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July 21, 2006
It Was Nice Knowing You - Sort Of
(CJo is currently being felt up in an airport somewhere - he'll return to his Shrubville duties shortly. And the sooner the better, because I'm getting really sick of Stantis.)
I'm actually kind of sad to see him go.
Because the new Winslow is a prick. No, he's a PRICK.
Today he calls Cindy Sheehan a moonbat, a term only used by the right, usually on right-wing radio and on right-wing blogs. I never thought Winslow and Michelle Malkin would have something in common.
He's also now a misogynist, referring to Carmen as "woman."
Then he proceeds to push her around, knocking the paper out of her hands as he orders her to do his bidding. So he's a bully too.
And what was in this newspaper? Apparently MSNBC is now broadcating via the Washington Times, as Stantis is referencing a Hardball interview with Sheehan where guest host Norah O'Donnell asked Sheehan if she'd rather live under dirty stinky socialist Hugo Chavez than under Bush.
Yeah, apparently Sheehan is a moonbat because she'd rather live under a guy that lies to go to war, illegally spies on his citizens, imprisons people without charges for years while flying them to secret prisons in Europe so they can be tortured, then sits on his ass for two weeks while the Middle East burns up in flames. Oh, wait, who am I talking about here?
I love this argument from people. "If you don't love it here, leave!" Um, numbnuts, if you didn't notice Sheehan and others are protesting because they want to make our country great again. We love America and we want it to be the best it can be, but under Bush that's not happening anymore. If your house is infested with rats, would your neighor say, "If you don't like it, go live in another house!" Of course not. If he was a good neighbor he'd suggest ways to get rid of the rats and get the house back to being a nice place to live.
On a side note, it's kinda funny that the Republicans hate Cindy Sheehan so much you'd think they'd just ignore her so she becomes irrelevant, but they've got so many problems they need to keep beating yet another dead horse to distract from their own troubles.
But back to Winslow. What happened? Did Stantis just decide that yeah, he really should convert him completely into Michael Savage? While the character has gone to the conservative side whenever Stantis didn't want to make Republican Carmen look foolish, he was never a complete dick before. And if Carmen is going to be a snotty bitch sometimes, and Winslow is going to be a misogynistic right-wing bully, then count me out.
Maybe this is why there was never a Winslow plush toy - who would want to hug something as repulsive as this?
Comments
In fairness, I think Cindy went insane with the fasting thing, especially because she's still eating (I consider drinking smoothies "eating"). And I REALLY doubt that they'll end the war and bring troops back by the end of the summer. I think we'll need more realistic time-frame for these things. Oh, and since we made a big mess in Iraq, we'll need extra time to clean it up, too.
All that aside, okay, I agree that Winslow is being a jerk here, although not as bad as that "desert flower" strip where he basically belittled Carmen. There's a reason why two-character comic strips never work (even "Eek and Meek" had more characters, and it lasted 35 years)
Posted by: Charles Brubaker at July 21, 2006 09:44 AM
What's more insane - a woman protesting against an unjustified war, or an entire country simply accepting it because there isn't a draft? If Sheehan didn't continue to protest in different ways, the right would say, "See - she never really meant it - she was just using her son's death to get attention and a book deal." Either way the righties are going to find something to complain about with her, so I'm happy she's still trying to make a difference when Congress and the President keep saying "stay the course." Invading a country with no exit plan - hell, no plan at all - that's insane.
Posted by: The Furnace at July 21, 2006 09:55 AM
I thought the plush could've been cool when he was a lovable, metro, liberal, goofball. But eww.. no thank you. Not anymore. Stantis is destroying what his liberal "fans" probably liked about the strip. Next Winslow'll be demanding she make him a sammich.
Posted by: JB at July 21, 2006 10:01 AM
Maybe "insane" was a wrong word, and I agree that the war in Iraq isn't getting enough outrage it deserves, but I can't feel nothing but pity with her hunger strike while still drinking protein smoothies. I admire Cindy's anti-war stance and has my sympathies for her loss, but that doesn't mean I have no pity for her.
This blog post from Buffalo BEAST explains better than me:
http://buffalobeast.blogspot.com/2006/07/dieting-for-peace.html
Posted by: Charles Brubaker at July 21, 2006 10:18 AM
The two-character thing is why this strip is so bad. Stantis has never been able to add anyone else to the mix, so he keeps going back to Winslow and Carmen, making them be whatever he needs them to be.
Stantis says that he was inspired by Calvin & Hobbes, but those two had so many characters to work with: Mom and Dad, Roz the babysitter/swimming instructor, Moe the bully, Susie Derkins, the teacher whose name escapes me. Calvin lived in a big wide world, not a little insular capsule where everything was liberal vs. conservative or sane vs. crazy.
Posted by: Annie at July 21, 2006 10:29 AM
The teacher's name is Miss Wormwood. Watterson supposidly named the character after a demon in "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis.
And how many other strips with only two recurring characters are there? So far, I can only think of "Frank and Ernest" (ironically, Stantis worked on the strip as an assistant for a brief time)
Posted by: Charles Brubaker at July 21, 2006 10:32 AM
If using "woman" is offensive, boy, I've got something to bitch about like I'm on the rag.
Posted by: Sacki at July 21, 2006 10:57 AM
Another take... maybe this is revenge for Carmen exercising her right (arm) on Winslow's face on Tuesday? I won't even mention that he was protesting that day and called Cindy Sheehan "mama moonbat" today. Not a word.
Posted by: JB at July 21, 2006 12:18 PM
