Dan Wasserman. February 13, 2016. Tribune Content Agency.

This cartoon is a mock campaign update that mocks the major candidates in the 2016 presidential race. The
cartoon does not appear to be partisan because it makes fun of both democrat and republican candidates. It achieves
its goal of outlining the weaknesses of candidates through speech bubbles the humorous portrayal of candidates. The
cartoon mocks rubio for his poor debate performance where he repeated the same line multiple times. He is
portrayed as a wind up toy, it is quite humourous. Trump is made fun of for his demagoguery and his self
obsessiveness. In the cartoon, Kasich is saying, Hugs work better than government, mocking him because he
talked about giving people hugs in his speech following the New Hampshire primaries. Jeb is portrayed with his
hand up as if to say it is my turn. His character says My whole family is in politics. It makes fun of Ted cruz, who
often appeals to evangelical voters, by making him say in the cartoon, The government is the antichrist. Bernie

Sanders, who taps into the anger of many people who feel they have been cheated by the system, is made fun of by
saying, your government has been stolen. Finally, Hilary is portrayed with sinister looking eyes and a speech
bubble highlighting saying, I know ALL about government, highlighting that she is hawkish and not to be trusted.

Steve Breen. February 12, 2016. San Diego Union Tribune.

This cartoon is commenting on the Jeb Bushs efforts to keep his campaign for the presidency alive. The
words say, Jeb asks brother for campaign support and the picture depicts a cardiac monitor showing a heartbeat
that has been very small and has suddenly jumped to be much stronger, than has died down again. The cartoonist
could be partisan or not but he is certainly very critical of Jeb Bushs campaign. The cardiac monitor symbolizes the
life of his campaign. Breen is saying that his campaign is very weak and that it has jumped recently because his
brother, former president George W. Bush is helping him out. However. Their is another heartbeat after the jump that
is showing that Georges help will not have a lasting help or impact for Jeb and that his campaign is is still going to
die. The tone of the cartoon is not humourous. It achieves its editorializing by using text and the symbolism of the
cardiac monitor.

Steve Benson. February 11, 2016. The Arizona Republic.

This is a clever criticism of Marco Rubio on his poor debate performance. In the debate, he
repeated the same line multiple times even after being called out for it. In the subsequent New Hampshire
primaries he came in fifth. In his speech after the primaries he actually apologized to his supporters
claiming that it was his fault he did not win and that it would not happen again. I assume this comic is
liberal but it could really be anyone who is critical of Rubio. Also, it is very easy to makes fun of Rubios
debate performance. In the cartoon, Rubio repeats the word again multiple times and he has is a wind up
toy. Also, screws and springs and machinery are falling out of him symbolizing that he is a broken record
and perhaps he is commenting on his broken campaign, this is a setback Rubio may not overcome. Benson
achieves his editorializing through symbols and speech bubbles and a humorous yet critical tone that
resonates with everyone who watched Rubio's failed debate performance.

Chan Lowe. February 11, 2016. Tribune Content Agency.

In this cartoon, Lowe is commenting on Presidential Candidate Hillary CLinton's empathy problem. Hilary
is often critiqued for having a lack of empathy and not being able to truly connect with the American people. Lowe
focuses on this critique, specifically, that Clinton is very well off and it probably changes her view of the world. In
the comic, Hilary is standing on a very high building, literally looking down at the people and in a speech bubble is
saying, I feel your pain. It is obvious that this claim is not sincere because she is so much higher up. She is safe.
The building she is standing on is labeled the 1%, so Lowe is saying that Hilary's wealth and status prevents her
from being able to empathize with people. This cartoon is not as humorous as it is critical. It evokes feelings of
anger and resentment in people who feel like they are at the bottom of the economic classes and it is transferring that
anger to Hillary Clinton.

Tom Stiglich. February 10, 2016. Creators.com.

In this cartoon, Stiglich is commenting on Hillary Clintons defeat in the New Hampshire Primaries. Hilary
is depicted as her usual caricature, earrings, pearls and campaign button, however, she is also burnt. She is charred
and there are clouds of smoke around her as if she was recently burned. In her hand is a paper labeled, New
Hampshire primary results. There is a huge button next to her that says, FEEL THE BERN. It is a humorous play
on words because in the picture Clinton is actually burnt. The cartoonist uses the play on words to evoke a humorous
reaction from viewers. In the cartoon, Clinton looks surprised and her eyes are wide open. Hilary, like most people,
probably did not think that Bernie would be a serious contender, the New Hampshire primary results may have
changed everyones mind.

Walt Handelsman. January 26, 2016. The New Orleans Advocate.

This cartoon is criticizing the candidates for the 2016 presidency. The titles, If campaign posters had to be
truthful is posted above four mock campaign posters for the major candidates. Written on them is what
Handelsman believes to be the truth about each candidate's. Bernie Sanders is criticized for wanting free everything
but having no way to pay for it. Hillary is criticized for not being truthful or accountable. According to Handelsman,
Cruzs actual appeal is that he is not as crazy as Trump. Finally he criticized Trump for being mean, reckless, and
vengeful. He is not particularly partisan as he bashes candidates on both parties. He is very cynical and he relies on
his parody and humor to get his message across. He is saying that all of the candidates are flawed and I think this is
a sentiment held by many Americans.

Jack Ohman. December 29, 2015. The Sacramento Bee.

In this editorial cartoon, Ohman is criticizing Ted Cruz for his hypocrisy. Ted Cruz used his children in an
ad for his presidential campaign. Shortly after, an editorial cartoonist made fun of Ted Cruz using his children and
Ted Cruz responded saying children were off limits. The argument became whether or not he made his children
acceptable targets after he included them in his ad. Ohman is instead focusing on Ted Cruzs bad policies that harm
children using this recent event. It is very clever and has a humorous tone. Ohman uses speech bubbles, caricatures
of Ted Cruz, and images of children to get across his message. Ohman is very critical of Cruz a major republican
candidate, so I would imagine he is a liberal cartoonist, however, a lot of republicans do not like Cruz either.

Dana Summers. December 16, 2015. Tribune Content Agency.

This cartoon is commenting on Jeb Bushs campaign for presidency. In the race for the 2016 presidency,
Jeb Bush was forecast to be very successful. His campaign was soon trounced by Donald Trump and only recently
has he been doing better in the debates in an effort to revamp his campaign. This is what is depicted in the picture
above. Summers casts Jeb Bush as a character in Star Wars, and titles the picture using a play on words, Return of
the Jebi, after the actual title of the movie Return of the Jedi. The dead space ship Jeb is in is labeled to be his
campaign, and he is trying to jump start it with a car labeled debates. This cartoon does not indicate whether or not
Jeb will be successful, although in the movie return of the Jedi, the Jedi do came back, but it is certainly painting an
accurate picture. Dana Summer is a conservative cartoonist and this is represented by depicting Jeb as the good guy
in this cartoon. The question that remains for the viewer is whether or not Jeb will get his campaign back in the air.

Overall Reflection

This collection of editorial cartoons evenly critiques candidates from both parties. It is balanced and it
highlights that this is a very troubling race. Nothing is for sure. The general message is that all the candidates have

flaws. The cartoons as a whole were a mix of satirically humorous and cynical. I believe that a humourous cartoon is
better, not because it more effectively gives a message, but it is more memorable.

Throughout the cartoons there is also a theme of uncertainty in the outcome of the upcoming primaries,
much less the general election. With the Feel the Bern cartoon where Hillary is depicted as surprised and burnt, it
is a reflection of how many of the American people feel, surprised on the outcomes of the primaries.

After looking at all of the cartoons, and many more in my search of the eight cartoons I ended up with, I am
left with a few key takeaways. First, every cartoon depicts Trump as nonsensical, crazy, mean, just absolutely
outrageous. I understand why this is, however, I think this diminishes the fact that Trump is supported by real people
who are angry with the way things are. They feel more comfortable with a vengeful demagogue as president than
others who seem more reasonable like Bush. The people writing cartoons capitalize on Trumps crazy comments to
make fun of them, but I have yet to see a cartoon that provides insight on his appeal. For example, the cartoon above
with the parody campaign signs does not even pretend to list good things about him. Maybe that can be read into as
a message that he is so far bad that no good words can be used to describe him, but it also lazy. Another pattern is
that the cartoons all mock the candidates, none of the mock the people who support those candidates. For example,
there could be a cartoon mocking crazy Bernie Sanders supporters and mean Donald Trump supporters.

Overall, the are very satirical as they exaggerate the candidates flaws. My main takeaway from these
cartoons as a whole is that this presidential campaign has so many outrageous moments and characters and that is
what the cartoons focus on. Also, I know that Donald Trump is nasty and that Marco Rubio seriously screwed up the
debate. These cartoons are very effective at cleverly restating events, and making a comment, but they lack real
insight, which is to say they haven't changed my opinion on anything.