Bob Englehart's View - Hartford Courant Editorial Political Cartoons - Courant.com

5/27/2012-Memorial Day

By Bob Englehart — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:15:00 GMT

My father served in the Office of Strategic Services in World War II. The OSS was the forerunner to the CIA. When I was a kid, I'd ask the inevitable question, "What'd you do in the war, daddy."

5/25/2012-Egyptians Vote

By Bob Englehart — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:03:00 GMT

I don't want to rain on Egypt's parade, but no matter how the voting turns out, the Egyptian military will still be in charge. In fact, they're changing the country's laws right now to, among other things, keep the military budget secret like it was in the bad old days with Mubarak.

5/24/2012-Obama and the Evangelicals

By Bob Englehart — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:59:00 GMT

A story in the paper yesterday said that white evangelicals do not march in lockstep and that some of them just might vote for President Obama. So, the Obama campaign is trying to woo the Christian extremists. Good luck.

5/23/2012-Facebook IPO

By — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:51:00 GMT

I'm a mutual fund guy. I don't buy individual stocks. I'm too emotional about money. I like Jerry Seinfeld's comment when somebody told him he should invest, put his money to work. He said he'll do all the work. He wants his money to sit back and relax.

5/22/2012-Back From Vacay

By Bob Englehart — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:53:00 GMT

Spent last week in the Midwest going to a family wedding in Cincinnati and a

Cartoons Will Resume May 21. See You Then!

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:31:00 GMT

5/13/2012-Mother's Day

By Bob Englehart — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:13:00 GMT

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there. Mothers have been around a long time, and like so many things in our culture, Mother's day has evolved over the years. Some people think the first Mother's Day started in a cave in France back when dinosaurs roamed the earth . Well, it's not quite that old.

5/11/2012-Thanks For Everything, CPTV

By Bob Englehart — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:57:00 GMT

I have cable TV. Not only do I have cable, but I have the sports package. I get SNY, YES, NFL Red Zone, soccer, Speed TV, ESPN 3D, you name it. But I think it's cheap and sleazy the way UConn dumped the TV station that put them on the map.

5/10/2012-Dems vs GOP-Compare and Contrast

By Bob Englehart — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:25:00 GMT

In their zeal to destroy President Barack Obama, the 2012 conservative extremist Republican Party is willing to destroy a large segment of the United States population. They are eagerly willing to destroy the safety nets that they call socialism.

5/9/2012-Maurice Sendak 1928-2012

By Bob Englehart — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:06:00 GMT

5/8/2012-NFL and Concussions

By Bob Englehart — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:02:00 GMT

I'm a football fan, but I don't need to see players destroyed on the field in order to enjoy the game. Junior Seau's untimely death dovetails nicely with Bounty-gate, the recent New Orleans Saints scandal where a couple of coaches offered bonuses to players who hit opponents hard enough to cause game-ending, if not career-ending injuries.

5/5/2012-State Of Education Reform

By Bob Englehart — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:53:00 GMT

I'm a product of public schools. I went from kindergarten to grade twelve and graduated from senior high school in the Fort Wayne, Indiana public school system. Merle J. Abbott Elementary School teachers Mrs. Gumper and Mrs. Lebamoff nurtured my artistic talent. In South Side High School, Mrs. Fleck worked with me to win a full scholarship to the American Academy of Art. All in all, I think they did an excellent job. I was not university material and they knew it, but I had a gift and they made sure I used it and worked hard.

5/4/2012-Chinese Dissident

By Bob Englehart — Thu, 03 May 2012 23:22:00 GMT

How can the United States continue to have any kind of relationship with

5/1/2012-A Riff On Biden Quote

By Bob Englehart — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:14:00 GMT

There I go again making a prediction. I'll put my faith in the majority of American voters that they don't want to lose the safety nets that protect them and so many of our citizens. I'll put my faith in the majority of American female voters that they don't want to return to the bad old days before they had a choice over what they can do with their body. I'll put my faith in the majority of American voters who do not want to have to live by laws that reflect Catholic dogma or evangelical, born again Christian rules. I'll put my faith in the majority of American voters that are not racist, not filled with fear and understand that we are all in this together.

4/29/2012-University Blues

BY Bob Englehart — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:08:00 GMT

4/27/2012-Foley's Folly

By Bob Englehart — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:10:00 GMT

4/26/2012-Police Brutality

By Bob Englehart — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:30:00 GMT

We've talked about this on the editorial page. Police forces should not allow close relatives to be employed together on the same force. I understand that family tradition is huge with cops and firemen, not to mention race car drivers and newspaper people, but we've had two incidents in which a daddy superior cop protects a junior sonny boy cop. In one instance, a young boy on a bicycle was killed by a drunken cop.

4/25/2012-Stay Out Of My Living Room

By Bob Englehart — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:38:00 GMT

4/24/2012-Mitt's Mate

By Bob Englehart — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:38:00 GMT

4/22/2012-Happy Earth Day

By Bob Englehart — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:49:00 GMT

4/20/2012-Dick Clark

By Bob Englehart — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:32:00 GMT

Today's cartoon was inspired by something my brilliant, beautiful, college-bound 18-year-old granddaughter said on Facebook. Sometimes I get the best cartoon ideas from people who don't know they're giving me cartoon ideas. When I was a teenager in Fort Wayne, I used to rush home from school in the afternoon to watch "American Bandstand" with Dick Clark. Then, right after was a local show called "Dance Date" on WANE-TV. Same format but featuring your neighbors. I sent in for tickets and was on the show several times.They had a taped segment that ran the next day so you could magically see yourself and your friends on television. Not to brag (I certainly don't think I can dance) I won a Shirelles album in a dance contest on the show. Interesting note: in researching pictures of the Mayans for this cartoon, I was reminded again of human sacrifice, blood lust and extreme fashions. This is what happens when artists run a culture.

4/19/2012-Taking Us For A Ride

By Bob Englehart — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:16:00 GMT

I assume that a large number of middle class voters are members of the Republican Party. Certainly, most Republican politicians are millionaires, but I have to think that most rank and file GOPers are moderate income people. Now, by moderate, I don't mean they're moderates politically. Those RHINOs are not welcome in the party. I mean they have average incomes. Do they not understand that the Republicans will totally destroy the middle class. Take just one issue, Social Security. The fat cats in charge want to privatize Social Security and take it to Wall Street. That alone will eliminate middle income retired folks. Tied to Wall Street, Social Security would not be guaranteed as it is now. You could be 75 years old and run out of income because the market crashed.In other words....oh, why am I wasting my time. Republicans are Republicans for two reasons: one, they're against abortion and two, they're against gay marriage. Sell all your belongings, give it to Mitt and climb into his spaceship.Better yet, climb on to the roof of his car.

4/18/2012-It Ain't Zagat

By Bob Englehart — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:41:00 GMT

I don't know if you travel much or have lived in places other than the capital region, but we in Connecticut have two of the most splendid government buildings in all of America. I'm talking about the state Capitol and Hartford's City Hall.Trying to cram city hall into a vertical format is impossible, so I had to alter it a bit and draw what amounts to a caricature of the building. It captures the intricate architecture, but it's much wider than I've pictured it. There are a lot of taxpayers out there who think government workers should be in the cheapest of buildings. I'm not one of them. When the DOT building on the Berlin Turnpike was built, people called it the Taj Mahal. When the Legislative Office Building was built next to the capitol, people decried its ostentatiousness. Not me. I think a government building should reflect the power and grandeur of democracy itself. Those buildings make great symbols. When I read about the health department's rating the cleanliness of restaurants, I knew one day I'd be using it in a cartoon and here it is.

4/17/2012-Not-So-Secret Service

By Bob Englehart — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:24:00 GMT

Back in 2008 when President Obama was running for the White House, a Connecticut state representative asked me for a signed copy of a cartoon I had drawn. He wanted to put it in a frame and give it to the candidate who was going to speak at the XL Center. Secret Service security was so tight backstage that the state rep wasn't allowed in there! After that, I felt confident that Obama would get the best protection the world had to offer. Now I'm not so sure.

4/13/2012-Mitt Goes It Alone

By Bob Englehart — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:26:00 GMT

I love making political predictions. If I'm right, I look like a genius andif I'm wrong, the people who disagree with me look like geniuses. Eitherway, it's win-win. Predictions, political or not, are usually wrong because any predictiontells more about the moment it was made than what will happen in the future.Scientific instruments can predict the future for weather but only for acouple days in advance. After that, computer projections basically say, "Ifair currents continue as they are, we'll have rain 10 days from now."Experts do the same thing, figuring if things continue as they are, thenthis or that will happen. It's rarely accurate. Predicting Gov. Romney will lose in November can only reflect what hisstatus is at this moment in April and so far, he's way behind the presidentin the polls. So much can happen between now and then. Romney could pick thewrong guy or gal to run as his vice president and fall even farther behind.Or he could pick a savior who might thrust him in front of POTUS. President Obama could, well, I don't know how he could lose this election,but it's possible. It's politics.