Oliphant on Ted

There is no one better to pay tribute to the “Lion of the Senate” than Pat Oliphant, leader of editorial cartooning’s pride, whose journalism career overlapped most of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s tenure in Washington. Oliphant, then drawing for the Washington Star, delightedly employed his cruelest and most vicious Chappaquiddick imagery in assessing Kennedy’s presidential fitness, no doubt contributing to the senator’s decision to remain in Congress. He went for it again, with Jimmy Carter in scuba gear, in a legendary classic. On the occasion of the senator’s passing, Oliphant apparently submerged his dark side: No naughty Ted, just a nicely understated nautical-themed memorial.

-- Joel Pett