What’s up, doc? My numbers.
Who do you think the voters like more, Bugs Bunny over Daffy Duck? This article says the winner in the presidential election is the same as in the cartoon: always the wiley Bugs.
Daffy Duck, by contrast, is ever at war with a hostile world. He fumes, he clenches his fists, his eyes bulge, and his entire body tenses with fury. His response to bad news is a sibilant sneer (”Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin!”). Daffy is constantly frustrated, sometimes by outside forces, sometimes by his own overwrought response to them. In one classic duel with Bugs, the two try to persuade Elmer Fudd to shoot the other-until Daffy, tricked by Bugs’ wordplay, screams, “Shoot me now!”
In other words, the winner will almost always be the one who looks more cool-headed, more collected, more confident, maybe even more cocksure. Bugs isn’t afraid to fight, but he uses wit and strategy far more than rants and fits of indignation. This is why Ron Paul and Howard Dean, while they may have said good things, would never get elected. They’re too Daffy.
The article says Obama is the Bugs and Hillary’s the Daffy, but I think McCain’s got them beat on being the Bugs. I’d love to hear your disagreements, though.




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back to top25 Comments to “What’s up, doc? My numbers.”
So, it has come to this.
I agree with you that McCain is the better Bugs. All he has to do is lean back against a tree,chew on a carrot and watch those two go over the cliff.
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The key to passing Harrison’s screen test is being able to “look” cool headed. McCain has to bite his cheek not to sputter, something that’s next to impossible for a choleric of his magnitude. But if he pulls it off, he’ll deserve an Oscar for channeling all that anger into his Maverick thing. And his technical staff will deserve another Oscar for scrubbing his environment of hostile recording devices.
Unfortunately, McCain has many characteristics of a supporting actor. He’s short. He’s marginally over the hill, trying one final time to win something he’s wanted for as long as anyone can remember. Harrison’s cartoon is about a persevering little bugger, not about the capacity for endurance. Finally, his weakness for lobbyists, especially the skinny blondes, is fatally ludicrous, according to his unnamed top advisors.
Meanwhile, Hillary and Barrak’s mortal combat is becoming highly personalized. They’re themselves, not just symbols of race and gender. If the audience cathects with Barak, he will emerge as the lead character in the cartoon. The audience isn’t likely to cathect with Hillary, but girl whips boy makes a better ending to the cartoon than boy whips girl.
Nevertheless, McCain’s campaign will love this idea. Maybe we’ll see McCain approving cartoons!
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From my father-in-law’s descriptions of McCain (from the ten years he lived in Arizona), I was going to say McCain sounded more like Daffy.
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You know it’s widely believed that Bugs Bunny was deliberately written as a gay character, right?
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Scroopy, I think McCain is a “persevering little bugger” but how is he going to “bite his cheek not to sputter” with those chipmunk cheeks of his? It’s like he’s got little nuts and acorns and berries in them. Ya gotta admit, given his propensities, we’ll be seeing how he’ll carry out foreign policy by watching how he handles the other side.
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It all makes sense now: Fred Thompson = Elmer Fudd. Elmer always had superior firepower, and could’ve wasted Bugs at any time, but he was a) a bad shot and b) never really tried to get Bugs with both barrels at close range.
At least we have Family Guy to thank for providing the alternate history for Elmer. Too bad the same can’t be said of Fred.
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Good points, NJ, Bugs is a rodent, and so is McCain.
Yet, I’ve changed my mind about this cartoon. McCain must not seem squirrelly, as he does to you and me. That’s because the Surge isn’t a little nut in his cheek — it’s one of history’s epochal tides. A rodent trying to pass himself off as an English bulldog is just too cartoonish. McCain can’t be laughed at because we pity the adventures he has passed, but I’m afraid he is a figure of fun. Barrak is capable of making him seem more so every time he accords him official respect.
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Actually, Obama is more like Wile E. Coyote; he has sailed off the cliff with overblown rhetoric and moving fairly well horizontally, though,as “Wily” always finds, after a brief suspension in mid-air, the drastic plunge into the chasm takes place Meanwhile our Roadrunner, McCain, shall once again claim victory.
The coyote can stop any time—if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: “A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim.”—George Santayana). [This para. from Wiki]
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Barack Hussein Obama would be sort of Marvin the Martian, I think. Except I think he is still more of a Alfred Neumann, without Alfred’s redeeming qualities.
That’s the funny thing.
The sad thing is that there are (apparently) a large number of supposedly ‘intelligent’ Americans who would actually allow this far left-wing Socialist within 500 miles of the Presidency of the American Republic.
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I don’t understand none of this.
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McCain was cool-headed in the republican debates (which allowed him to beat Romney) but has been far from calm in recent years. He is well known for his angry rants.
Obama is certainly more calm tempered than McCain in real life. Whether that will translate into voter perception is another matter.
Clinton’s angry rants are becoming more frequent. After wins in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island she came away with just a dozen more delegates but promptly lost them in the Texas caucus and to superdelegates who endorsed Obama.
She’ll likely get more and more angry. Hopefully we can see Bill getting angry again as well. Watching this angry spiteful couple will make for good reality TV.
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My prediction:
Obama wins democratic nomination.
McCain remains calm and collected until September when polls continue to show him lagging behind. McCain tries to pull a “Hillary” and acts angry and upset that Obama will lead the US down the wrong road. His angry rant backfires and his poll numbers drop further.
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The ultimate Bugs i think was William F. Buckley. Y’all may have already talked about him on another blog and I may have missed it, so I apologize if I am hitting on old material. I loved the way Buckley would raise those eyebrows and get this wild, yet impish grin on his face when about to make a point that was controversial. Totally disarming and brilliant. I would give a million dollars for that kind of ability.
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Who gets to be Yosemite Sam?
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Karen O: Howard Dean would make a good Yosemite Sam, I think.
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The big hairy monster who wore Chuck Taylors used to give me nightmares as a child.
For me, Hillary would be the monster.
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As long as Hillary doesn’t become Betty Boop, we’ll be all right.
(Chas, you’re normal. Enjoy it.)
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NJL, in her heyday Betty Boop was an ersatz sex symbol of the depression era, a sort of carefree Jazz age flapper. Of late she has been tamed into an airhead. Hillary can’t be accused of either; she seems to have turned into a bit of a political virago.
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Would you describe Ron Paul as Marvin the Martian?
I disagree with you, HSK. McCain does not seem to have the sense of humor required to be Bugs.
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Peter Leavitt: you have that right!, but I thought she was “our girl.” I just saw Hillary on the news, and her expression alone could kill, cremate and scatter Obama’s ashes to the four winds of the earth. She said both she and McCain bring experience, Obama a speech he made in 2002 to foreign policy. It was a good line, but the expression she had while listening to another fellow was scary. This will not be pretty.
How about Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle for Hillary?
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You know it’s widely believed that Bugs Bunny was deliberately written as a gay character, right?
******Why, oh why, would a BUNNY RABBIT in a cartoon made for families and children be *anything* other than a silly bunny rabbit?
I know that Bugs had some real zingers, and that some of the humor was adult, but I don’t think anyone cares what his “sexual orientation” was, since I don’t really think of any cartoon character with a sexual orientation.
And, you do know that there were a number of cartoons where he fell completely head over heals with a female rabbit and ended up with bunnies?
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Bugs wasn’t gay but he did like to gender bend.
Hilary is Daffy Duck as is McCain. Obama is the cool collect one and if Bugs Bunny is the correct metaphor so be it. I’m surprised no one identified Kucinch as the Marvin the Martian.
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Huckabee is Foghorn Leghorn. Boisterous, southern, big ego. Some good phrases, means well, never shuts up.
I don’t see any Bugs in McCain. Bugs is clever, nimble, easy going, quick. McCain is plodding. Kind of like Underdog. And dour, like Squidword from Spongebob Squarepants! Seems he has might have some Yosemite Sam, or Tasmanian Devil rage inside him too.
Hillary? She’s a little fiesty – like Sandy Cheeks (the squirrel in Spongebob). She’s got a bit of Veronica Lodge in her too, the sense of entitlement. Maybe a little Velma (Scooby Doo) too – a bit of a know-it-all.
Obama? – Gee, we don’t know enough is known about him to determine his cartoonicus genus species, do we? (nyuk, nyuk) He’s not clever or crafty enough to be Bugs. Hmm, I know – it’s been said that his success is because he runs as “The Great White Hope”. So that makes him Kimba the White Lion!
Loved that cartoon.
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As one of the “guardians” of the Bugs image, and as much as it pains me to say this, I think McCain comes the closest of the 3 candidates.
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There’s nothing dour about McCain (though I can’t compare him to Squidword). Just view that exchange on the plane with the NYT reporter. He’s certainly as feisty as Hillary, if not more so. I’ll go with you on Velma — Hillary does seem to think she knows what’s best, just like a controlling mother.
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