vanity – mackaycartoons

Wednesday July 22, 2015

July 21, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 22, 2015

Desperate Times for Justin

While Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau spent Tuesday afternoon at Laval’s Cosmodome looking up to the stars, new poll numbers show his party much closer to earth.

A Leger poll that came out on Monday showed in Quebec, the NDP currently has 37 per cent support, ahead of the Conservatives’ 23 per cent and Bloc Quebecois at 19 per cent. The Liberals came in fourth with just 18 per cent.

Nationally, the news isn’t any better, with the NDP and Tories tied at 32 per cent and 25 per cent for the Liberals. (Source: CTV News)

Meanwhile, the controversy over Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s remarks on John McCain’s war record has caused a firestorm among the Republican establishment, but recent data suggests that it may not hurt him with voters.

The first poll partially conducted after Trump’s Saturday statement in Ames, Iowa, that John McCain was “not a hero” showed no impact on the former Celebrity Apprentice host’s support. In a poll of 452 Iowans likely to attend the Republican caucuses, Monmouth University found no “significant change in support for Trump in interviews conducted after his comments about John McCain’s military service”.

The Monmouth poll showed Trump in second place in Iowa with the support of 13% of likely caucus-goers. While the real estate mogul was firmly behind Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who stood at 22% in that poll, he was well ahead of his nearest competitor, the neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who polled at 8%. But what was most remarkable about Trump in that poll wasn’t his support – the real estate mogul is currently polling in first place nationally – but that voters were now viewing him in a far more favorable light. (Source: The Guardian)

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Thursday February 16, 2012

February 16, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 16, 2012

Trudeau remark reveals underlying narcissism

Justin Trudeau betrays his political immaturity and narcissism in suggesting that his commitment to a united Canada is dependent on whether the Conservative government validates his personal values, say prominent political analysts.

“This guy is clearly self-indulgent; he really does think everything is about him and his feelings,” Barry Cooper, a political theorist at the University of Calgary, said Tuesday in commenting on statements Trudeau made in a recent French-language interview. “That’s a measure of his lightweight status in the firmament of deep-thinking Liberals.”

On Sunday, Trudeau, a Montreal MP, told his Radio-Canada host: “I always say, if at a certain point, I believe that Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper — that we were going against abortion, and we were going against gay marriage, and we were going backwards in 10,000 different ways — maybe I would think about making Quebec a country.”

The remarks have generated a furor this week. The blogosphere and the twitterverse went into hyperdrive, with commentators stunned that the 40-year-old son of Pierre Trudeau could so readily offend his father’s federalist vision. The politicians weren’t far behind. Not surprisingly, the Bloc Quebecois interpreted Trudeau’s remarks as an endorsement for their own opposition to the Conservative government.

A Tory MP, Merv Tweed, taunted Trudeau, saying “while our Conservative government is committed to keeping Canada strong, united and free, the member opposite is contemplating reasons for Quebec to separate from Canada.” (Source: Canada.com)

Thursday July 23, 2009

July 23, 2009 by Graeme MacKay

The other day every media outlet carried a list of a bunch of places vying for the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. It provided a nice diversion from the usual negative stuff happening in the world, but in particular filled a gaping hole that comes with the lack of news in the depths of the northern hemisphere’s summer.

So I thought I’d follow up the trivial fodder with my own. Old guys who dye their hair… it sure feels good to get that burning issue off my back.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 23, 2009

The best of a wonder-full world

The world’s most impressive tides. The highest waterfall on Earth. The tallest mountain in Africa.

A group called the New 7 Wonders has come up with a contest in which people can vote for the “new seven wonders of nature.”

The choices can be made over the next year-and-a-half from a list of 28 finalists, including the Bay of Fundy in Canada, Angel Falls in Venezuela and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The winning seven spots will be announced in 2011.

Many of the 28 finalists announced yesterday are traditional picks, such as the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon rainforest. But there are also a couple of lesser-known spots that might send folks scurrying for their atlases, including the Bu Tinah Shoals of the United Arab Emirates, the Mud Volcanoes of Azerbaijan and Lebanon’s Jeita Grotto.

Niagara Falls would be a no-brainer in many people’s eyes, but it didn’t make the cut because folks in the state of New York apparently didn’t want to spend any money to promote the cause. (One would have thought they could find money in President Obama’s bailout plan, but perhaps not).

Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber, who started the New 7 Wonders group, says he expects a billion people will vote online and over the telephone in months to come.

Folks around the world came up with an initial list of 261 natural landmarks. That was pared to 77 top vote-getters, and a panel of experts whittled that down to the 28 finalists, using criteria such as geographical balance (you can’t have Canada hogging everything), diversity and the importance to human life. (Source: Toronto Star)