Compare and Contrast

Chuck Asay, 5/20/12:

Asay is absolutely right: conservatives care only about themselves, while liberals are capable of noticing that others have the same problems and of trying to find solutions that benefit more than one person.

When the President Does It....

Mike Lester, 5/18/12:

There are still people who believe in completely discredited ideas, such as that the earth is flat, that homeopathy works, that life is only 6000 years old, or that Obama was born outside of the US.

Lester is one of them, and, if you give him a chance, he'll probably also tell you a little story about how Queen Elizabeth and the Trilateral Commission secretly rule the world from their flying war-cloud high above the Pacific.

Having a Gay Old Time

Brian Fairrington, 5/17/12:

Obama is gay as a three-dollar bill, because no one not gay would ever support gay marriage, right?

Also, all gay men are fruity creeps whom no right-thinking person would ever want to associate with. No exceptions.

(In other news, Fairrington is clearly overcompensating for something.)

Arrive Alive

Henry Payne, 5/17/12:

Facebook's impending IPO is utterly ruined by GM's declaration that they won't advertise on Facebook any more.

Because, of course, every other advertiser in the world will immediately follow GM, won't they? Just watch and see!

Ever Hear the Wall Street Term "Taking a Haircut"?

Robert Ariail, 5/17/12:

When a company loses $2 billion through their own stupidity and bad planning -- and even though that can't seriously harm a bank that made $19 billion in profit last year -- the damage is done immediately, not to the bank itself, or even the nation where those bad trades were placed, but to the nation it's ostensibly headquartered in.

This is high finance, Robert Ariail-style.

All Big Numbers With Dollar Signs in Them Are Identical

Gary Varvel, 5/17/12:

When a bank loses $2 billion on credit default swaps made by one trader, due to insufficient risk control and oversight, that's exactly like a sovereign state deliberately spending more money than it takes in (either because they're evil Socialists bent on stealing your guns, or because lowering tax rates, starting two unfunded wars and a major health benefit, and then ignoring a looming crash are the recipe for a disaster, take your pick).

Wonderful Golden Rule Days!

Chuck Asay, 5/15/12:

Students learn absolutely nothing in college, so you might as well send your rugrats off to a bootblacking factory at age seven, and at least get a little income out of the hellions.

This Cheap, Penny-Ante Building & Loan

Ann Cleaves, 5/16/12:

Cleaves believes that J.P. Morgan lost $2 billion, not on credit default swaps, but because they weren't willing to loan out their money to small businesses or take small savings accounts.

And ignorance like that on the part of the public is why Morgan is allowed to regulate itself and claim it has the "best risk control in the business."

High Ground

Benjamin Hummel, 5/16/12:

A recession is a permanent, geological feature of the landscape -- either that, or mountain formation happens much more quickly on Earth-Hummel than on our own.

Pillow Talk

Gary McCoy, 5/14/12:

Gay marriage has become more popular and accepted in American society not because more Americans know and are comfortable with gay friends, but because THEY are indoctrinating our youth!

Also note the pump bottle on the nightstand, which I rather doubt McCoy would bother to draw in for a mixed-sex couple: once again, anti-gay-marriage rhetoric is driven by a sense of ickiness at the kind of sex one imagines gay people are having.

You Can Judge a Man By What He Considers Important

Two very different cartoons with exactly the same message today!

Eric Allie, 5/15/12:

And Michael Ramirez, 5/15/12:

No one who disagrees with either of them on anything could have any reason for doing so other than money or sex. No exceptions.

Official Portrait

Lisa Benson, 5/15/12:

Knowing Benson's antipathy for Obama, this can be parsed as a slam at him for sullying the grandeur of his office by taking a stand on gay marriage that she personally disagrees with.

But it could also be read as an attack on Newsweek, for denigrating the Presidency by associating our current office-holder with those yucky gay people.

Or, maybe, is she trying to do both at once, and not quite managing to hit both targets at once? You can't be wrong if you caricature someone who is already a caricature, can you?

Improvised Gifting Device

Paul Fell, 5/15/12:

Gay marriage, which has lost popular votes in 33 of the states -- most recently losing just last week 60-40 in North Carolina, under an even-more-Draconian wording than enacted anywhere else -- is so obviously popular and beloved an institution that coming out even mildly against it in the current campaign would immediately destroy the Republicans.

A Powerful Thirst

David Horsey, 5/15/12:

No Congressional Democrat would ever let a drop of corporate money touch his lips. Perish the thought!

Get Up, Stand Up

Chuck Asay, 5/15/122:

Trying to counter the outrageous actions of a corrupt, tyrannical Communist regime alone is noble, even if you get killed along the way.

Trying to counter the outrageous actions of a capitalist company along with all of your co-workers is evil and futile.

(Alternate interpretation: anything that reduces the number of Heathen Chinee is fine with Chuck, but don't mess with our corporate People.)

He'll Go Home To Cry on His Many Beds

Michael Ramirez, 5/14/12:

When people in the media say mean things about a Job Creator like Romney, that's mean and bullying and they should be forced to stop it.

When people in the media say mean things about dark-skinned people, such as Ramirez on the subject of Obama, that's just free speech.

Hope Is the Thing With Feathers

Bill Day, 5/14/12:

That looks frighteningly like a Terry Gilliam concoction from the early days of Monty Python, so I keep expecting it to flap its wings and go terrorize some frumpy British women.

My hallucinations aside, is there any point to this cartoon? I can't even tell if it's supposed to be pro-Obama or anti.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Dwayne Booth, 5/12/12:

You know, I didn't think it was possible for a cartoonist on the liberal side to come up with something as silly, offensive, and just plain stupid as the more egregious anti-gay-marriage cartoons we've seen from conservatives this last week.

But I didn't count on Dwayne Booth, who came through with flying colors, adding that usual liberal-cartoonist problem, far too many words, to the mix along the way.

Can't We All Just Get a Job?

Terry Wise, 5/13/12:

Considering that Wise, himself, has directly called Obama a dog eater, apologist, socialist, and Muslim in recent memory, this cartoon could be seen as slightly disingenuous.

But that's the thrill of editorial cartooning: every day you can try to pretend to be unbiased yet again and, maybe, one day you'll even get it right.

Louisiana Liplock

Mike Peters, 5/11/12:

Everyone in favor of gay marriage is actually secretly gay -- no exceptions.

(Even if recent research indicates the opposite may be more true.)

Don't Let That Slippery Slope Hit You On the Ass

Chuck Asay, 5/10/12:

A stable, loving marriage between two adults of the same sex is exactly the same as statutory rape by someone in a position of power.

Chuck Asay, ladies and gentlemen! A true gentleman bigot of the old school.

A Knock at the Door

Mike Lester, 5/10/12:

The African-American vote will entirely abandon Obama -- the first Black President -- to vote for a Mormon, whose religion taught him that blacks carry "the curse of Cain," because Obama is now very tepidly pro-gay marriage.

Well it's definitely a prediction, and we can see how well Lester did come November. But I wouldn't bet big money on it.

If It's Too Rad, You're Too Old

Ann Cleaves, 5/10/12:

Every so often, I have to run an Ann Cleaves cartoon, just to remind you that she's still out there -- bless her heart!

And, as usual, I can just point at it quizzically and make confused noises.

Untethered

Paul Fell, 5/10/12:

Not many people remember The Right, a minor Sid and Marty Croft show from the early '70s, but memories of the exploits of that band of weird-hatted doofuses in their pink dirigible still brings smiles to the lips of the few who were up at 5 AM those cold November mornings.

Clearly, Mitt was one of them, and he's ready for another adventure with Teaboy, Vikeor, and Large Marge -- Up, Up, and A-Hooey, Mitt!

Oh Please Don't Go, We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So

Jeff Stahler, 5/9/12:

Maurice Sendak's death has been the impetus for more genuine, specific, heartfelt cartoons than any other "celebrity" of recent memory -- maybe because Sendak, like editorial cartoonists, was an artist who mixed words and pictures.

But there's a rule: someone has to do the Single Tear cartoon, and, this time, Jeff Stahler drew the short straw.