Politico's staff cartoonist was heavily criticized Wednesday for a drawing that appeared to mock victims of Tropical Storm Harvey as hypocrites who opposed the federal government despite depending upon it for their survival. The drawing by Matt Wuerker depicted a Texan in a ten-gallon hat and a Confederate flag shirt being airlifted from a flooded home bearing a sign saying "secede." Related Image Expand / CollapsePolitico posted the cartoon from its main Twitter account Wednesday afternoon, but later deleted the tweet as the backlash rolled in. Wuerker himself took to Twitter to defend his cartoon, saying he meant to mock the Texas secessionist movement and not all Harvey victims. Responding to criticism that the cartoon looked like a swipe at people of faith, Wuerker responded "Guess I should have made that big Secede sign on the house bigger still."

Source: Fox News August 30, 2017 19:51 UTC