The winner:
“I told Medvedev I’d have some wiggle room after my re-election.”
-- Phil Clutts of Harrisburg
The runners-up:
“I couldn’t keep a lid on the health care controversy any longer.”
-- Carolyn Hudson, Columbia, S.C.
“Judicial review? Oh, come on, I was just baiting you.”
-- Steve Epperson, Gastonia
“Yep, this is D.C. No backbones here.”
-- Bill McGloughlin, Charlotte
“Yes, we’re canned.”
Brandon Swann, Nottingham, Md.
Kudos as well to Scott Tredwell, Advance, N.C., whose entry was along the same lines as the winner.
Thanks for all your entries. Here’s a selection of some of the other better lines we received:
“People are like fish; you’ve got to give them something they want.”
“I think we’re losing in the court of public opinion.”
“The Supreme Court will let us off the hook.”
“We’ve got a lot of issues to tackle.”
“We need to put a lid on Fast and Furious.”
“The Republicans keep trying to bait me.”
“At least we’re not crawling around in the muck like the Republicans.”
“I can worm my way out of anything.”
“It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.”
“Welcome to the U.S. budget process.”
“Siers opened up a can of worms with this one.”
That last entry was sent in by Ross Levin of Charlotte who spoke more truly than he knew. For an alternative view of this week's illustration, please see the comments section. -- Kevin Siers
In the interest of being Fair and Balanced, I should let folks know that not everyone was enthusiastic about this week's contest illustration. A letter writer from South Carolina on Monday told us:
". . . this week's challenge cartoon is just plain tasteless. No doubt the Obama haters will get a hoot from this garbage and it will make the rounds on the Internet, but how can you pick a caption for next Monday's edition and call it a "winner." Get rid of this guy and let him go to work for Fox."
(That explains the "Fair and Balanced" bit). Still, the judges thought Mr. Clutts' entry was a winner, no matter what your political persuasion.
Posted by: Kevin Siers | April 13, 2012 at 10:11 AM
I took this cartoon a couple of different ways and tasteless was not one of them...My favorite was Bill's but kudo's to Carolyn...
Posted by: suzanne & co. | April 13, 2012 at 11:13 AM
Kevin, the letter you received is the reason this nation is so hyper sensitive about the dumbest things and why so many people in the public eye feel like they have to tip-toe not to offend anyone. How is a political cartoon with Obama in a can of worms offensive? It's a can of worms! You're working with the "I've opened a can of worms" idiom to come up with a smart and clever caption, as all of the winners seemed to do without fail. Did the reader live under a rock when Bush was President for 8 years and just about every political cartoon took a jab at him? Because I'm sure you didn't hear from him/her then.
To the SC writer: the purpose of these political cartoons is to show a little cynicism in a humorous way. Get over it, Grumpy!
Posted by: Brandon | April 13, 2012 at 11:38 AM
Oh Kevin, always having to wiggle your way out of something!
Posted by: Ross Levin | April 13, 2012 at 03:24 PM
Well said, Brandon. I'm an Obama supporter and see nothing wrong with depicting him this way. I think he'd laugh at it. Suzanne, thanks for the compliment. Kevin, thanks for choosing one of my entries as a runner-up. Congrats to Phil, Steve, Bill, and Brandon.
Posted by: Carolyn | April 13, 2012 at 10:12 PM