Political Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow Speaks at Haverford

Geddes Munson - News Editor, Bi-College News

On Wednesday, Dec. 4, noted political cartoonist Tom Tomorrow spoke at Haverford for the final Collection of the semester in a packed Sharpless Auditorium.

Tomorrow (whose real name is Dan Perkins) began his presentation by showing a movie of George W. Bush in Nashville, attempting to say "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me" but instead struggling through the lines "fool me once, shame on--(pause) --shame on you. Fool me --you can't get fooled again." Which the audience responded to with incredible laughter, so much so that he played the movie a second time, to even more laughter. Tomorrow explained how George W. Bush had made his life harder since he felt that the cartoonists job was to exaggerate the truth, but the truth was getting so ridiculous that it was harder and harder to exaggerate.

Tomorrow spent the majority of his presentation reading and showing his cartoons. His left-leaning cartoons poked fun at everything from the dot-com economy to war in Iraq. His cartoons have appeared in the New York Times, Spin, Mother Jones, US News & World Report, The Economist, The New Yorker and Salon.com, among other places.

He showed pictures and told stories from his experiences at various political events, including the Republican and Democratic national conventions in 2000. Many of his pictures and stories featured Haverford alum, and humor columnist Dave Barry.

The most sobering part of Tomorrow's presentation was when he illustrated contradictions in the media. He showed quotes from news agencies like NPR and the Associated Press from 1998, explaining how the United Nations had recalled weapons inspectors from Iraq, and then quotes from the same agencies in 2002 referring to 1998, saying that Saddam Hussein had expelled or kicked out those same inspectors.

Following the main presentation was a brief question and answer session. Tomorrow reflected on topics ranging from censorship in the media post 9-11, to the role of weblogs and the internet in modern society. Following the question answer session Tomorrow spent some time signing books of his which were on sale outside of the auditorium.