Rep. Joe Barton, R - Texas 
Terrytoons Deputy Dawg and Ty Coon
The recent news cycles are full of clips of Rep. Joe Barton of Texas making his apologies to Tony Hayward during the Energy and Commerce Committee hearings on the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
There will be more to come, including repetitions in political ads before the 2010 elections.
Often, blog posts attempt serious consideration and discussion of current events. I wanted to diverge from that, with humor and a bit of whimsy.
If you haven't seen it yet so often your eyes have begun to roll independently in your head in self-defense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp4ErRJuCbM
(or any of numerous other clips of the exact same thing)
Possibly it is because I've become bored with this same clip over and over, interspersed with the occasional Bachmann BP/big oil boot-licking clips, and the Boehner call for the government to pay for the disaster, that are being retracted, or spun like a centrifuge, and then subsequently denied (despite all too much evidence to the contrary).
Being a bit bored, I cannot help but notice the close resemblance between Barton in both appearance and voice to the famous Ralph Bakshi cartoon character, with which he made his debut in children's television animation 'cult classic'-- Deputy Dawg -- back in 1959. The irony of this is that, being a baby boomer born in 1949, Barton may have grown up watching Deputy Dawg cartoons as a child, in his hometown of Waco, Texas; and the cartoons are set in the (in reality) oil-spill affected Gulf state of Mississippi.
You can refresh your own recollection of Deputy Dawg, either with a nostalgia collection on DVD, or at a number of sites that offer free perusal of the old terrytoons Deputy Dawg episodes, like this one.
http://www.ovguide.com/tv/deputy_dawg.htm
It kind of makes you want to start casting other political figures from this disaster as Deputy Dawg characters - Catfish-poachin' Pelican, Peach Pluckin' Kangaroo, Vincent Van Gopher, Muskie Muskrat, Ali Gator, Mother Crane and Lil Whooper, Moley Mole, Possible Possum, Ty Coon, Pig Newton, the Russian Mischa Mouse, Homer, Penguin, Lynx, and the Deputy's boss, the Sherrif - and his family members, Missus Deputy Dawg, and newphew Deputy Elmer. Let's not forget Astronut, the amiable alien, another spin-off character.
Whenever the election year politics starts to wear on your nerves, and your mind starts to wander during hearings, debates, and endless ads, I hope you will enjoy privately imagining the politicos posturing in front of you as an appropriate cartoon character from your childhood, with special emphasis on similar characteristics and mannerisms. It is a diversion that lends itself to any political POV.
There is a certain, odd, even freakish resemblance between the human and the cartoon character....that is BP CEO Tony Hayward on the right.
I decided to make a revision to this post, with a better comparison between cartoon and political figure -- Senator Joe Lieberman, (I)CT, and another cartoon hound, Droopy Dog.I trust I don't really need to label which is which.
Perhaps the greatest similarity is in the voices, which you can hear on this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zuPjhLHHFo&feature=related
It might help keep the inevitable ennui of politics from getting you down, while adding a certain useful perspective to the political season.
This is unexpected; my female friends all see very keen resemblences, while men don't.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this is one of those instances of the gender differences in our human brains, perhaps because women see men differently than men see other men?
There seem to be relatively fewer female cartoon characters in proportion to the number of male cartoon characters, but if I come across similar likenesses to women political figures, I will have to update this post to see how they compare.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I still don't see the resemblence.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping to give you and the other Penigma readers a smile, ToE; sorry to disappoint you.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you can find your own, better, similarities between political figures, and cartoon characters.
It makes a nice alternative when bored with politics to imagining these public figures in their underwear, or funny hats.
Even Jon Stewart, while trying to immitate Senator Lieberman, acknowledges similarities between Lieberman and a certain cartoon character - so it is not ONLY me, and not only women who see and hear the similarities.
Sigh.......