November 01, 2013 04:46 PM UTC

Stay Classy, Colorado Statesman?

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• by: Colorado Pols

A rather shocking editorial cartoon in the state political insider water-cooler publication The Colorado Statesman last week was just brought to our attention today:

This cartoon depicts a Republican, symbolized by an elephant, instructing a hunter on things to keep in mind while hunting "The Hudak." The elephant says to the hunter, "When you're hunting, remember that she doesn't always wear a pointed hat and carry a broom and she may say she is protecting kids." Sen. Evie Hudak of Arvada, currently the target of a paid petition signature gathering effort, is portrayed as a witch.

The truth is, we're not entirely sure what to make of this, but it looks pretty bad. It's possible that it wasn't meant to portray Republicans in a positive light, but if so, it's definitely not as clear on that point as it needs to be. The other possibility, and the one that's much easier to conceptualize, is that the cartoon is just taking a tongue-in-cheek perspective on the "grassroots anger" at Sen. Hudak over her support for this year's gun safety bills. You know, by portraying a hunter with a gun learning how to hunt "The Hudak."

If you know anything about the ugly threats of violence against Democrats this year, and the Statesman staff surely does, you know what a dicey subject that is to make jokes about. At the very least, the Statesman should have been careful to make their point with some additional nuance. And at worst? This cartoon makes light of very real threats of violence, and is totally unacceptable.

We'll leave it to our readers to determine which it is.