Hey, was Mallard Fillmore ALWAYS a right-wing crank?

[Plaid Adder]

I have to say I never really paid much attention to it before, as I figured it was just a not-very-funny strip about a duck. Now, apparently, the duck is a political columnist. And still not funny!

I would get into the many things that were wrong with Sunday's anti-teachers'-union strip...but you don't have much dignity when you're arguing with a duck.

I point out that in *1984* the term for "mindlessly parroting party orthodoxy" was "duckspeak."

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[Khephra]

1. I was sickened when I found out that he lives in Indiana this week

:puke:

[Jim Sagle]

5. So where did he live last week?

Ba dump bump.

[Silverhair]

2. It has been a conservative viewpoint political column for years. n/t

[WoodrowFan]

3. Always RW

check out the page about the strip on Kingfeatures.com

http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/mallard/about.htm

The Washington moonie Times was it's first big promoter.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. Mallard Fillmore is Reich Wing and Doonesbury is...

Progressive and Liberal!

[brainshrub]

11. But Doonesbury can draw.

[regnaD kciN]

13. And it's author can think...

...and actually come up with clever observations on a regular basis, unlike the duck.

[geniph]

6. According to the history

of the strip, "readers across the country enjoy the duck's right-wing viewpoint."

Hell, my cats are conservatives, too (they HATE change or anything that wasn't their idea), but I don't foist their viewpoint on people who haven't even had their morning coffee yet!

Anyone who needs to express their political views through waterfowl has issues I don't even want to go into here. Every once in a great while, Tinsley does a strip I almost agree with, but yesterday's NEA one was the biggest crock of shit I've seen in awhile. The evil NEA, forcing good teachers to be mediocre! Yes, right, Brucie, happens all the time, you know the NEA is SOOOO threatened by good teachers that they have to drag them down to their level. Uh huh. (I work for a school district, albeit not as a teacher, so that one really pisses me off.)

[Plaid Adder]

8. Well, to be fair

Berkeley Breathed used Opus the same way on *Bloom County,* and it worked. But then again, Breathed was FUNNY. At least before he had that back accident and came back from the hospital all weird.

It's not that waterfowl are not an appropriate medium for political commentary...but at least *Bloom County* had a narrative. This was just a duck ranting. Weird.

Quack,

The Plaid Adder

[LisaM]

7. I know; what was THAT all about?

I have composed about a dozen letters in my head to its author. Unreal.

[Bridget Burke]

9. Pogo was a Possum

And he was Liberal.

In the Houston Chronicle, Mallard F is published next to Doonsberry, so the comparison is obvious.

Doonsberry is a comic strip with a large number of characters who share a long history. Not all story lines are political. The politics tend a bit to the left but people on "our" side get criticized when they deserve it--or when Trudeau thinks it's funny.

Mallard is a one-note Conservative spokesman & he's not funny at all.

[RetroLounge]

10. Hey, was Mallard Fillmore EVER funny?

answer is no...

[SmileyBoy]

12. That one strip on Sunday was really stupid.

I actually was at A&W looking at the free Sunday paper that they provide at the counter while you wait. I figured, "what the hell, I'll read it to torture myself a little." It was REALLY stupid and offensive.