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St. Cloud State University
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Commentary
Political parties are missing the joke
By Adam Hammer
Published:
Monday, October 11, 2004
I understand that there are still a lot of undecided voters out there and to lend a helping hand, I am back to throw some more slop on the table.
When we last met, incumbent presidential candidate Georgie Poorgie came to town. Now that the dust has settled, and it is obvious that he and his campaign couldn't care less about the financial welfare of St. Cloud or Minnesota, a new topic of debate has come to my attention.
Regardless of how boring you may find history, when it comes to history in politics it's incredibly interesting.
To get the ball rolling with trivial, yet factual information, did you know that President James Buchanan is believed by many to be the first bisexual president? George Washington never showed up to the altar in his first attempt at marriage. Eisenhower had a mistress and an estranged child.
The list goes on and on, but what I really want to know is, what's the deal with the donkey and elephant?
The DFL credits the donkey's origin to a 1828 comic depicting presidential candidate Andrew Jackson as a "jackass." After winning the election, the donkey was used to represent Jackson when he vetoed re-chartering the National Bank.
It is that part of the story the Republicans left out.
Where the GOP picks up is in 1874 when a cartoon by Thomas Nast appeared in Harper's Weekly showing an elephant wearing the label "The Republican Vote" running from a donkey wearing a lion's coat titled "Caesarism."
The comic depicted alleged uneasiness from the New York Herald for claiming there was a fascist connection over rumors of the possibility of a third term for President Grant.
One of the foolish animals in the comic, the elephant, represented the Republican vote, not the party.
This is where differing views begin to come out.
The Republican story claims the elephant was being frightened away from its normal ties by the phony scare of Caesarism.
The DFL claims the elephant is running into a pit containing the labels inflation, chaos, repudiation and reform.
I guess it's up to interpretation for the individual.
Cartoons continued to be produced depicting the elephant as the Republican symbol and the donkey as the Democratic symbol for years until the Republican Party adopted the elephant as their official symbol.
The DFL, however, has never officially accepted the donkey as its mascot.
Whether you cherish your parties representative animal icon or not, the important thing to remember here is that the elephant and the donkey both represent blemishes of the representing powers from within the parties.
Here's what Harper Weekly, the publisher of the comic, had to say:
"Here, the New York Herald appears as an ass in a lion's skin, whose ferocious presence frightens the 'foolish animals' of the press, including The New York Times (unicorn), the New York Tribune (giraffe), and the New York World (owl).� A skittish fox, representing the Democratic Party, has edged onto a reform plank near a gaping pit, by which the trumpeting elephant, symbolizing the Republican vote, lumbers.� Since this issue of Harper's Weekly went to press shortly before the congressional elections of November 3, 1874, the artist was uncertain which party would tumble into the pit, but early results boded ill for the Republicans."
The modern-day GOP will tend to claim that the elephant is their symbol because it is dignified, strong and intelligent while the donkey is stubborn, silly and ridiculous.
Some modern-day DFL members will claim the donkey is their symbol because it is humble, homely, smart, courageous and loveable while the elephant is bungling, stupid, pompous and conservative.
The reality is that the icons of these popular political parties were created to crack fun at them, and they still can't laugh about.
Everything's so serious in politics. And even when a comic comes about that we should all be able to look at and get a laugh out of, it gets twisted into some deep, philosophical presentation of strengths and weaknesses.
It's a cartoon people! Laugh a little bit.
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