122. Rat-Eating Politician

September 22, 2008

Q: I am trying to find a National Lampoon comic that may have been titled “The Candidate.” It had a politician on a train in a cage eating a rat, and his handlers sewed a mask on his face, but forgot to take the rat away. The candidate appeared in public at the back of the train eating the rat, and his handlers said something about it not being a problem because the voting public were ignorant and wouldn’t remember it.

A: It was “Whistle-stop” by M.K. Brown and appeared in the Funny Pages section of the August 1972 (The Miracle of Democracy) issue. It was also reprinted in the National Lampoon Comics special issue (1974). (Thanks to Marcel for providing the answer.)

Comments

This comic was drawn by M.K. Brown. It is called Whistle-stop. I'm not sure of the original publication but it can be found at the end of National Lampoon Comics published in 1974.

—Marcel Caron

September 23, 2008 6:16 pm

That must be it! It first appeared in the Funny Pages section of the August 1972 (The Miracle of Democracy) issue.

—Mark

September 23, 2008 6:49 pm

Lizard, not a rat.

—xrayspex

May 18, 2011 1:25 pm

The ears are awfully big for a lizard, and one of the characters refers to it as a rat. What makes you say it's a lizard?

—Mark

May 18, 2011 1:39 pm

At the end guy says " Do you think they actually saw him eat the rat?

—Jbic

March 6, 2012 3:22 pm

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