The Cartoon That Wouldn't Go Away

Toward the end of 2007 I was concerned about the sad state the nation was in having to put up with a not-too-bright President (in my partisan opinion) who now doesn’t seem all that bad compared to their current nominee. It was one of those ideas that just comes to you out of the blue. While looking at John Trumbull’s 1818 iconic painting of the presentation to the Second Continental Congress of the drafted Declaration of Independence it occurred to me that it might have been a good idea to put something into our Constitution to prevent future morons from somehow getting other even more moronic voters to vote them into a position they have no business being in. Granted, my cartoon is suggesting this image is of the Constitution’s creation instead of what it actually is about, but it is instantly recognizable as our founding fathers forming the government to readers (cartoonists take such liberties at times if it helps the gag). Most folks frankly, won’t notice it, especially where it originally appeared in print— Hustler magazine. Yes, America’s premier first amendment publication (as they always used to like to think of themselves). Their other great accomplishment being quality snootch photography.

The most amazing thing about this cartoon was that both sides of the political aisles loved it and wanted to co-opt it for their own schemes. That happens only very rarely in political toons and I count this toward one of my own accomplishments I might be remembered for in the future; besides thousands of hilarious cartons— yes, some about snootches.

Ten years later in 2017 it caught the notice of a reporter for the Washington Post, Michael Cavna who wrote about it on October 6th.

The Presidential ‘moron’ cartoon that just won’t go away

Dan Collins drew the cartoon a decade ago, yet thanks to the ways of the Internet and the Oval Office, it keeps on finding new life.

The gag cartoon, from Collins’ feature Looks Good On Paper, was resuscitated Thursday on the Universal Uclick website after NBC News reported this week that, behind closed doors over the summer, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called his boss a “moron. The State Department denies the report, but “moron” became the Washington word of the day. Which was enough for Collins’ cartoon to resurface for sharing.

“This toon has been circulating around the net for ten years since it was first published,” Collins writes to his online followers. “Every side has adopted it to use in their own moronic posts.” Coincidently, the cartoon circulated anew three years ago this month, when Donald Trump, well before declaring his presidential candidacy, tweeted out the cartoon with a slightly modified caption. Naturally, some readers revived Trump’s tweet soon after this week’s NBC News report, in just the latest case of how the president’s tweets can be viewed now through the lense of his current administration. As one commenter wrote on the Universal Uclick site: “Another example of the Collins Cartoon Prescience?”

I have prescience? A precious present!

What I don’t have is a subscription to the Post, but I did get a five day sample sub so I could snag images for this Post post. If you have one you can click the link here to see the full article otherwise you can’t since they are a subscription only site now.

Since you have a paid subscription— you do, don’t you?— you can see the original, unedited, how it was published, not safe for nice people who can read (NSFNPWCR) cartoon below that appeared in that slimy magazine so many years ago.