‘Them #%@* pictures!’

In 1871, roasted in the press by both words and cartoons, the corrupt New York politician Boss Tweed exclaimed, "I don’t care so much what the papers say about me because my constituents don’t know how to read, but they can’t help seeing them damned pictures!" Although literacy rates among the working class have increased, the sharp points of editorial cartoons still hit the bull’s eye for readers, leaving more than a few public figures to complain about those "pictures."