Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The willow is too close to the house.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Republicans in disarray!

This really is a full service blog.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Everybody saw this coming.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread Excellent Read: “The Plutocrat Primary”

Open Thread Excellent Read: “The Plutocrat Primary”

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koch primary keep twerking

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)
.

Timothy Egan, at the NYTimes:

… We are in the “invisible primary,” an apt term for the age of oligarchs and dark money. It’s invisible, this suck-up campaign, because it’s happening behind the closed doors of a wealthy few, as a half-dozen or so Republicans audition to win the blessing of billionaires. It should be called the Plutocrat Primary.

Having already pledged to put together a political network that would spend close to $900 million to determine who runs the country, the Kochs are getting close to selecting a favorite for president. Normally, the Kochs stay out of presidential primaries. But this year, they’re cutting to the chase, trying to pick a nominee and a president.

On Monday, the Brothers K seemed to tip their hand, gushing over Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Election over, call it a campaign. Why bother to go through the motions of voting? The Kochs have spoken.

But then, Walker went full Glenn Beck, while talking to Glenn Beck, and appeared to come out in favor of curbing legal immigration, a new position to go with his complete flip-flop on illegal immigration. The Kochs need immigrants, both at the low end and the high end of their vast empire of energy and related companies. And of course, as one of the nation’s top corporate polluters, they’ve always needed politicians.

So, David Koch has now clarified the position of the electorate of two. It’s down to five candidates: Walker, Jeb Bush, and Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. The billionaire brothers will withhold their backing until one of the five says the most Koch-friendly things. “What we expect them to do is compete on who has a more positive message for America,” David Koch told USA Today.

The Kochs’ political views are like an invasive weed growing in every crack of the country, spreading through think tanks, corrupt academics and talk radio shills. In economics, the Koches have long professed opposition to letting a single entity — usually government — pick winners and losers in the market.

But with this bigfoot move into the Republican primary field, the Kochs are determined to pick a winner from the throne room of their family monarchy — free market and free election be damned. At the same time, a secret Koch memo unearthed by Politico shows that the family-run political machine plans an exhaustive ground game, embedding hundreds of staffers in communities across America, starting this year..

Reader Interactions

174Comments

  2. 2.

    Mike G

    Tell us again, Repukes on the Supreme Court, how all this money doesn’t influence elections or lead to corruption?
    Justice Magoo, any response?

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Cervantes:

    Like it or not, prostitutes are generally coded as female in our culture. It would be difficult to come up with a shorthand way of conveying “male prostitutes.” Unless they were all Fred Garman.

  7. 7.

    Cervantes

    @Mnemosyne (tablet):

    Like it or not

    Well, I don’t!

    As far as I can see, these men — even just the ones in the cartoon — have each done and will do far more damage than any (purely sexual) female prostitute!

    Anyhow, it’s not a big deal. Just seemed a tad ironic, not to say unfair.

  9. 9.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Cervantes:
    It is unfair, but for a comic I don’t see any way around it. This is definitely part of our warped cultural sexual tropes. Men selling sex to women has just about disappeared as a publicly acknowledged concept, and with it archtypes of what they might look like.

  12. 12.

    RaflW

    @Frankensteinbeck: and men selling sex to men, aka hustling, is generally not acknowledged either.

    Though it would on some level be more accurate a metaphor. The GOP candidates are certainly working their hustle for a handful of (repulsive) sugar daddies.

  13. 13.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @Cervantes: Yeah. It’s sort of the opposite; the Court decided that because money does influence elections, using it qualifies as protected speech. Anthony Kennedy gave a tortured rationale that says that money both does and doesn’t affect elections, but I’m long past the point of expecting coherence from him.

  14. 14.

    Not Adding Much to the Community

    Can we get a list of where those ‘hundreds of staffers’ will be deployed? Asking for a firebomber friend.

  18. 18.

    El Caganer

    This is really spooky – it sounds an awful lot like an article I read a day or two ago about how ISIS became so strong, by covertly inserting its agents into communities throughout Iraq and Syria and gaining intelligence on everybody before it even made a move.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: For what it’s worth, I don’t think you should feel bad about the timing of your Kickstarter. You had given us a lot of heads up that you were aiming for April 15, and I don’t know that it would have made sense for you to wait another month because of another Kickstarter. My two cents.

  23. 23.

    FlyingToaster

    @Cervantes: That map is where they’ve already got crazies in place. New Hampster has a D governor but their House is certifiable (as usual). They control Arizona and Wisconsin and Florida and… you get the picture.

    I don’t think either Ohio or Illinois is likely to fall for their BS. Iowa and Pennsylvania, maybe, maybe not.

    But its hardly a 50 state strategy.

    @Cervantes:

    Va-ja-jay means no support from Birchers.

  25. 25.

    Ouilmetter

    Just found out through a surprising act of journalism from our local rag that mostly delivers real estate ads, that Koch funded Americans for prosperity illinois helped defeat local referenda to improve local parks/beaches. Apparently, this organization targeted my village because it opposes all potential tax increases/ debt obligations. Prior to the elections, I was amazed at how organized and well funded the opposition was. Now I know. I’m truly shocked that conservative organizations are getting involved at this level. Liberals need to organize at thE local level and get involved. And I need to practice what I’m now preaching.

  26. 26.

    Cervantes

    @FlyingToaster:

    That map is where they’ve already got crazies in place.

    There are various maps. The one on their page 7 shows what they did last year. The second map, the one I referred to above, is captioned thus: “For 2015 […] AFP will be devoting additional resources to the following states to pressure state and federal lawmakers:” And the map on their page 1 shows in red the states they’re attacking for the first time in 2015.

  29. 29.

    Chris

    So, instead of being controlled by a fairly small, restricted nebula of very wealthy donors, the Republican Party is about to be controlled by just one (okay, two, attached at the hip) very wealthy donor?

  32. 32.

    mainmata

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: The rationale was even more idiotic. So long as the bag man did not give the money for an explicit and publicly known quid pro quo, it was okay. It is the announced: “Hey I’m giving him money for something I want”, which was so patently ridiculous. The current conservative SCOTUS majority will go down as one of the worst and most consequential in history.

  35. 35.

    Ouilmetter

    @Chris: I knew they are up to no good, but I had no idea about the pervasiveness of their effort until it it hit home, literally. I’m still not sure about how to best fight them. Money feels never adequate enough (they have us beat). Time to get involved, but what is the best way to make an impact?

  36. 36.

    schrodinger's cat

    Sexist much? Why portray these GOP knuckle-draggers as hookers with fake breasts and such? When it would be far more appropriate to portray them as pimps, ready to sell their country and its citizenry to the highest bidder?

  38. 38.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Cervantes:
    I am profoundly unscared by that document. It has ‘If we pay ourselves LOTS of money and come up with cool enough buzzwords, we’re sure to win!’ written all over it. It’s so MBA it’s hysterical.

  39. 39.

    Major Major Major Major

    If I say ‘prostitute’, you’ll think of a woman. And the only sex workers I know are men. You gotta use the dominant cultural symbolism in political cartoons if you expect people to get it.
    /gradstudent

    The Koch’s are a disaster for this country and planet. I’d guess they’ll go with JEB since he’s got that plan to outsource his campaign through a PAC already in the works. I’d be surprised if they handed the coronation to any of the senators.

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: I care! I’m just waiting for the video of just Obama so I don’t have to listen to all the bullshit speeches.

    edit: or, what baud said.

  54. 54.

    Ruckus

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    Isn’t being offensive and insulting the whole point of the cartoon? These guys are offensive and insulting, granted not in the way you mean, but how else do you get the idea across that they have sold what little of their humanity they have in the first place to the highest bidder? Of course I’d imagine that most hookers have a lot more humanity in the first place….

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: That cartoon doesn’t say “hooker” to me. No hookers I’ve seen, for real or on TV, dressed like that. I just wondered why they dressed them up like women.

  60. 60.

    raven

    @Baud: I think it goes back to my old man who coached all the American sports and hated the screaming on the hockey broadcasts.

  63. 63.

    Chris

    @Ouilmetter:

    First time I heard of Koch Industries was in Paul Krugman’s “Conscience of a Liberal” – there’s a section that includes a few short examples of think tanks, media outlets, lobbying groups et al that’re all funded by the same few big names, Koch being one of them (among others like the Castle Rock Foundation, Earhart Foundation, Richard Mellon Scaife). In the years since I’ve read it, though, the Kochs definitely seem to have distinguished themselves and started to stand out from the rest of the herd. The other thing is that what Krugman was describing was still big picture stuff, trying to control national politics and Washington, whereas what you’re talking about is scary in terms of just how far down the ladder they want to go to corrupt people. Realizing that the mayor you’ve seen campaigning at all these town hall meetings is in the pocket of the Kochs, in its own way, hits even harder than finding that our about the people who run the nation.

    @efgoldman:

    Touche. I meant in terms of the monopolization of all political and civil power into the control of one organization that nobody elected, but you’re right to remind me that even then, Tammany Hall was more populist than the Koch-run equivalent would ever be.

  65. 65.

    Bill Murray

    In economics, the Koches have long professed opposition to letting a single entity — usually government — pick winners and losers in the market.

    Aren’t they really opposed to letting a single entity that isn’t themselves pick winners and losers?

  73. 73.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:
    You must not live or work in the seedier sides of LA. 30 yrs ago I used to see hookers on corners around downtown and they dressed a lot like that. A yr ago I saw two on north Lankershim in the SF valley. And they sure weren’t dressed any better. So my first thought is hooker. Of course the name tags may have swayed my thinking a bit as well.

  79. 79.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Ruckus:

    Of course I’d imagine that most hookers have a lot more humanity in the first place….

    I’m in favor of anything that put pimps of any stripe out of business-sexual or political.

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: That will be fun to watch! I seriously think the president could make a living as a stand-up comedian. He’s got great timing and I think he’s really funny.

    I hope we get at least one of the patented Obama chuckles where he laughs at his own joke. I love it when he does that.

  84. 84.

    Cervantes

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Semi-naked under a streetlamp? It doesn’t say hooker to you?

    Well, I guess the street-lamp might be more immediately significant to people if the scene were nocturnal. Meanwhile, given the use in the press of the word “audition,” people might look upon the bevy as a group of beauty-pageant contestants (or some such).

    Does it say Lili Marlene? :)

    What a wonderful song that was.

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: Really?! They don’t show that much skin around here. It’s a lot of really tight clothes in wild colors, possibly animal print. Maybe I need to get out more in the hooker areas in the summer…

  90. 90.

    Ouilmetter

    @Chris: Yes, exactly! I am truly horrified that they saw fit to involve themselves in local bs. The wolves are literally at my door. And I’m in blue Illinois, Jan Schakowsky’s district. I guess I’m part of the problem, need to be more involved.

  93. 93.

    Ruckus

    @Chris:
    In a previous life I had to get information from Koch Petroleum. Just talking on the phone to their employees made me want to take a boiling hot shower and at the time I had no idea who the owners were or what crap they believe in. After finding out an acid bath seems more appropriate.

  94. 94.

    fuckwit

    I think the cartoon is more offensive to sex workers by comparing them to this group of sleazeballs.

  95. 95.

    satby

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I shared it on FB to two musicians I know. It’s not doing so well and he doesn’t have a lot of weeks left. I’m a bit tapped now because I hit yours and Bella Q’s funders, but I should get another paycheck before Ajabu’s Kickstarter ends. 50 years is something to commemorate!

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: I wondered what the pointy yellow boobs were about. Clearly I missed the boat with this cartoon.

    @Baud: Good catch! I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it’s not an accident.

    @lamh36: That is so awesome. I can’t wait to see it. He goes right to the edge with these routines, and maybe a bit sharper than that, but then he smiles that big smile and who couldn’t be charmed by that? (I will answer my own question: the republican assholes)

  106. 106.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:
    Don’t bother. I know I’ll catch crap for this but the cartoon assholes look better than some of the local talent I’ve seen vending on street corners. The cartoon morons do look much scarier though and I’m sure that whatever they have is much deadlier if you catch it.

  110. 110.

    lamh36

    POTUS did something right…journos already whining.

    @JoshuaGreen
    Awfully sour humor from Obama

    @CNNPolitics 7s7 seconds ago
    Obama: White House installed a new security system for drones #WHCD http://cnn.it/1z1cIDa

  111. 111.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ruckus:

    I know I’ll catch crap for this but the cartoon assholes look better than some of the local talent I’ve seen vending on street corners

    Girls working the streets don’t tend to be the higher end of the profession.

  113. 113.

    dmbeaster

    @Cervantes:

    The Court has never said that.

    They effectively said the same thing. The money quote from the Kennedy opinion was We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption

    Traditionally, restraints on speech in the form of limiting donations to political campaigns was justified based on legitimate concerns of corruption or the appearance of corruption. Kennedy threw all of that into the trash can by holding that there was no such legitimate concern, and therefore the restrictions on speech could not survive the strict scrutiny standards for such restraints. In essence, there was no legitimate concern for such limits on contribution because the large sums of money was neither corrupting nor likely to appear corrupt. It is utter crap reasoning. Just six months earlier, Kennedy held that a WV judge had to recuse himself from a case because his re election campaign had received 3 million from a litigant. Apparently that gave rise to an appearance of corruption, but Koch contributing nearly a billion dollars does not.

  114. 114.

    lamh36

    Well damn…

    @TheRoot 2m2 minutes ago
    According to @CecilyStrong @SecretService is the only law enforcement agency to get in trouble if a black man gets shot #nerdprom @WHCD2015

  116. 116.

    Valdivia

    @lamh36:

    yep Obama is sour now for calling them out on all their bs. He was very funny. He’s the best with no fucks left to give.

  119. 119.

    Ruckus

    @Chris:
    Hard to describe. Extremely sleazy, pompous and arrogant. To start with. Dismissive that anyone would question them. All the other petroleum companies I dealt with, from little to huge were normal business discussions about products and directions, more than willing to hook me up with engineers if necessary.

  121. 121.

    Cervantes

    @dmbeaster:

    They effectively said the same thing.

    How do you figure that?

    The money quote from the Kennedy opinion was We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption

    How is that “effectively” the same thing as “money doesn’t influence elections”?

  122. 122.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lamh36: “I still depre-appreciate the work you are doing.” I am almost crying with laughter.

    ETA: The whole damn thing was brilliant. The Hillary comments were interesting, yes?

  126. 126.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: I don’t know what was wrong with me – I read that again before I saw your reply, and it made complete sense, in a horrifying way.

  127. 127.

    Valdivia

    @lamh36:

    that’s like a dream come true for me. Have been wanting to have him do that with the anger translator since forever. Thank you POTUS!

  129. 129.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lamh36: I loved that Obama started to “go there” himself. And I was buying into every word.

    @Valdivia: @WaterGirl: Hi, and echoed. Your presence here is valued and missed when you are not around.

  131. 131.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: That was my favorite part! I could not believe that the president was able to keep a straight face through the whole Luther segment. So impressive!

  133. 133.

    Valdivia

    @WaterGirl:

    hi there! great to see you too. I mostly lurk since life is hectic. But I follow the conversation silently. :)
    Had to come here and talk about how offended the Village was by POTUS. He was hilarious.
    hope things are good with you!

  136. 136.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    blush!

    Thank you. This is the only place where I find political sanity, even if I only lurk here mostly. I enjoy reading the late night threads and following the music :)

    Hope you’ve been well yourself.

  137. 137.

    lamh36

    @Omnes Omnibus: my fav bit too.

    When Obama “really” got angry and even Luther was like…naw.

    Plus on the regular feed, Luther also interacted with MO.

    The WH feed doesn’t show that.

  138. 138.

    Helen

    Haven’t read the thread so sorry if I am repeating what someone else said but…

    Just watched the entire nerd prom and the only big thing I took away from it was that Nino looks unbelievable old. YAY !!

    And Jane Fonda looks unbelievably young. YAY TOO!!

    Now I’ll read the thread.

  139. 139.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Valdivia: We can use your voice here. Please comment when you can. Even if it is only about horrible dates with people who turn out to be GOP lobbyists.

    @lamh36:

    When Obama “really” got angry and even Luther was like…naw.

    Was there a line from Luther (offscreen) saying something like, “That m-f’s crazy.”? Or did I imagine it?

  141. 141.

    Cervantes

    @Helen:

    And Jane Fonda looks unbelievably young.

    Good.

    I still miss her dad, bitterly.

    Not ready to start missing her as well.

  143. 143.

    lamh36

    .POTUS trolling both HRC and O’Malley at ‪#‎WHPC‬
    “”Martin O’Malley went unrecognized at a Martin O’Malley campaign event.”

    Obama: “”Martin O’Malley went unrecognized at a Martin O’Malley campaign event.”

    “These are uncertain times. I have one friend—she used to make millions of $ a year—she’s now living out of a van in Iowa.” #WHCD

  144. 144.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    :)

    I haven’t been on a date in….such a long time! I think even a lobbyist would look good at the moment. Ok. not really but you get what I mean.
    I am trying to apportion time better and spend more of it doing the things that I enjoy, commenting here included.
    thanks for your words. really brighten the day.

  145. 145.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Valdivia: Your dad? Just remember that a good number of us like you, hope you are doing well, and hope you will keep us informed.

  148. 148.

    WaterGirl

    That was so good, I am going to watch it again tomorrow!

    I actually snorted the first time he said “bucket”. High praise, indeed!

  149. 149.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    my dad is well, stable. My mom had to have brain surgery too, in January, but she recovered very fast and very well. And thankfully the teaching has kept me sane. Silver linings right?

    thanks again, really, being inside one’s head one can forget so your words mean a lot.

  152. 152.

    divF

    @Major Major Major Major:

    And the only sex workers I know are men.

    The politicians in the cartoon look like men to me. They aren’t even wearing wigs (well, except Rand Paul, but I think that Luckovich may have been making a subtle comment in that case).

    Kinky clientele, though.

  154. 154.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    One time while late night channel surfing, came upon Jimmy Swaggart preachinghectoring an audience at some large venue in Argentina.

    A translator was standing next to him, and I kept it on for a bit to check the accuracy of the translation, just to pass some time.

    Anyway, Swaggart would say a sentence or two, then the translator would repeat what had been said in Spanish.

    At one point Swaggart went off on some tangent that didn’t come close to being comprehensible in English.

    The translator froze in place, a classic wide-eyed WTF look adorning his suddenly paler face. About 4 or 5 seconds passed in silence until, obviously stumped, the translator shouted out ¡Halleleujah!

  155. 155.

    WaterGirl

    @Valdivia: wow, tough year! big hugs, and what omnes said: don’t just lurk, talk to us. :-)

    Omnes, autocorrect drives me crazy when I type your name. It usually wants to turn your name into “omens”, but today it did something new.

  157. 157.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    yes its been a tough one but got keep on keeping on right? :)

    @WaterGirl:

    I promise to come here and talk it out. Hopefully with some better stories soon. Hugs back!

    @Cervantes:
    thank you so much.

    You guys are the best/ gets teary.

  161. 161.

    Cervantes

    @Valdivia:

    “What does not kill me makes me stronger,” said Nietzsche in Twilight of the Idols.

    (On the other hand, the book was sub-titled How to Philosophize with a Hammer, which tells you something.)

    @WaterGirl:

    Omnes, autocorrect drives me crazy when I type your name. It usually wants to turn your name into “omens”, but today it did something new.

    You know, on most platforms it’s possible to add words (and even “words”) to the dictionary used by the auto-correct function. I have to quit now but I’m sure someone else can explain how to do it.

    Enjoy the evening.

  162. 162.

    Valdivia

    @Cervantes:

    Reading him can be like philosophizing with a hammer. Boy I have memories of reading him!
    A calm couple of months would be nice though :)

  163. 163.

    Ruckus

    @Cervantes:
    Even better, you can turn autocorrect off. You can still have a spelling checker but it just underlines or highlights if it thinks you can’t spell for beans. Like in this comment, autocorrect is underlined. Now if I click on it I can add it to the local dictionary. Or ignore it if I so choose.

  164. 164.

    Ruckus

    @Valdivia:
    Hope you find that calm couple of months. And that they stretch into much longer. If you find out where they are kept, could you share?

  166. 166.

    Zinsky

    Let’s not get to a-flutter over cartoons here, gang. Wahabbists are incensed by cartoons – and I sure as hell don’t want to be associated with them in any way, shape or form.

  167. 167.

    Cervantes

    @Zinsky:

    Wahabbists are incensed by cartoons – and I sure as hell don’t want to be associated with them in any way, shape or form.

    That’s good thinking.

    And if Wahabbists are also incensed by, say, e. coli contamination in their food, then what?

  168. 168.

    Sourmash

    @Ouilmetter: Do yiu have a link to evidence? I grew up two blocks from Langdon and my folks are still there. I heard the referendum failed but had no idea the Kochs were in on it. I thought it was a crappy design, especially for Langdon, and I think they’ll get something better passed but Jesus my folks will be furiur that there was afp involvement. There’s a strong group of progressives there and they’ll mobilize to make this work.

  169. 169.

    Zinsky

    @Cervantes: Are Wahabbists incensed by E. Coli bacterium? I think the faulty logic is yours. I’m simply saying the people on this thread who say they are insulted or incensed by this cartoon need to grow a little thicker skin. Maybe you too.

  170. 170.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    900 billion buys a lot of grifters, but why do the Brother K think that will over come those polling issues? Or has no bother to mention that their canidate of chose actually has to win an election.

  172. 172.

    Cervantes

    @Zinsky:

    Are Wahabbists incensed by E. Coli bacterium? I think the faulty logic is yours.

    Do tell!

    I’m simply saying the people on this thread who say they are insulted or incensed by this cartoon need to grow a little thicker skin.

    No, had you simply said that, that would have been one thing.

    Instead you commented: “Wahabbists are incensed by cartoons – and I sure as hell don’t want to be associated with them in any way, shape or form.”

    See the difference?

    Maybe you too.

    I just found your comment somewhat questionable — and so I questioned it. You don’t have to get the point if you really, really don’t want to!

  173. 173.

    Howard Beale IV

    @NotMax:

    One time while late night channel surfing, came upon Jimmy Swaggart preachinghectoring an audience at some large venue in Argentina.

    A translator was standing next to him, and I kept it on for a bit to check the accuracy of the translation, just to pass some time.

    Mental note: NotMax is either a sadist or a masochist-maybe both.

  174. 174.

    J R in WV

    For those women who were upset by the cartoon, remember that there are no women in the cartoon. It has almost nothing to do with real women, but much to do with republican candidates for POTUS.

    Political cartoonists must deal with the most complex ideas and events in society, with few or no words, in one or two panels of cartoon. It’s pretty easy to just jab hard at a target, but much more difficult to deal with human complexity while making a point that is sometimes obscure.

    I think Luckovitch is among the very best at walking this thin line between gross humor and accurate political satire. YMMV, of course, and I try to respect different opinions among my friends and allies, leaving Rs out of that equation.

    Since this cartoon is obviously not about women, I don’t think women should take away the feeling that they have been targeted. Republican candidates, on the other hand…..

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