Not downplaying the problem of drugs in our water. But there are other perspectives…

I have to jump in and mention that I received some richly-deserved heckling for the unabashed use of an outrageous (though apropos) pun in the above cartoon. Here’s what my good friend Rob Rogers (editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post) said in an email: “If “puns” were hookers you’d be standing at the podium right now with a betrayed and sad-faced Lucy by your side.” (BTW – Inside info…Lucy is my wife.)

That’s pretty much the way editorial cartoonists talk to one another…Thought you might get a chuckle out of it.

I just watched Eliot Spitzer give his resignation speech. A majority of New Yorkers had such high hopes for their new Governor. They really believed he had the intellect, stamina, charisma, and tenacity to turn a desperately mismanaged and entrenched NY State around. While I’m sitting here at my desk trying to figure out the perfect cartoon for tomorrow’s paper, I thought I’d do a quick recap in cartoons of his giddy ascent and descent, just to illustrate the astonishing distance he has fallen in so short a period…

In them you’ll notice my skepticism was initially aimed at his ability to handle Albany. Who’d have thought he would have so much trouble handling himself?

November 28th, 2006

January 3rd, 2007

February 9th

July 25th – “Troopergate”

November 16th – Driver’s licenses…

January 11th, 2008

And then of course…The cartoon in the post below…
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to spend some time figuring out how to draw Governor Paterson.

Right now, it’s hard to comprehend that Eliot Spitzer rode into the Governor’s Mansion with a 70% voter mandate a little over a year ago. He was the savior who was going to bring change to Albany – But who knew what he planned to was to change into something…a little more comfortable?

“The Steamroller” was destined to waste the next two legislative years trying to make nice with his scorned political adversaries (and friends) in order to get anything done anyway…But no one could have imagined that he would end his term in this way, and in this time frame (I don’t see how he can possibly remain as Governor – But then again, at this stage, any attempt at political prognostication is strictly magic eight ball stuff…)

Every so often we have a story in the paper about a group of brainless neanderthals who train dogs (by abusing the heck out of them) for fighting…

Faithful readers, I have been asked by my newspaper’s blogocracy to post this message: (In short…fingers crossed that the blog isn’t messed up over the next few days…But if it is, here’s why..)

“In the coming days, we will be moving this and other LoHud blogs to a dedicated server that will provide more stability and better troubleshooting capabilities than we currently have. Please bear with us during this transition. Some features may not be available during this time. We will reincorporate them as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience you might encounter and thank you for your continued patronage.”

This message will self-distruct, at some point.

If there was a scenario where the Democrats – fielding two monstrously popular candidates who have been raising cash hand over fist (the universal signal of political virility) – could mess what looked to be an easy general election up, this would be it.
Obama and Hillary drag out the primary, tear each other to shreds, while McCain, already into the General election, sips iced tea and watches the democratic candidates (and their supporters) do all his work and save him a ton of money. He has gone from being a total political dwarf to being a very lucky political dwarf.

Enough dime store political mumbo-jumbo. I have a confession to make…Over the past week I’ve been nursing a nasty cold, and my cartoons have felt frankly sub-par. I know some of you will ask what my excuse was for the cartoons I did prior to sickness, and for that I have a dazzling list of excuses, distractions and filibusters. So don’t even try.