Emmett H. Buell

Is the Pen Mightier Than the Word? Editorial Cartoons and 1988 Presidential Nominating Politics

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then 1988 presidential nominating politics was a gold mine for editorial cartoonists. Exaggeration and distortion are the cartoonists stock-in-trade, Colin Seymour-Ure (1986, 168) tells us, and—with Gary Harts dalliance, Joseph Bidens plagiarism, Pat Robertsons direct line to God, Robert Doles tantrums, Jesse Jacksons ego, and George Bushs image problems—there was much to exaggerate and distort in the 1988 races. Like other journalists, editorial cartoonists follow and interpret campaigns for the public. Like columnists, cartoonists openly praise or condemn candidates and campaigns. But the power of pictures sets cartoonists apart from other editorialists. According to Doug MaHette of the Atlanta Constitution , the fundamentals of cartooning are distortion, hyperbole, and subjectivity. Cartoons, he writes (1988, 158), “distort and reflect reality like fun-house mirrors.” Seymour-Ure (1986, 170) agrees: “The comments and insults conveyed by the graphic imagery of a cartoon have a crudity and offensiveness that might well be unacceptable if spelt out in words.” As long as editorial cartoonists have caricatured politicians, politicians have feared for their public images. Thomas Nast helped topple Boss Tweed in the 1870s by repeatedly drawing him and his ring as corrupt. “Stop them damn pictures!” Tweed reportedly roared after an especially tough Nast cartoon appeared in 1871. Vice President Bush may have harbored similar resentment when he recently complained about Gary Trudeaus representations of him in “Doonesbury.” A particularly painful stab of the Trudeau pen was placing Bushs manhood in a blind trust.

The 1984 Elections

The Elections of 1984. Edited by Michael Nelson. (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1985.) The Election of 1984. Edited by Gerald Pomper. (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1985.) The American Elections of 1984. Edited by Austin Ranney. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy, 1985.) Election 84: Landslide Without a Mandate? Edited by Ellis Sandoz and Cecil V. Crabb, Jr. (New York: New American Library, 1985.)

The 1992 Elections

Upside Down and Inside Out: The 1992 Elections and American Politics. By James Ceaser and Andrew Busch. (Lanham, MD: Littlefield Adams, 1993. Pp. ix, 191.

The 2000 Elections

14.95 paper.) Americas Choice: The Election of 1992. Edited by William Crotty. (Guilford, CT: Dushkin, 1993. Pp. viii, 200.

Book Review Essays : Busing and Affirmative Action

12.95 paper.) The Elections of 1992. Edited by Michael Nelson. (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1993. Pp. xii, 192.

Avoidance or Engagement? Issue Convergence in U.S. Presidential Campaigns, 1960–2000

18.95 paper.) The Election of 1992. Edited by Gerald M. Pomper. (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1992. Pp. ix, 230.

Vote Choice and the Preference for Divided Government: Lessons of 1992

16.95 paper.)

You Take the High Road and I'll Take the Low Road? The Interplay of Attack Strategies and Tactics in Presidential Campaigns

Books reviewed in this article: Ceaser, James W. and E. Busch, AndrewThe Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election Crotty, William (Ed.)America’s Choice 2000 Nelson, Michael (Ed.)The Elections of 2000 Pomper, Gerald M. (Ed.)The Election of 2000

Attack politics : negativity in presidential campaigns since 1960

John C. Livingston, Fair Game? Inequality and Affirmative Action. (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1979). 281 pp.

Divisive Primaries and Participation in Fall Presidential Campaigns A Study of 1984 New Hampshire Primary Activists

12.95 (cloth). Gary Orfield. Must We Bus? Segregated School and National Policy. (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1978). 470 pp.