has an old guy dressed in the American Flag, he has a e-voting bookbag/air plane, and he is jumping of a cliff. The sign above him says leap of faith, and under him there is a stack of paper ballots stacked up. I think this cartoon is trying to represent the upgrade from the traditional paper ballots, to a more advanced way of voting; which is e-voting (using technology). The reason why it says leap of faith is because we are not sure that this new way of voting will work, but it is worth to take a chance.

Will my vote count?

This political cartoon is about voting. The ballot is electronic. The old guy is the person that watches the voting area, and he is sited outside the voting booth. The person in line wants to vote but she asks what are the odds that her vote will actually count. She asks this on the behalf of many people. Because it is only one vote how do we know that our vote will actually matter. One vote doesn't matter but if everybody votes it won't only be one vote it will be many votes together, and that is when our vote has an effect. This is why we have to encourage more and more people to vote, because 100 is better than 1.

NunofAbove

This political cartoon is about the 2012 election. The elephant is the announcer and he says "finally, a candidate that can beat Obama'. On his right there is a flag that says vote for "nunofabove 2012." This is trying to say that the current candidates running against Obama have no chance in actually winning the election and beating Obama. The person who created the cartoon could be democratic since he/she thinks that none of the current republican candidate can beat Obama.

Voting

 

This political cartoon is about voting. It is trying to show that many people vote just to vote; and they do not actually know why they chose the certain candidate. This cartoon shows a woman voting. She looks  like she knows what she is doing on the out side, but the cartoon is telling us that she really does not know. The electronic cable that connects the voting machine to the outlet is knotted up in a big question mark. To me this makes me understand that the woman blindly chose a random candidate without any prior knowledge behind her vote.

Political Quicksand

             

This cartoon represents Obama, and his new way of opening new jobs and opportunity. The thin branch is the "jobs bill', Obama is hanging down the thin branch hoping that he could hold on and that the branch won't break. At the same time he is in the political quicksand which pulls him down. In real life the branch represents the jobs bill and him holding on represents him being able to pass the jobs bill and him succeeding in opening up new jobs for people. He looks uncomfortable in the cartoon meaning that this jobs bill is not very successful. The political quicksand represents the government that can change at anytime pulling Obama and his plan down. Therefore this cartoon has a pretty negative view on Obama's job bill.

Jobs-O-Matic

 The title of this cartoon is called "jobs-o-matic." It has to do with the re-election of Obama. I think this cartoon is making fun a little bit of Obama. I think that because it says "and if you act right now, I will throw this nifty yard sign absolutely free." That sign is not much ( it does not have too much valor), but the cartoon makes it seem that it is very important. This symbolizes that If you vote for Obama you can hope that he will open up more jobs, but of  low quality. Obama is wearing an apron, and it  seems like he is working at a fast food place. He also want to bribe people into voting for him, but with little success, because the prize they get it is of so little valor.