"Pluck the Duck" - that was the headline on my column Sunday urging The News & Observer to get rid of the "Mallard Fillmore" comic strip. The comic had become stridently anti-Obama - 15 strips in the month of August - and that isn't fair in the context of the political campaign, I argued. Here's the column.
But after reading that, a lot of readers wanted to tar and feather me. Here are some examples:
- "While The Duck may have become overtly political in recent weeks, he is not always this way, and will not be this way three months from now when all the campaigning is over and done with. Should you opt to cancel 'Mallard Fillmore,' you will have capitulated to the whinings of the left over a temporary situation while eliminating a strip that, by your own admission, has among the highest positive votes among readers."
- "Suck it up, Ted, nobody is forcing you to have your lefties read Mallard Fillmore, just as I ignore Gary Trudeau ('Doonesbury' artist). I don't find him funny, and only occasionally ironic. The Duck is usually dumb, but that's the point. The N&O by your own admission will be the first and only paper of 400 to cancel the piece because it offends your Democrat sensibilities. Many will see that as censorship and intolerance."
- "Mallard is a way to balance the political slant to your editorial cartoons. If you printed any but a liberal cartoon more than five times a year, it would be earth-shattering. Keep the DUCK!"
And on, and on. By my latest count, 65 readers weighed in on Mallard's side, while 18 support his demise. Here's one anti-Mallard comment:
"We are surprised that 'Mallard Filmore' has lasted this long. Such blatant political, even racist caricature belongs in the grocery store check-out stands. It does not rise even to the editorial page level of a capital-city newspaper. Dump 'Mallard.'"
Comments
Mallard Fillmore to the Editorial page
Thu, 09/03/2009 - 01:13 — stars_coachMany years ago the N&O moved Doonesbury to the Editorial page due to the "political" nature of it's humor. At the least, that's where Mallard Fillmore should be. Let those who enjoy reading his quacky view of politics waddle to the Editorial section of the paper.
Teacher Abuse
Thu, 09/18/2008 - 12:59 — johndjI disagree with almost all the political views expressed by "Mallard Fillmore, but still think it can be funny. I was pleased that Ted Vaden, who is paid to be impartial, was willing to state his well-founded opinion that the strip shoulkd be dropped, and I agree with his opinion. As a teacher of 20 years experience, I was a bit appalled at the repeated digs at teachers. We are imfamous for being liberal as a group, I'll admit, but we certainly don't sink to the silly foibles presented, not most of us most of the time. There is no objective reason I can offer to sink the strip - I just dislike it - but that's enough for me. John Dancy-Jones, www.raleighrambles.com
More readers on the duck
Wed, 09/03/2008 - 10:04 — tedvaden (author)I said in my post above that the Public Editor e-mail traffic was running heavily in favor of keeping "Mallard Fillmore." But comments sent directly to the N&O's comics comment site, comics@newsobserver.com, are more divided. Of 183 comments received by 7 p.m. Tuesday, 96 said drop the strip and 84 said keep it (a few messages were unclear).