This political cartoon was drawn by Henry Payne, a syndicated conservative political cartoonist who is well respected. It was created after the Democratic debate hosted by CNN, which was struck by controversy when many believed it supported Hillary Clinton over other contenders such as Bernie Sanders. In his political cartoon, Payne seeks to mock CNN for supporting Hillary Clinton by using a play on words and depicting Anderson Cooper as a buffoon. Many who watched the debate would probably agree with Payne, too. Hillary had more time to speak and seemingly easier questions in this debate. She emerged a victor, many thinking that CNN helped her in this regard. CNN has also been criticized in the past for being overly supportive to Clinton, a bias many think a news network should not have in order to report effectively. Many thought that they completely disregarded all candidates except for Clinton and maybe Sanders. Enter the rhetorical devices. To show the biases of CNN, Payne changes its name from Cable News network to Clinton News Network. The humorous play on words shows CNN's bias effectively while also making the reader laugh a little. The next thing to do would be to make fun of the moderator, Anderson Cooper. Cooper portrays himself as unbiased and a pretty great public figure, but the cartoon attempts to discredit this. By having his caricature wear a Clinton pin, it accuses him of supporting Clinton thereby destroying his objective nature. His caricature is also contorted and makes him seem like a buffoon, what the author is trying to convey. The overall success of the cartoon is debatable. Though it is humorous, it offers no substantive proof of the claim, so it falls short of its purpose. Obviously, any data to back up the claim could be found easily, but this makes the cartoon feel rushed and half baked.
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