McCain Palin Dust Up

This cartoon depicts two children in costume for Halloween, one dressed as John McCain and the other dressed as Sarah Palin. A man behind them is commenting on the realism of their costumes, when in actuality he should be calling the police and an ambulance to break up the tornado of hard candy and cheap plastic occurring on his front lawn, as it appears that both children have dislocated their elbows. The artist who drew this cartoon had a special purpose in mind, and I think that it's quite obvious. The artist is making a statement about the increasing realism of Halloween costumes, and warning us of the upcoming danger if we continue in this downward spiral of increasingly realistic costumes.
A perfect example of this was written about by IowaPolitics.com in an article stating that "An Iowa woman impersonating Sarah Palin apparently made her way on stage at Republican presidential candidate John McCain's rally in Cedar Falls on Sunday and stood right behind McCain as he gave his speech, reacting to the speech like she was the real Palin." The fact that someone can dress up like someone as important as Sarah Palin, and be as convincing as the woman mentioned in the article, should be a wake up call. Imagine if this woman were to actually become the vice-president instead of the real Sarah Palin. This one event would undermine the entire democratic process, something that our ancestors have fought and died for. The creator of this cartoon is calling for the abolition of Halloween as a national holiday.
Ever since the beginning, Halloween has been about satanic rituals and human sacrifice. The now popular witch costumes used to be the appropriate attire of Druids when conducting human sacrifice during the Celtic festival of of Samhain, the festival that Halloween originated from. This is what the artist of the carton is depicting when he shows the child dressed as Palin beating the crap out of the child dressed as McCain. It is a well known fact, and a popular YouTube video, that Sarah Palin received protection from her pastor to "Rebuke her from witchcraft" and this cartoon shows the problems with the ancient rituals of the Celtic culture that we still blindly follow today.
This cartoon also shows the problems that people with impaired vision have functioning in the real world. As you can see the man standing at the door is wearing glasses, he represents Americans with vision problems. He is remarking on how much the children in the cartoon look like John McCain and Sarah Palin, however he is seeing them from the back. If he had normal eyesight and properly functioning glasses he could see that the girl wearing the Sarah Palin costume actually has black hair, and that the boy dressed as John McCain has a full head of blonde hair which is about as far away from the real appearance of John McCain's scalp as you can get. In addition the height of the children should be an obvious indication that they do not, in any possible way, come close to the actual appearance of Sarah Palin and John McCain. The man in the cartoon also seems to be unable to locate the bowl of candy to give to the trick or treaters, while to a person like you or me can easily see that it is on his right side at his feet. This may have been what spurred such a dispute between the children in the first place, when unable to receive candy from the man at the door the girl dressed as Sarah Palin turned and started brutally attacking the boy dressed as John McCain. This attack has so far resulted in four pieces of candy spilling out of the boy's candy bag, which I can only assume the girl will take for herself once her barrage of punches is complete.
The artist wrote the word "Saks" on the side of the girl's candy bag, limited by the space available he had to settle for this misspelling of the word instead of the preferable "Sacks" which would refer to the well known Australian actor Martin Sacks. Martin Sacks played the role of Detective P.J. Hasham in the 1994 television series "Blue Heelers." In 2005 however he left the show to spend time with his growing family, which consisted of his wife Kate and two children Jack and Ned. The artist who drew this cartoon is stressing the importance of family by placing the word "Saks" on the side of the bag that the girl is holding. Sarah Palin has an especially large family and is seen by many people as a family woman, although subtle I think that it is a nice touch that the cartoonist put this reference into the cartoon.
The symbol on the boy's bag is a bat, this is making the comparison of John McCain to batman. Interestingly enough when asked by Entertainment Weekly in August which superhero he would be, McCain responded "Batman." To justify his answer, John McCain said "He does justice sometimes against insurmountable odds. And he doesn't make his good works known to a lot of people, so a lot of people think he's just a rich playboy." In my opinion, the similarities are obvious.
Lastly I would like to comment on the importance that is placed on the volume of the man's voice. Every sentence that leaves his mouth ends with an exclamation point, stressing the annoyance that can be caused by loud next door neighbors. In a poll conducted by the Washington Post, results indicated that 50% of readers said that loud neighbors were the most annoying possible thing. The cartoonist is clearly demonstrating how annoying loud neighbors can be, and by showing the two children fighting, the anger and sheer amount of rage that it can cause in others as well.
This cartoon invokes both a sense of fear and compassion into the reader. The cartoonist is warning us of the dangers of the popular holiday Halloween, and at the same time showing us the challenges that individuals with impaired vision must face every day. If this wasn't enough, there is a sense of compassion and security that the reader feels, knowing the value of family, and the comfort of knowing that there is a man out there with pointy ears and a utility belt that will come in handy no matter what the situation. They may have lost the election, but John McCain will never cease to be commander in chief of my heart, and Sarah Palin will never lose her place as next in line for when that heart stops beating.