I considered a few other ideas for a Christmas-themed cartoon on roughly this topic, and while some of them were probably a little less cliche, they didn’t seem as interesting to me. I hope any shortcomings this cartoon has in the idea department are made up for by the drawing, and the facial expressions, especially.

People have been comparing Newt Gingrich to Ebenezer Scrooge ever since he began calling for the repeal of child labor laws some weeks ago. Indeed, I did a few sketches along those lines, since few (if any) other cartoonists had illustrated this comparison. But, considering how Gingrich’s campaign came back from the dead following Herman Cain’s implosion, I thought there might be something in a comparison to Jacob Marley, instead.

Of course, Marley was aware of and regretted his own past failings, whereas Gingrich seems to revel in his. I’m not quite sure of my choice of specifics to highlight in the cartoon–”ego” and “bigotry” don’t appear to be failings in the eyes of the Republican fringe, after all.