The Republican platform in one image

October 27, 2012 • 8:35 pm

From The Daily Kos, here’s a powerful political cartoon from Pulitzer-Prize-winning artist Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga Times Free Press:

The Daily Kos adds these links to help the artist get hits: Ceiling Cat help him, he’s in Tennessee and needs support:

Thanks to several folks for making link suggestions to a) give Mr. Bennett more exposure and b) to make it easier to make this cartoon go viral:

Clay Bennett on Facebook

Clay Bennet’s website

h/t: Richard

78 thoughts on “The Republican platform in one image

      1. The elephant is made of a coat-hanger. This is a gruesome reference to the illegal abortions that will take place if there’s a tightening of the abortion law.

  1. I hope it does go viral, thus adding to the self-humiliation of the Desperate Democrats piling up. Obama calling Romney a bullshitter; AP trotting out a screamingly racist poll “proving” whites hate blacks and Latinos with the clear agenda to construct that racist whites increasing are voting against Obama on race; Lena Dunham launching a tittering “I-gave-my-virginity-to-Obama” video that makes immature fanboys (who won’t vote this time) fall on the floor with glee…and others.

    All of these amuse your choir; all of them turn off the moderate middle, who will swing the election.

    So keep humiliating yourselves; it is part of the endgame to send Obama packing.

      1. What are you, thick as a brick? I don’t want it retracted. It is fantastic, a powerful example of leftie panic and sick smearing.

        So i’ll repeat, slowly for your addled brain:
        I hope it does go viral.
        I have already tweeted and emailed it to the Right, so they can point it out to the moderate middle.

        1. It’s neither panicky nor smearing; a bedrock of the Republican campaign has been to crusade against women’s rights.

          And you’ve violated my dictum of not calling other readers names; please apologize to BillyJoe for the “added brain” slur.

        2. What we are hoping for is that the majority of the voters are more compassionate and thoughtful than you. So you keep up the good work of information dispersal and I hope all those like you will take time to consider what you are doing because, you simply couldn’t have done that yet. You couldn’t carefully and compassionately consider the issues and come to the conclusion that you hold to so dearly.

          I don’t actually wish this would happen to you but, I do wish you could fully internalize the pain and humiliation and scarring that occurs to a rape victim, a significant portion of which is foisted upon the victim by an insidious blunder of christian culture. Perhaps you would volunteer to be raped by 18 men? Then have something permanently attached to you so that you and everyone else is constantly reminded of the rape you endured? But, that still wouldn’t come close to what you so freely want to inflict on women. John, you really are a disgrace, even to a dishonored (though once legitimately proud) nation.

          Republicans are immoral, disgusting, self absorbed rear ends to a culture that needs to be left in tattered ruins.

          1. Facts:
            1) I am not a Republican, I am only anti-Obama;
            2) I fully support rejection of any law or decision that outlaws or restricts early abortion

          2. So you don’t think that the intent of GOP-sponsored ‘personhood at fertilization’ bills in Congress and in state legislatures is to outlaw or restrict early abortion?

    1. ” Obama calling Romney a bullshitter”

      that’s a lie.

      he called him a liar.

      I do to.

      anyone with half a brain does, including every pundit on the planet who isn’t being paid not to.

      1. Obama called Rommey a bullshitter in print. Two days ago. Rolling Stone. Your guy is crass and so stupid he thinks behavior like that HELPS his cause!

        Retract your accusation that I “lied.”

          1. Well, if Obama did say that, then you should definitely retract your accusation. But Donohue needs to apologize to BillyJoe, since he apparently realizes that you don’t call other commenters names here.

            That may be the practice on his or other websites, but not thais one.

          2. The full quote in context is:

            I was reminded of this incident when our interview with the president ended. As we left the Oval Office, executive editor Eric Bates told Obama that he had asked his six-year-old if there was anything she wanted him to say to the president. After a thoughtful pause, she said, “Tell him: You can do it.”

            Obama grinned. “That’s the only advice I need,” he said. “I do very well, by the way, in that demographic. Ages six to 12? I’m a killer.”

            “Thought about lowering the voting age?” Bates joked.

            “You know, kids have good instincts,” Obama offered. “They look at the other guy and say, ‘Well, that’s a bullshitter, I can tell.'”

            Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obama-and-the-road-ahead-the-rolling-stone-interview-20121025

          3. Not really the same as your rendition when seen in context.

            There is no doubt that Romney has changed his position markedly depending on which audience he is talking to, isn’t that the essence of feeding an audience bullshit?

            How do you even have any clue of what Romney would do besides line his pockets with prospects for more dough?

          4. Excuse me, quite the opposite: I am going easy. Here it is, more direct.

            Mr. Obama did not say that the child in question detected anything false in Mr. Romney. Obama took an encouragement from the child and kicked up it up to a generalization, that one look at Mr. Romney and children’s instincts that he is dealing crap are “good instincts.”

            This is the President of the United States flatly stating, on the record and in print, that his opponent is a bullshitter.

            It is that behavior and crass manor on which I was specifically commenting.

            Your only contention, as a divergent distraction, is that Romney is indeed a bullshitter. However, this is just a wash with equally substantiated and unsubstantiated similar claims for Mr. Obama, which are massively evident everywhere.

          5. If you think the bullshitting that Romney is doing is similar to Obama statements, you haven’t been paying attention at all. The fact that Romney has made huge changes in his position – back and forth, is not a controversial statement among the even moderately informed on either side.

    2. “Obama calling Romney a bullshitter”

      You say this like it’s a bad thing.

      It seems to me that it is overly polite. Romney is a compulsive, repeat liar as countless Republicans like Gingrich, Santorum, Perry, and Paul have pointed out.

        1. John Donohue:

          It is that behavior and crass manor on which I was specifically commenting.

          Er.. in English that would be “manner.”

          Freudian slip? As in, Obama needs to go back to the manor and pick more cotton?

          Just kidding, of course!

    1. Unless rich is included in that list of privileges you and yours have going for you, that’s what the women in your life will be risking if the Republicans get their way.

      Making abortions impossible to get legally, means that they will just be done illegally and women will die.

    2. Wow. You think that Rush Limbaugh provides a good venue for getting your views across and your worried about the Obama being crass?

    1. You want to talk about panic?

      Characterizing that cartoon as hate speech has desperation, panic, and an unwillingness to face facts written all over it.

      Are you claiming dangerous “homemade” anirtions won’t result if proper abortions are unavailable?

  2. Didn’t our host promulgate some Roolz recently about politeness? IIRC one of the worst sins is to call someone here a liar.

    Let’s all calm down a bit people.

    1. Yes, I’ve asked for a retraction of the “lie” thing IF Obama really did call Romney a bullshitter (I’d like some evidence of that). But Donohue needs to retract his crack about “addled brained”.

      Indeed, people need to calm down. I don’t want to see any more name calling on this site.

      1. I believe the context of the remark is accurately reflected here. It was an off-the-record joke about how even grade-school kids can sense when the “other guy” is a bullshitter.

  3. My, my, that such a petty thing as a cartoon – and not even a very clever one at that – can inspire such great political minds! Almost as profound as the Big Bird!

    TH
    Pretoria

  4. The Republican platform is about murdering babies?

    No. The Republican platform is about fixing the economy.

    Is there a “free thinking” New Atheist who does not conform with the others politically?

        1. Perhaps the “spouting” part is unnecessary. But “nonsense” is accurate. The claim that the platform doesn’t address abortion (which is how I read Kevin’s statement) is flat-out false.

    1. Have you actually read the Republican platform?

      Have you paid any attention to the many Republican-passed laws and proposed laws restricting abortion rights and access over the last few years?

      The Republican platform, as well as the Republican mind set, is about far more than simply “fixing the economy”.

    2. Why are Republicans in this thread suddenly pretending the Republican party is not vehemently anti-abortion? There is a excruciatingly clear track record on this. It is also the reason Romney can’t rebuke Mourdock; Romney can’t afford to upset anti-abortion conservatives. It could cost him any chance at the election. So yes, right now anti-abortion policy is incredibly important to the Republicans.

    3. That part of the Republican platform is about their wanting to give another dose of the same medicine that devastated the economy in the first place.

      I’ve spent nearly two decades in the business world you simply can’t expect those that are sworn to maximize profits to regulate themselves. There is no value in the United States business culture for a sustainable future. There is no value within the Republican platform for a future where the nations grandchildren need to live.

    4. The Republican platform is about murdering babies?

      To the extent that they oppose providing affordable healthcare to poor expectant mothers, yes. The US already has one of the worst infant mortality rates in the industrialized world, and it is no coincidence that it is one of the few industrialized nations with no national health care. Do you really think the GOP platform will make life better for expectant mothers and infants?

      1. Consistent with what you have said, the US also has one of the worst Maternal Mortality Rates in the developed world.

        According to the CIA web site, the US ranks 47th in the world, behind most European countries and including some from the former Soviet bloc.

        The also US spends more on total health care per capita than any other country and as of 2008 was increasing this rate faster than any other country. (H.K. Kaiser Foundation)

        Most of the money is spent on those rich enough to afford it and pays for expensive equipment, expensive tests, expensive specialists, expensive drugs and highly profitable insurance and medical service operations.

        Very little is available for the working poor and underinsured.

        Like you are going to get prenatal care from an Emergency Room. The Republicans have been working long and hard to prevent Planned Parenthood from stepping in and helping.

    5. The last thing the Republicans want is to fix the economy. They want the economy right where it is. The closer a country is to having a third world economy, the more privilege is enjoyed by the rich. Billionaires don’t suffer from economic recessions, they buy up other people’s property that they lost. They use their wealth to leverage greater power and control through bribery and corruption.

      Conservatives love a bad economy. The idea that they are strong on economic issues is one of the more insane disconnects between belief and reality in politics.

  5. It’s easy to see why Bennet is a Pulitzer Prize winner. This is an extremely powerful image, especially for people my age (ancient) who remember a time when coat hanger abortions were the rule, rather than the exception. And women did die from back-alley abortions.

  6. “My, my, that such a petty thing as a cartoon – [this part redacted because I disagree with it] – can inspire such great political minds!”

    You are forgetting your recent Danish history. And, I think you misplaced your comment; it belongs under #4, not under the article.

  7. About the Republican Platform,

    Yes, the platform calls for constitutional amendments establishing the legal, protected right to life of a fetus. I would even contend that if this ever got traction, they would wish to extend it all the way to conception.

    I will repeat two facts from another post I just made:

    1) I am not a Republican, I am only anti-Obama;
    2) I fully support rejection of any law or decision that outlaws or restricts the legality of early abortion

    Platforms for both parties contain points that will never be enacted into law, but which are listed to “energize the base.” If everything listed in countless Democratic platforms were to be taken seriously and pursued, the United States would be a fully totalitarian communist state.

    At this time in history in the United State, the chance of early abortion being made illegal is near zero; the progress towards socialism/communism is well advanced, on the march, and threatening the destruction of the nation.

    The specific complaint I am voicing in this thread, and with the cartoon in question, is the propagation of hateful speech and defamation of the GOP as a dishonorable method of getting Mr. Obama re-elected so he can continue the advancement of socialism.

    1. Dismissing Republican efforts to eliminate abortion as fringe politics is ridiculous. The amount of Republican sponsored legislation to limit abortion, with the explicitly stated goal of eliminating it, is massive. Do we really need to give you a state by state breakdown? Romney chose Ryan, in part, because of his support for legal, at conception, personhood. These are not fringe positions within the GOP. All one can really argue is that the Democrats may be successful in blocking the worst of this legislation. That’s no plus for Republicans.

      Oh yes, please point to something, anything, that the current president has done, supported, or opinied on, that in anyway could be construed as socialism bordering on communism. Please give us a concrete example. Most of the analysis of his programs that I have seen puts him slightly to the right of Nixon.

    2. If everything listed in countless Democratic platforms were to be taken seriously and pursued, the United States would be a fully totalitarian communist state.

      Do you care to offer any concrete, cited examples? Or are you just going to engage in breathless, thoughtless, paranoid hyperbole?

    3. “At this time in history in the United State, the chance of early abortion being made illegal is near zero; the progress towards socialism/communism is well advanced, on the march, and threatening the destruction of the nation.”

      I have to say, John Donohue, that this statement is near delusional. We are one supreme court justice away from abortion being made systematically illegal. For practical purposes it is already illegal in many states where women’s health clinics have been bombed, doctors murdered, and arbitrary and excessive state regulations have been enacted with the sole purpose of denying access.

      On the other hand, your evidence of progress towards communism is what exactly?

    4. “… the progress towards socialism/communism is well advanced, on the march, and threatening the destruction of the nation.”

      This person is from Bizzaro World.

  8. Most of my family are fundamentalist, evangelical Christians and politically very conservative. A couple, like myself, have left “the faith” and become atheist or agnostic, but we are few in a very large family.

    One relative became pregnant at the age of nineteen. Soon after this discovery, she was then diagnosed with an aggressive, but curable cancer. Now she was faced with a terrible choice…avoid the chemo/radiation to save the fetus harm and chance the cancer spreading beyond or abort and take the treatment. I know this was really tough on her and I don’t know how other family members advized her, but she had the abortion and took the treatments. She is still cancer free going on 7 years.

    My point, it’s easy for these conservative men (and some women) to jump up and down screaming all this anti-abortion rhetoric and making claims about “god’s will” and what have you. But in the real world, even for these fundamentalists, life is much harsher and difficult choices must be made. I’m grateful my relative could make that choice. As it looks now, those choices could vanish come Jan 2013+.

    So yeah, the cartoon hits the mark perfectly.

  9. Completely unintentionally; they probably didn’t even see Bennett’s cartoon, but the headline on the front page of today’s Daily News in LA says, concerning the presidential race, “Race Comes Down to the Wire.”

    1. And, since non-whites are at higher risk of having to have an illegal abortion, the headline has two ambiguous homonyms.

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