After the election

Because most cartoonists have to file before the returns are in, the morning-after-election-day papers often carry some of our least-inspired work. After months of rabid political postulating, partisan party-crashing and carefree caricature assassination, we’re forced to either choose another topic altogether (hang that Hussein!), go for a thumb-sucking soft target, (attack ads, turnout, burnout) or, like Tom Toles, roll the dice and risk getting Dubya-crossed the next day.

The minute the votes are counted, though, we put our blame-game faces back on, and the Thursday-morning quarterbacking begins. Rob Rogers hit it on the button, expanding the Iraq war to several affronts. Mike Luckovich army-booted Donald Rumsfeld in the exit strategy one last time. As for me, the make-up of the new Congress engendered some short-term hope … which I quickly put in perspective with long-term cynicism.