Biting the Underdog

Winners be warned: Editorial cartoonists attack the powerful, so we can be counted on to come after you. But hey, we’ll beat up on the losers too. Rooting for the underdog may be the American way, but kicking people, or political parties, when they’re down has a proud history.

The minority party, like the country itself, is polarized. True-blue Democrats seek a return to their New Deal roots. They chalk the party’s losses up to bad strategy, weak marketing and an unclear message.

The red-faced-with-anger faction just wants to win. They accept the conservative caricature that Democrats are the party of Hollywood liberals, gay marriage, high taxes and big government. And they’re happy to claim what’s left of the center, no matter how far they have to move it to the right.

It’s a cartoonist’s solemn duty to ridicule the ridiculous. So if the vestiges of the so-called New Democrats want to take another shot at Bermuda Triangulation, have at it. Pitch yourselves as the me-too GOP. We’re ready with our pens to call it what it is: The Mother of all Flip-Flops.