The Wasp — 1896 — page 562: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *The Wasp* satirizes the Democratic Party through a mock "campaign card" listing absurdist, made-up candidates with deliberately offensive or ridiculous names. The joke lists positions like President ("Windy Bill"), Vice President ("Nonentity Sewall"), and cabinet posts with names like "Anarchist Altgeld," "Rebel Joe Blackburn," and "Dirty Dick Bland"—appearing to mock actual Democratic politicians of the era. Two caricatured figures flank the card, depicted as rough, disheveled men, suggesting the Democrats are portrayed as disreputable or chaotic. The caption calls this an "all-star combination" from the "recent Democratic circus at Chicago," referencing what the magazine viewed as a chaotic or illegitimate Democratic convention. The satire attacks Democratic candidates and their platform through name-calling and ridicule rather than substantive critique.