Cartoon published:

May 9
th
, 2014
Author: Dave Granlund
davegranlund.com




In the cartoon, we see a statue of Hillary Clinton and a man labeled GOP drilling the
bottom of the statue. The event inspiring this cartoon is the Benghazi mess. Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama were called out on trying to deceive people about the 2012
attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Because of this, the GOP (Republican Party) is
trying to attack Hillary Clintons could-be 2016 campaign, making it harder for her to run
for President. Theyre only doing it for political reasons, which is why the cartoonist
came up with this idea. The man labeled GOP represents the Republican Party, while the
statue is Hillarys reputation and probability of getting nominated. I agree with this
cartoon. The Republicans are only trying to attack Hillary and win the presidency, and
dont actually care about the Benghazi attacks. Politicians are very quick to call each
other out and attack each other, which is being shown in this cartoon. Because of this
perspective, and the fact that the man with the jackhammer looks menacing, its clear that
the cartoonist is liberal and doesnt agree with the GOPs actions. This cartoon is
supposed to show how easily the Republicans will cling to anything that brings down
liberals, and that they are menacing and greedy.


Cartoon Published: April
30
th
, 2014
Davegranlund.com






In this cartoon, we see the Washington Monument, which is repaired from the earthquake
a couple years ago. We also see the Capitol with a shattered dome. In real life, the Capitol
doesnt have a shattered dome. What Granlund is trying to represent is Congresss recent
problems cooperating in passing legislation. The cracks represent the arguments and
issues separating the two parties. Granlund clearly believes that Congress should pull
itself together and start getting things done. The shattered dome means that Congress
simply isnt working properly and needs to be fixed, just like the Washington Monument
was. I agree with the cartoonist; Congress has been very stubborn in the past few months
and unwilling to compromise, such as when they shut down the government because of
the ACA. The cracks in the dome are causing the Capitol to fall on itself, which is exactly
what Congress is doing by not working together. Congress needs to be fixed if our
country has any hope of making change.




Cartoon published:
April 30
th
, 2014
Davegranlund.com

In this cartoon, we see a common citizen protesting for a minimum wage hike, and an
elephant crushing him to the ground, spilling his money everywhere. The elephant is
labeled GOP, which is the Republican Party. The man represents the U.S. minimum
wage being raised, while the elephant represents the Republicans desire to stop the rise
of minimum wage. Because of the menacing, large, and dangerous elephants foot, the
cartoonist expresses his anger towards the GOP, and his feelings that they will do
anything to stop the raising of minimum wage. The man appears small and weak, a poor
victim of the elephants attack. This puts the GOP in a bad light. I cant help but agree
with this cartoon. The GOP isnt very supportive of those who have less than them,
including minimum wage workers. They are elephant-like in that they want to crush the
protests and wishes of the citizens.



Cartoon published:
April 17
th
2014,
Davegranlund.com





In this cartoon, theres a bear labeled Russia telling a small man labeled Ukraine that
hell scratch his back if the man scratches his. Its quite clear in the image that the bear
and the man represent Russias desire to reclaim Crimea. Its also clear that the bear is
much more powerful than the man and the offer of scratching each others backs is
ridiculous. This translates directly to Russias attempt to take Crimea, since Russia is
trying to bring Crimea back to them and not appear over threatening (Ill scratch your
back!), but instead appears menacing and terrifying (hence the bear). Its obvious that
Granlund believes Russia is being deceitful about taking Ukraine and the power it is
willing to use, and I agree. Russia is acting as a bear: threatening, terrifying, and
deceitful. If the bear scratched the mans back, hed kill him, which is a bit like what
Russia is trying to do. By scratching Ukraines back or trying to help them, theyre
instead hurting them, or as implied by the cartoon, killing them.





Date: April 16
th
, 2014
Davegranlund.com









This cartoon might be the most obvious one of them all. Pictured here is a young man,
maybe in his early twenties, driving a car while looking at his phone. There is a text
message that reads something along the lines of alerting him about driver distraction
month. Ironically, the young man is driving distractedly while reading this text. In
creating this comic, Granlund is making a statement about how young drivers dont seem
to care about road safety, and only pretend to care about anti texting laws. I strongly
agree with Granlund, since its crucial that drivers, especially young ones, learn to drive
safely since they are unexperienced and dont know how to handle themselves when in a
dangerous situation as well as an adult. Thousands of people die every day from
accidents involving texting and driving. Granlund is trying to make it clear how
important it is to peoples safety to not text and drive, and how ignorant young drivers
can be.

Date: March
25
th
, 2014
Davegranlund.com
Depicted in this cartoon is the never-ending search for flight 370. We see a search vehicle
of sorts flying along a beach after having found the wreckage of Amelia Earharts plane.
However, instead of rejoicing, the vehicle only says false alarm, its not flight 370.
This is referring to the fact that for several weeks the media focused solely on finding
flight 370, and not the other important events, such as what was going on in Crimea with
protests and violence. In looking for the plane the searchers found wreckage from
previous crashes (none of which were actually from Amelia) but didnt find the actual
plane. Despite this, the medias main concern was finding the wreckage and focused
narrowly on that one aspect of the news. The cartoonists opinion is clearly that the media
focused far too much on this one event, and spent so much time on it that they found
wreckage from crashes that happened ages ago (Amelias plane is an exaggeration for the
effect). I agree with this. While the plane was being broadcasted in the news, I wanted to
learn more about Crimea and what was happening overseas. However, all the information
I got was about how the search parties hadnt found anything on the plane whatsoever.

981122
Period 4

Cartoon Analysis
Upon reading Dave Granlunds cartoons, its clear that he thinks liberal. He has drawn
cartoons depicting the GOP as threatening, monstrous creatures, and shown liberal figures as
victims of the Republican Party. Most of his cartoons are witty for those not being attacked. For
the other side, however, theyre pretty provocative because of the way he illustrates those he
doesnt agree with. Granlund uses lots of symbolism, such as animals, or menacing images to
portray enemies, or the people he believes to be at fault in a certain situation. For example, he
uses an large, destructive elephant foot (Not just because the GOPs mascot is an elephant) to
illustrate the partys opposition to raising the minimum wage. With this, he portrayed them as
cruel and opposed to progress. In another one of his cartoons, he uses a bear to represent
Russias invasive, possessive attitude towards Ukraine. Lastly, he uses a large man with a
jackhammer to represent the GOPs attempted destruction of Clintons candidacy. His most
obvious pattern is the fact that he brings issues that arent spoken aloud very much (but are
obviously present) into the room, such as the search for the plane. It was an unspoken issue that
the media had been spending too much time talking about the plane (or not frequently debated).
Despite this, he brought the issue onto the table, or brought to the attention the elephant in the
room. He does this again with the portrayal of Hillary Clintons statue. The issue of the
Republicans only calling Clinton deceitful because of the upcoming election wasnt talked about
much, or admitted, but with the issue called out in front of everyones eyes, its impossible to
deny that it exists.
Granlund reflected a lot of my own opinions in his cartoons. I believe that the GOP isnt giving
back to those in need of them, such as minimum wage workers. The elephant was a great
representation of how theyre being destructive to the American people.
In conclusion, Granlund is witty, provocative, and blatant. He uses big, obvious symbols to
represent current issues, and tends to lean towards the liberal side of political debates. I agree
with him, as do most liberals about the issues hes referring to. He makes a statement with his
cartoons, and most of all, brings important problems into the light.