Mallard Fillmore

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Mallard Fillmore is also the name of the president of the United Species of America in the comic book Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew.

Mallard Fillmore is a comic strip written and illustrated by Bruce Tinsley. The strip follows the exploits and opinions of its title character, a politically conservative anthropomorphic duck who works as a reporter at fictional television station WFDR in Washington, D.C.. Syndicated by King Features Syndicate since 1994, Mallard Fillmore appears in approximately 400 newspapers across the United States.

"Mallard Fillmore" is a pun on Millard Fillmore, a 19th century president of the United States.

Characters

  • Mallard Fillmore is the main character in the comic strip. He is a seasoned conservative reporter for fictional television station WFDR-TV in Washington, D.C., which hired him in order to fill its quota for "Amphibious Americans." He yearns for the "good old days," viewing himself as a victimized underdog in a world that is being overrun with political correctness, religious secularism, and hypocrisy. Mallard is usually in a state of outrage against the news item of the day, usually involving liberals. Mallard's politics are presumably very close, if not one and the same, to cartoonist Bruce Tinsley's. Although WFDR appears to be a small, local channel, Mallard is still capable of interviewing famous politicians such as Al Gore. Occasionally, he will mention a study done by the "Fillmore Foundation," a think tank which may or may not actually exist in the comic strip, which he presumably heads. Mallard seems to be conscious of the fact that he is a fictional cartoon character, and is capable of "feeling poorly drawn." Mallard is also a bachelor, though in 2002 he had a date with a human woman he met in line at the post office, which did not go well because he did not agree with her politics. He appears to be quite fond of Ann Coulter. Mallard didn't attend journalism school, at least according to his boss, Mr. Noseworthy.
  • Mr. Noseworthy is Mallard's boss at WFDR. He is a parody of political correctness in America, afraid of offending anyone or anything. He is also a parody of the mainstream media, which in the world of "Mallard Fillmore," has an overt liberal bias. His catchphrase is "If you'd gone to journalism school, you'd know this stuff."
  • Chet is a co-worker of Mallard's at WFDR. He is an arrogant, vain, superficial, Botox-injecting, clothes-obsessed Caucasian male. In a series of strips in late 2003, he discovered he is a "metrosexual."
  • Chantel, an African-American woman reporter, is a co-worker of Mallard's at WFDR. She is described as "smart, aggressive, and liberal." Unlike most liberals depicted in "Mallard Fillmore," she is presented as an intelligent, competent person. She is usually used whenever a scene calls for a minority or a minority perspective – although she is offended when her colleagues assume she speaks on behalf of all African-Americans. Chantel also thinks she's fat.
  • Dave Quat, a conservative Vietnamese man, is Mallard's best friend, who generally agrees with Mallard's politics. He is the owner of his own diner, aptly named "Dave's Diner."
  • Rush Quat is Dave's young son. He is named after conservative talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh. Rush is in the fourth grade and hopes to someday become a professional basketball player; he sometimes plays basketball with Mallard. Unlike most of the kids in his class, he does not take Ritalin.
  • Eddie is Mallard's pet fish. Like Mallard, he is apparently capable of speech.
  • Congressman Pinkford Veneer is a fictional Washington, D.C. congressman. He is a spineless, hypocritical, out-of-touch politician who enjoys tax hikes and opposes school vouchers, even though he sends his own children to a private school. Veneer is a Democrat. In April 2000, he authored a bill that would require criminals to "give their victims a 30-second waiting period to unlock their trigger-locks" on their guns.
  • "Bruce Tinsley," the cartoonist, sometimes appears in the comic strip, represented by a giant hand holding a pencil over the scene. The other characters are capable of interacting with him, and presumably are aware that they are fictional comic strip characters. "Bruce Tinsley" usually comments on how things are depicted in an editorial cartoon. A series of strips from June 1999, for example, deals with Mr. Noseworthy arguing with "Bruce Tinsley" over how the cartoonist should depict a mugger.
  • OSHA-Boy is a guardian of workplace safety and safe working conditions who is authorized to "annoy virtually anyone suspected of violating a regulation." He appears to be a flying, glasses-wearing dwarf (or other creature) with a superhero-like costume, and a clipboard in hand. He appears to be a physical manifestation of OSHA.
  • Dr. Dilton Twinkley, an education expert, often appears as a guest on WFDR to talk about education issues. He appears to be a exaggerated parody of the NEA and U.S. public school system officials.
  • Larry, a co-worker of Mallard's who gets agitated whenever Mallard does not purchase candy from his son for his school's annual fundraisers.
  • Mr. or Ms. P.C. Person, a superhero-like physical manifestation of political correctness who prides hirself on being gender-neutral.
  • Eddie Fillmore, Mallard's unseen father, a World War II veteran. Spent three years in the Navy aboard the San Jacinto.

Controversy

Parody in America (The Book)

In the 2004 book America (The Book), written by the staff of The Daily Show, a parody of Mallard Fillmore appears in a section about political cartoons:

  • Panel 1 - Mallard: Liberals want to tie the hands of industry with more environmental legislation.
  • Panel 2 - Mallard: Why must we punish our most productive citizens with an income tax?
  • Panel 3 - Mallard: Ooops! I forgot to tell a joke!

In the strip's July 5, 2005 edition, and continuing through the July 6, July 7, and July 8 strips, Tinsley responded to the America (The Book) parody.

Mallard vs. college admissions departments

In a series of strips during July 2003, Mallard encouraged high school seniors to denote their race as Black, Hispanic, or Native American on their SAT and college applications, in order to protest racial discrimination by "mak[ing] those labels meaningless to bigoted admissions [departments]."

The war in Iraq

From a January 2003 article in Editor & Publisher about columnists and cartoonists commenting about the situation in Iraq:

Bruce Tinsley has used his "Mallard Fillmore" comic to tweak the media for covering Bush in a negative way. "They portray any military position taken by a Republican president as warmongering," said Tinsley. "But I'm not personally sold on this war. I'm disappointed that the administration hasn't been more forthcoming on the reasons for a war."
Tinsley, however, has not expressed his doubts in "Mallard" -- with one reason being that he feels those doubts are already finding expression in many editorial cartoons and other media commentary.

Recurring themes of Mallard Fillmore

  • The Liberal Lexicon — Satiric definitions of liberal “buzzwords” or phrases.
  • Liberals, the Early Years — Liberal stereotypes during the Stone Age.
  • Mallard's Gift Ideas
  • Malentines
  • A Mallard Issue Brief
  • Mallard's New Year's Predictions
  • Mallard's Back-to-School Predictions/Facts
  • Dear Mallard — Mallard responds to supposed reader mail.

Frequent targets

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