This cartoon is less self-portrait than it is self-parody. ((Testing the footnotes plugin.)) It was conceived shortly after Joe Biden announced that he won’t be running for re-election, around when Kamala Harris announced Tim Walz, and like practically everyone else I was feeling very happy and optimistic. We might win! Look at all that joy! Look at this adorable video of Walz joking around with his daughter named – get this – “Hope”!
This year’s sudden soar from pessimism to hope was extreme, but I feel something like this almost every presidential elections season. For a while – if only briefly – I found a reason to like politicians like John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden – even thought I knew perfectly well that if they were elected, they would do some things I hate. (Especially but not exclusively in foreign policy.)
Because even though every Democratic administration has done things I disagree with – things I’d even call evil – the Republicans are objectively just as bad, or much worse, on every issue.
(By the way, contrary to panel ten, I don’t do volunteer get-out-the-vote phone calling, because I did cold calling for a living for a couple of years when I was young and I’m still not over it. Instead, I do get-out-the-vote postcarding, but for this cartoon I made it phone calling, because that’s an easier activity to convey in one small panel).
When I thought of this cartoon, my immediate thought was “oh maaaaan, twelve panels!” But I thought it was doable and wouldn’t be a confusing mess to look at, so long as I kept the panels simple and clear. I’m actually really happy with how the comic came out, especially the seasonal color scheme.
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon is a twelve-panel grid, with each panel labeled in large letters at the top with a month – January, February, and so forth. For this transcript, rather than labeling the panels “panel 1” and so on, I’ll use the name of the month.
In addition, there’s a tiny kicker panel under the bottom of the cartoon. Each panel shows the same character – a fat dude with round glasses, a circle beard (the name for “a chin strap and a mustache that meet to form a circle”), and dark hair held in a short pony tail. Put another way, it’s my self-caricature, so I’ll call this dude “Barry.”
JANUARY
Barry, wearing a long black coat and a scarf, is standing on a sidewalk yelling to the sky, his hands clutched in fists.
BARRY: The Democrats are sell-outs!
FEBRUARY
Barry stands outside, wearing a heavy coat with a hood and (again) a scarf. It’s snowing hard. Barry’s arms are crossed and he has a “don’t try talking to me, I already know everything” expression.
BARRY: They’re owned by corporations, just like the GOP!
MARCH
Barry is wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a floral patter over a black t-shirt. He looks angry and is waving a fist in the air.
BARRY: F#&@! the Democrats!
APRIL
Barry is talking into the phone, smirking a little.
BARRY: Democrats want my money? I’d rather donate to cancer.
MAY
Barry is explaining something to a somewhat impatient looking friend (or maybe just an unfortunate person who wound up at the same bus stop, who knows?).
BARRY: We so desperately need a third party!
JUNE
Barry is standing in a living-room type room; there’s a window in the background, and an armchair. Barry’s talking on the phone, a concerned expression on his face.
BARRY: Yes, Republicans winning would be a disaster.
JULY
Barry sits at a table, head resting on his palm, looking at an open laptop.
BARRY (thought): Actually, the Dem candidates are pretty good. On some issues.
AUGUST
Barry is standing outside, in front of a stone wall lined with flower boxes on top, talking to a friend (or, again, maybe just an unlucky passerby). Barry has both arms raised in the air jubilantly.
BARRY: I still hate them but I really like them!
SEPTEMBER
Barry stands looking pensively out a window.
BARRY: Hate? Like? Hate? Like?
OCTOBER
Hi, I’m a volunteer for the Democrats. Have you made a plan for voting?
NOVEMBER
Barry, looking extremely anxious, is standing and looking at a computer monitor, hands pressed against the sides of his face, sweating.
BARRY (thought): Please please let the Dems win…
DECEMBER
Barry is walking on a sidewalk past a hillside. It’s dark out, and Barry is wearing a long coat and a scarf again. He’s talking on his cell phone with an angry expression.
BARRY: God, I hate the Democrats!
TINY KICKER PANEL BELOW THE BOTTOM OF THE CARTOON
A woman is talking to Barry.
WOMAN: So you’re saying hypocrisy is bad?
BARRY: Sorta bad, sorta useful.
CHICKEN FAT WATCH
“Chicken fat” is an old cartoonist’s expression for unimportant but possibly amusing details the cartoonist sticks into the art.
JANUARY: A flyer taped to the wall shows a glaring bunny with a cigarette dangling out of its mouth. The text says “BEWARE evil bunny.”
FEBRUARY: A snowman in the background appears to be a snow alien, with three eyes and two antenna.
MARCH: Barry’s t-shirt has a picture of the evil bunny, surrounded by letters that say “evil bunny 1968 world tour.” Barry has a tattoo on his arm which says “I Have No Tattoos.”
JUNE: A man wearing a black fedora is peering in the window at Barry. On the wall is a framed picture of the evil bunny. A cat sits in the armchair, slouching like a human and looking at a smartphone it’s holding in its front paws.
AUGUST: Barry’s t-shirt has a drawing of the Death Star from “Star Wars,” and under the Death Star is a caption saying “Cici n’est pas une lune.” This is a real t-shirt that was described to me by Packy Anderson in the comments of a previous cartoon.
SEPTEMBER: Barry’s t-shirt has the planet logo from the covers of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” book series.
OCTOBER: Barry’s t-shirt says “your ad here.” The place on the back of the laptop where the manufacturer’s logo usually goes has a picture of Saturn.
NOVEMBER: Barry’s arm has a tattoo of Beaker from the Muppets. I’ve snuck Beaker into a lot of my cartoons because I just like him.
DECEMBER: A bird in the air in the background has Richard Nixon’s head instead of a bird head. A piece of paper lying on the sidewalk says “Last Panel. Phew! 12 panels is a lot.” And in the background, near a tree, is the evil bunny, smoking a cigarette.
I love and identify so so much with this cartoon. Like, I get excited when democrats win and really want them to win… but I also think that’s only because the worst democrat is better for my eventual policy goals than the best republican. I’ve never been able to vote for someone who had a legitimate chance to win who ran on a platform that matched by policy preference.
It feels like a dual identity sometimes. I come across so many “refuse to vote” people in my circles that I just don’t get. I call them LGTOW, lefties going their way after the manosphere incels MGTOW because I view them as very similar.
Thanks so much! I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who feels like this.
The fact that the opposition has been openly fascist for the last 10 years or more means I don’t go through that cycle. I’m all in for the Democrats because that’s all that stands between us and the horror that the GOP would bring down on us. The fact that the Dems have moved significantly leftwards in the last 10 years helps me with that even while acknowledging how much further left they could be while still winning majorities. While also acknowledging that they’ll never come close to me, political position-wise.
For me (and just me – not saying anyone else should feel this way), Gaza is just a huge sticking point. I’m still supporting the Democrats in this election, and logically I’m convinced that’s the right thing to do, but Gaza is so completely awful it outweighs almost all the good things the Democrats are doing.
Gaza is awful, their immigration policy is inhumane… There are lots of other examples of how they are just terrible. But it’s not like the alternative is better on those issues. In fact, the alternative is somehow even worse. Add on all the other ways the opposition is far, far, far worse for almost everyone and I’m all in on the Democrats. Plus, it’s clear that there’s no path forward outside the Democratic Party and the party has moved pretty far to the left from where it used to be and here we are.
None of which is to say that we shouldn’t criticize and push back against their awfulness. We should while at the same time voting for them and working to move them to better policy positions.
Although I agree that Gaza is a humanitarian disaster, if you look at Harris’ and Trump’s positions, there is a clear difference. Among others, Harris supports a two state solution, Trump does not. Harris supports continuing Biden’s policy of not deporting Palestinians who are in the US illegally. Trump wants immediate deportation. And then there’s their respective attitudes towards protests in the US, which I expect you can guess. So overall, I would say that Gaza is a reason to vote for Harris, sad as that is to say.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/politics/trump-harris-issues-election.html