Setting aside the penguin and his cheerfully obtuse dog, the main “characters” in my strip for the past six or seven years have basically been George Bush and his Legion of Doom administration (and of course their various mouthpieces and enablers). Which leaves me vulnerable to a problem that, say, Charles Schulz did not have to face: my characters keep getting up and walking away.
Karl Rove, President Bush’s longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas, marking a turning point for the Bush presidency.
There’s still a big Donald Rumsfeld-sized hole in my cartoon — watching him testify during the Tillman hearings, I was reminded once again that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. And now Karl, my ever-reliable Machiavellian straight-man, is leaving. Sure, maybe he’ll be back for some corruption inquiry or war crimes tribunal — but it just won’t be the same as having his blandly evil presence in the background of the Oval Office whenever I need it.
I’ll miss your doughy face, Karl.
Sigh.