Monday, June 2, 2008

WATTERSON POST CARTOON #6


I continue to be amazed at how hotly contested the 1980 Democrat presidential nomination process was. Perhaps in the media's quests to idealize the Jimmy Carter presidency, and therefore legitimize his statues as a Bush detractor, they've not brought it up very much. In regards to the current nomination race and upcoming convention, all we seem to here about is the violence of 1968. But I like the 1980 parallel, where a senator with a shady past (Ted Kennedy) nearly unseats the presumptive favorite (a sitting president) for the nomination. I even saw a story from early July where Kennedy floated the idea of dropping out if Carter would as well in favor of a third (unnamed) candidate. This cartoon, from August 20th, 1980, comes after the convention where Kennedy had ceded defeat to Carter. Bill Watterson depicts Carter and independent candidate John B. Anderson scrambling for Kennedy's supporters.

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