Political Cartoon Analysis and Reflection

8/17/2019 Political Cartoon Analysis and Reflection

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Part I. Description and Analysis

February 10, 2016 -- New Hampshire by Deb Milbrath, The Association of American Editorial

Cartoonists

Deb Milbrath’s cartoon depicts the results of the 21! New Hampshire primary" Hillary #linton,

one of the two Democratic candidates, is portrayed" Deb Milbrath uses labelin$ of Hillary’s lo$o

and %21!& on the car’s license plate to symboli'e #linton and her campai$n" Milbrath also uses

labelin$ of a si$n that says %New Hampshire& that is written o(er to say %No) Hillary"& *he

arrow on the si$n points in the opposite direction of Hillary’s car" *his symboli'es that Hillary

has lost the NH primary and is lea(in$ New Hampshire" *he o(erall messa$e is that New

Hampshire doesn’t support Hillary #linton for President" *he (ulture perched on top of the si$n

symboli'es death, in this case the death of Hillary’s New Hampshire campai$n"


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February 10, 2016 --New Hampshire by Mi+e eefe, The Cagle Post

Mi+e eefe’s cartoon depicts the impact of the New Hampshire primary on the stablishment"

.e +now that it depicts this because there is a buoy that is labled %NH,& an acronym for New

Hampshire" *he winners of both the Democratic and /epublican NH primaries are portrayed"

0anders is portrayed as the left motor boat because he is a left-win$ed socialist" *rump is on the

ri$ht because he is runnin$ as a ri$ht-win$ed /epublican" eefe also uses labelin$ of the boats to

say %ernie& and %*rump& to ma+e his depictions more eplicit" eefe puts a smaller boat in the

middle of the two in which there is a don+ey and an elephant" *he don+ey symboli'es the

Democratic party and the elephant symboli'es the /epublican party" *he don+ey is holdin$ a fla$

labeled %stablishment& and the boat is full of water" *his is used to show that ernie and *rump

are passin$ the establishment and lea(in$ their parties swamped" *he cartoonist doesn’t show

any bias towards either candidate or party as they are all depicted in the same way" *he o(erall

messa$e is that neither party establishment is happy about the results of the NH primary" 3nother


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messa$e is that ernie and *rump ha(e somethin$ in common4 neither remain within the rules of

their party establishments"


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February 3 2016 --New Hampshire Primary 21! by Da(e 5ranlund, Davegranlund.com

Da(e 5ranlund’s cartoon depicts the New Hampshire primary from the perspecti(e of New

Hampshire" *he maple tree represents the state of New Hampshire" 5ranlund uses labelin$ of a

si$n that says %NH Primary& as well as the labelin$ of buc+ets with all the names of the

Presidential candidates" *he 11 who are still in the race are tappin$ for the tree’s maple syrup,

while those who ha(e dropped out lay on the $round" *his symboli'es that e(ery candidate still

in the race is fi$htin$ for NH’s support" *he perspecti(e of the tree, or New Hampshire, is told by

the side caption that says, %6eelin$ a little tapped out7 & *his is a play on words because it can

be percei(ed as %tapped out& of maple syrup, as well as %tapped out& as in tired" 5ranlund also

shows that NH is tired by $i(in$ the tree droopy eyelids and circles beneath the eyes" *he o(erall


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messa$e is that New Hampshire is o(erwhelmed and made tired by the number of candidates

wantin$ its support" *he cartoonist’s point of (iew is that there are too many candidates runnin$

in the election for one primary to handle"


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February 9, 2016 -- New Hampshire Primary /esults by Da(e 5ranlund, Davegranlund.com

Da(e 5ranlund’s cartoon depicts the New Hampshire primary in an ironic way" *he caption,

%Primary results from the 85ranite 0tate’ 7 & reminds us that New Hampshire is +nown for its

$ranite" 5ranlund depicts a $ra(eyard with tombstones made of $ranite as a way of bein$ ironic"

.ritten on the tombstones is %*ruth,& %/espect,& %#i(ility,& etc" *his symboli'es the death of the

candidates’ (alues that has come with the NH primary" *wo smaller tombstones say %Hope& and

%*rust,& this symboli'es that death of (oters’ faith" *he o(erall messa$e of this cartoon is that

with candidates ha(in$ lost their (alues, (oters ha(e lost hope because they can no lon$er trust

them" ecause the bi$$est tombstone says %*ruth,& it is clear that 5ranlund thin+s that the

inte$rity of the candidates is the most important"


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February 10, 2016 --ernie 0anders .ins NH Primary by Da(e 5ranlund, Davegranlund.com

Da(e 5ranlund’s cartoon depicts the winner of the New Hampshire Democratic primary" He

portrays ernie 0anders s+iin$ 9uic+ly downhill to symboli'e his momentum" ernie’s scarf is

labeled with %ernie& in case his ea$$erated features aren’t enou$h to tell who he is" He also

wears %21!& on his chest as a symbol of the 21! presidential race" *he bac+drop of trees and

snow as well as the labelin$ of the tree to say %NH primary& clearly shows that the race that

0anders has won is the New Hampshire primary" *he mar+s in the snow leadin$ to ernie $o

around the tree that is in the middle of his path" *he tree is also labeled %Hillary& to show that

ernie has passed his obstacle or competitor --Hillary #linton" *he same s+i mar+s show that

ernie has $one strai$ht throu$h the tree" *his symboli'es the o(erall messa$e that ernie has


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%done the impossible& by beatin$ Hillary in the New Hampshire primary"


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February 10, 2016 --New Hampshire winners share one attribute: authenticity by Da(id Horsey,

Los Angeles Times

Da(id Horsey’s cartoon depicts the winner of the New Hampshire /epublican primary" He

portrays Donald *rump --one of the /epublican presidential candidates" Horsey portrays *rump

with ea$$erated features such as his hair and lips" *rump wears a red tie to symboli'e that he is

a /epublican" Horsey ma+es it clear that it is the New Hampshire primary by drawin$ trees,

stone and snow in the bac+$round" *he cartoonist also includes a caption that says %Ma+in$ his

mar+ in New Hampshire"& *his caption is a play on words because in the cartoon he is literally

ma+in$ his mar+ in the snow, as well as fi$urati(ely ma+in$ his mar+ by winnin$ the NH

primary" Horsey ma+es it clear that *rump is the winner by writin$ in the snow, %*rump .ins)&

*he footprints comin$ from *rump show that *rump was the one who made the mar+ in the


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snow" *his symboli'es the o(erall messa$e of the cartoon: now that *rump has won the NH

primary, he will play it up in order to $et people to focus on his (ictory in NH rather than his loss

in ;owa" *he perspecti(e of the cartoonist is that *rump has a $iant e$o, he shows this by

depictin$ *rump as o(erbearin$" 3s a Democrat, Horsey has let his bias show by depictin$

*rump as arro$ant --an inherently bad personality trait"


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February 10, 2016 --6eel the 0eism by #lay Jones, The Independent

#lay Jones’s cartoon depicts the results of the New Hampshire primary" Jones portrays

presidential candidate ernie 0anders as well as ill #linton --candidate Hillary #linton’s

husband" He uses labelin$ of %ernie& on a podium that says %New Hampshire,& to show that

ernie is the winner of the NH Democratic primary" ernie is surrounded by all of his supporters

that hold si$ns with his name and slo$an" Jones labels the man in yellow as %ill& to ma+e it

clear that he is Hillary’s husband" ill is sayin$ %3ll of this is seist& as a way of defendin$ his

wife’s campai$n to become the first woman president" *he cartoon has a humorous tone because

ill #linton has ne(er spo+e up about seism before, but now that his wife is runnin$ for

president, he suddenly decides to do so" *he o(erall messa$e of the cartoon is that the #lintons


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are


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February 5, 2016 --asich in New Hampshire by Nate eeler, The Columbus Dispatch

Nate eeler’s cartoon depicts asich’s New Hampshire campai$n" He portrays /epublican

presidential candidate asich and his competition, *rump and #ru'" eeler captions the cartoon

%asich in the 5ranite 0tate& to ma+e is clear that the man portrayed is asich" eller uses the

nic+name %5ranite 0tate& for New Hampshire" He also portrays *rump and #ru' cut out in

$ranite to ma+e up a mountain" *his symboli'es that *rump and #ru' are %set in stone& to be the

NH primary top two" asich is stru$$lin$ to climb to mountain, and is literally han$in$ on by a

thread" *his symboli'es that asich’s campai$n is unstable and lac+s supporters" *he o(erall

messa$e of this cartoon is that asich doesn’t stand a chance in the New Hampshire primary"

eeler’s percei(es asich to be wea+, at least compared to *rump and #ru'"


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Part II. Suary and !e"lection

The New Hampshire Primary is extremely important as its media attention has a lot of

influence on the voters in other states. Voters often look to New Hampshire to decide how to cast

their ballots when their time comes. Often times, the NH primary winners end up being the two

left in the general election. The collection of cartoons shows that Independents are thriving in our

political climate. Both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump —the winners of the NH primary—

are traditionally independent but have joined the Democratic and Republican parties to give

themselves a better chance in the presidential election. The collection also shows that voters are

voting for the candidates who seem the most authentic. The collection of cartoons shows

multiple issues within the New Hampshire primary. They depict Bernie’s success, Hillary’s

disappointment and jealousy, and the swamped establishment. These cartoons also show the

problem of so many candidates still running. They claim that the candidates have lot their

values, and that Trump and Cruz are indomitable. All of the cartoons are matter-of-fact when

pointing out the winners of the primary, although Bernie is portrayed in a better light than

Trump. It seems the views expressed in these cartoons are mainly liberal. The general message

is satirical; the cartoons use irony and mock the candidates’ weaknesses. What I got from these

cartoons is that the establishment and the losing candidates disapprove of the NH primary results

—even though the losers’ reaction is to be expected. None of the cartoons attempt to be

persuasive in favor of a certain opinion but these cartoons have helped me gain insight on just

how valuable my topic is. Before this assignment I looked at the primary as a form of

entertainment to guess the winners. These cartoons have forced me to look at the primary from

different perspectives, including those of candidates, voters and the establishment. I think that


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the way the New Hampshire primary is depicted is relatable to anyone following the election, as

it shares insight that I’ve heard from the people that I’ve spoken to regarding the topic. Then

again, I haven’t spoken to any conservatives, and they make up at least an equal portion of the

United States. Above all, this assignment has taught me that what looks like a simple illustration

can turn out to have a more profound meaning.

Political Cartoon Analysis and Reflection

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