A pro-Trump cartoon? In the Daily Times?
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
I guess the same holds true for cartoons as well. Let try to explain. Every day I get accused every day of having a liberal bias. Readers complain I am in lockstep with liberal causes and candidates. And that I have shifted the paper to the Left in the nearly 20 years I have been sitting in this chair.
It used to be that the Daily Times was leading the charge in trying to knock the powerful Delaware County GOP off its perch.
Don’t look now, but there are now more registered Democrats than Republicans in the county. I know, John McClure must be rolling over in his grave.
Last November, Democrats did something they have not done in decades – and something I have been challenging them to do now for years. They won two seats on County Council. And swept all three county row offices up for grabs as well.
Yes, the county Dems are on a roll.
This has not gone unnoticed by those who believe it is this paper’s mission to push the Democratic agenda.
Of course, that argument has been supercharged the past couple of years. I can tell you why in two words: Donald Trump.
It’s pretty simple. There is no middle ground here. Trump has successfully painted the press as “the enemy of the people.” He doesn’t have to convince a lot of our readers. They’ve been thinking that for years.
Last week I received a voicemail from a longtime reader once again challenging me to print something nice about President Trump. He specifically mentioned our choice of cartoons.
It’s a sore point with many readers. The truth is the editorial page cartoons have a tendency to mock the person residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It goes with the job, regardless of party designation. I’m sure Democrats tired of seeing those caricatures of President Obama – in particular his somewhat oversized ears. But they rarely took the time to call me and berate my choice of cartoons, or the editorial leaning of the newspaper.
Not so since Mr. Trump knocked off a big field of Republican candidates, then toppled Hillary Clinton en route to the White House, promising to “drain the swamp” along the way.
A lot of readers believe I contribute to that swamp, in particular with our incessant cartoons that poke fun at the president and his foibles.
But not last Thursday. Yep, right there on the oped page was a cartoon showing the president raising hopes for peace with his looming summit with North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un. I decided to run it even after news broke earlier in the day that the summit might be in danger of collapsing.
Look, I admit that most of the cartoons tend to slam the president. That sort of goes with the office. But that does not mean I rule out cartoons that show him in a better light. I hoped I proved that last week.
I also realize I am not going to win this argument.
We just went through what is referred to as the Primary Election. It happens every spring. It is where the parties nominate candidates for office.
Of course, this week I was accused of paying too much attention to the Democratic battle for the nomination in the newly minted 5th Congressional District.
There is a very good reason for that.
It was clearly the biggest race in the region. Did we focus on the Democrats? Absolutely. That’s because they had a horde of candidates seeking the nomination. At one point, no less than 14 Dems were lined up to do battle. When no single candidate could earn enough support to garner the party’s nomination, the herd rumbled toward election day. Eventually 10 names appeared on the Democratic ballot.
On the other hand, Republicans took a different approach. They also had lots of names interested in running. Remember, this was a somewhat novel race for what amounted to an open seat after threetime incumbent U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, R-7, indicated he would not seek re-election after becoming mired in a sex harassment complaint filed by a former staffer and word that he used taxpayer dollars to settle the matter.
Add in the volatility of a brand new district, the 5th, created by the state Supreme Court after they ruled the old districts an unconstitutional gerrymander, and you had lots of people interested in running.
Republicans, looking at what most now see as a Democrat-leaning district, did what they always do. They put the wagons in a circle. They united behind former county assistant district attorney and deputy state attorney general Pearl Kim.
She ran unopposed on Tuesday.
Mary Gay Scanlon, an attorney and former head of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board, held off stiff challenges from former assistant U.S. attorney Ashley Lunkenheimer, and a unique challenge posed by Rich Lazer, a former cabinet member of Philly Mayor Jim Kenney who had the money of powerful union boss John Dougherty behind him. Many feared that the throng of Delco candidates could conceivably split the vote, opening the door for the candidate from Philly to spoil the Delco Dems’ party.
That didn’t happen. Lazer did well in Philly, but not nearly well enough to withstand the swell of support for Scanlon in Delco. Lunkenheimer actually also outpolled Lazer to finish second in the race.
On Wednesday, the day after the election, we noted the vote – and the upcoming battle in the general election in November – as the Year of the Woman in the 5th District. No matter who wins one thing is certain. The state’s all-male bastion among the state’s 18 seats in Congress will end. Scanlon or Kim will be going to Washington.
Our lead headline was “Scanlon vs. Kim.”
On Thursday our front page again featured a picture of Scanlon with a headline detailing “How She Did It.” That did not sit well with a reader who chastised us for ignoring the Republican Kim.
You see where this is going.
Today we offer a preview of the fall race. The front page features pictures of both the Democrat and Republican.
Let the best woman win.
We will continue to cover both camps as we careen toward the November general election.
It goes the same way with opinions – and cartoons as well. I have one. So do readers. I always offer readers who disagree the opportunity to pick up a pen - or a keyboard - and offer a response.
That offer still stands.