Caption contest bias?

The announcement last Friday (Aug. 27) of our latest caption contest winner brought in more e-mails than usual questioning my judgement:

"If anyone ever doubted your political leaning, your choice of this week’s winner leaves no doubt!"

"I can’t believe you picked that caption as winner. Biased liberal media!!"

"Do you have any sort of idea of being unbiased? Where is the 'fairness' that Liberals always scream about? We have a terrible economy (and many other problems) driven wildly worse by this president and you come up with the Republicans having no wisdom? You pick the winners so your cartoon is your political statement. I am shocked that you can find such little to crow about with the current administration and its follies. Get real Kevin."

"You could have picked a caption that did not reference a political party, unless you are a democrat"

"I've always admired your clever wit and your artistry although they occasionally are gratuitously mean spirited. I just wish you leaned like me a tad to the right (or not at all)!   Anyway, I think your choice of winner this week is atypically lame, especially compared to the hilarious winners in past weeks. 'Seeking wisdom and knowledge? Sorry, I'm a Republican'??? That's a weak and cheesy cheap shot with scarcely a hint of humor, creativity or wit. I'm not biased on this either. If one replaced 'Republican' with 'Democrat', it would be equally as weak. What happened to your judgement this week?"

"Just fell all over yourself posting that one didn't you?  God, your arrogant smugness sickens me."

How to respond?  A few points:

•Criticizing an editorial cartoon for being unfair and biased is like criticizing a cow for being bovine.  It's the nature of the beast.  A good editorial cartoon almost always has a clear, one-sided point of view -- it's one of the things that makes it such a powerful and valuable vehicle of opinion.  A good editorial cartoon always has some bite.  Which means, of course, that somebody gets bitten.

•The name of this blog is "You Write the Caption."  Which means, despite the above letter-writers' assertions to the contrary, I don't consider these cartoons my political opinion.  I have five days a week where I put my two cents in the paper.  The raw material for this blog is captions submitted by readers -- these are their opinions.  What I try to do is decide which of them best combines with the drawing to make the best editorial cartoon possible.  There's no perfectly objective way to do that, of course.  Humor is subjective.  But I admire the work of both Mike Ramirez and Mike Luckovich enough to know that it isn't being liberal or conservative that makes a cartoon great. Sometimes I'll agree with the ideology expressed by our readers' captions, but many times not.  The fact that we've received many comments as well over the last several weeks of a right-wing bias creeping into the contest tells me that, while it may not be a sign of some perfect balance, at least both sides are being bitten in the process.

•As I said, it's a subjective process.  So while we pick a contest winner each week, our say is certainly not the last on the subject.  We don't have the manpower in the editorial department to compile votes and pick the readers' favorite, as The New Yorker does, but we do have this online blog which lets readers comment on the choice, whether they agree or disagree.  It's that little blue link called 'Comments' located just below this post.  Please click and let us know if you have further thoughts!

Comments

[suzanne & co.]

I'm blaming it on the economy, but I noticed there are a lot of angry Americans who are voicing their opinions lately! But what I don't understand where they are weekly when the caption winner is selected? I thought the that the little blue link was for all to use and say their peace whatever that may be!

[Howard Swint]

It's the editorial page. So be it...

[F. Melton Gardner]

I read all the comments and the blogs. Your response is perfect... both sides need to get bit! But, don't you just love all the high indignation from the right wing when they occasionally get bit? After eight years of the GOP/Bush "Crime Wave", they still want to blame where we are today on the black guy.

[Republican=slow witted]

The Republicans are the most offended people in the world. What a bunch of children!

[Steve]

Kevin,
You do a great job, keep it up.

[DWright1]

12:49--You call Republicans "the most offended" and then call them all "slow witted". Every single one of them. Possibly you, a Democrat perhaps, are being a tad offensive. Just food for thought.

[bolyn mcclung]

Ah So! Wise man say bitterness and envy better to reside at bottom of the barrel than the top of a mountain.....or opinion page

[Steve]

In Kevin's defense. I have won several of these and some were critical of Democrats and some were critical of Republicans. It seems to be fairly evenly spread.

[Charles Randall]

My first impression was a Republican guru telling Obama he had wasted his time and energy! At worst, the winner stabbed both sides! I thought it was a very deserving winner! How could anyone look at your caricatures of Obama and think you are cutting him a break??

[JL]

It's like calling a cow a bovine.
Corollary:
It's like calling an Observer editorial writer a liberal.

[J. R. Gaultney]

Perhaps it's just me, but when I saw the winning caption,
I thought "WOW, she zinged the lot of them, on BOTH sides
of the aisle.

It wasn't until I scrolled on down the page to the 'bias'
section that it occurred to me that the caption could be taken
so one-sidedly.

I think it interesting that all of the listed complaints seem to be from the Right.
Were there any from the Left?

[Mickey Key]

Well.... I liked your pick; of course, I am an "RR" Reformed Republican who likes to think I'm just a wee bit smarter than the ilks of Glenn Beck.

[John Bailey]

Kevin,

As an Independent, I can enjoy all of your humor. As a moderate to conservative, not so much. 8)

Your explaination was well written, but your talent is in your cartoons, more than in your words.

One poster's comment did not sit well with me and that is criticism of Pres. Obama is racist. I am an "equal opportunity" criticizer and gave Pres. Bush his fair share. We have seen the "race card" [and the "class envy card"] played way too much this election cycle.