When Last We Left Our Heroes

Monte Wolverton, 2/28/11:

Wolverton isn't even trying to make an editorial cartoon here -- and his shadowy evil Republicans look like minor background drones in a particularly dull Dilbert strip.

Squeal Like a Pig

Martin Rowson, 2/28/11:

When the market's not doing what you want it to, the only recourse you have is to blow heavily on the screen of your Bloomberg terminal, write some random headlines, and hope that things will have changed by the time you wipe it all off.

Signs of the Times

Matt Bors, 2/28/11:

Everybody loves democracy and freedom as long as it's some other guy taking the hit.

Over the Bounding Main

Jim Morin, 2/27/11:

Once again, we have here a cartoon with almost enough labels. Sure, Obama is busy steering the S.S. Economic Recovery, and oblivious to the oncoming storm of Mideast Revolution, but what is that sea he's on?

Perhaps the sea should be Economic Recovery, and the ship is the USA, or the Liberty, and its sails are Private Sector Hiring and Lower Taxes. But the cartoon is missing the dangerous reef of Double-Dip Recession, and it desperately needs an oil metaphor to bang its point home.

The Glory of the Space Taxi

Jeff Koterba, 2/25/11:

The only space program that counts is monkeys in tin cans.

And the Special of the Day Is....

Bill Schorr, 2/25/11:

If it seems that you can't get away from Sarah Palin recently, you're absolutely correct: she's become physically ubiquitous, present in every single restaurant, bar, talk-show set, and speech venue in the country.

Class Participation

Joe Heller, 2/26/11:
The teachers of Wisconsin are ready and entirely willing to fail the children of anyone who messes with their benefits. Just try it, bub!

Vengeance Will Be Mine, Sayeth the Teacher

Paul Fell, 2/25/11:

Just you wait -- you might think Mrs. Turleson, your daughter's third-grade teacher, is a mild-mannered lady fond of twinsets and catseye glasses, but she and her cohorts are about to snap, and America will run ankle-deep with the blood of the anti-teacherites.

Cavorting in the Sand

Taylor Jones, 2/24/11:

Yes, that is an actual Russ Limbaugh quote. But it doesn't excuse that horrible, horrible picture, which now none of us will forget to the end of our days.

And what first lady did look like a swimsuit model, anyway? Mamie Eisenhower?

America the Pink

Gary McCoy, 2/24/11:

McCoy thinks, after twenty years of Lines of Death, sanctions, terrorism-sponsoring, and general bad activity, that Libya's Gadaffi will change his behavior instantly with one stern word from a President McCoy doesn't actually respect.

Or, at least, he thinks it's good enough as the premise for a gloriously pink cartoon.

Cartoon Cliche #251

Bob Englehart, 2/24/11:

The only appropriate editorial cartoon response to a tragedy: drawing an iconic representation of that place with a single tear. (cf. Iron Eyes Cody)

Somebody Is Cuckoo Here

Rob Rogers, 2/25/11:

Rogers is under the impression that Gadaffi's Libya, which has been vehemently anti-American for over forty years now, is our ally.

He Does Have the Checkered Flag

Henry Payne, 2/24/11:

You know how, as you get older, young people seem to be that much younger? Well, I think Payne here just attended a NASCAR event, and found himself older than he expected.

The Wonderful Thing About Congressmen

Jesse Springer, 2/24/11:

Oregon's Congressman Wu has been somewhat erratic recently, including posing for this widely circulated photo of him in a fuzzy tiger suit:











As always, Editorial Explanations is entirely in favor of politicians doing deeply weird things, and hopes to see Wu continue on in this impressive vein.

Trail of Tears

Chuck Asay, 2/24/11:

Asay is among those Americans that firmly believes that genocide and forced removal from one's homeland are good things, and that this is what's about to happen to unionized workers across the USA. Perhaps we'll resettle them all on reservations in Oklahoma?

I Want to Thank the Academy

Victor Harville, 2/24/11:

Toppling a dictator is exactly like acting in a major motion picture -- but not if you're in Tunisia.

What's that Road Paved with Good Intentions?

Matt Davies, 2/24/11:

Not only can't you eat freedom, you can't run your car on it, either.

Possibly a Pun on "Park"

Ann Cleaves, 2/24/11:

Office Obie, there, is ready to spring into action the second he sees any littering going on. Or maybe this is just another, "Hey, everybody is using electronic stuff now! Isn't that neat!" cartoons.

God Bless Berlusconi

David Horsey, 2/24/11:

Deep down, all political cartoonists wish that their country's leaders would get involved in really juicy scandals, preferably involving eyebrow-raising sex with very attractive young women. And, when that feeling gets too overwhelming to bear, they can always pretend to be Italian, and that makes it all better.

She's Carrying a Torch...Get It?!

R.J. Matson, 2/23/11:

The USA, as always, is the sole source of all freedom in the world.

And don't forget it, bub!

Well-Labeled Cartoon of the Week

Steve Greenberg, 2/23/11:

I don't have to say anything -- Greenberg has laid it all out, and labeled every bit of it. But you have to appreciate that old-school barrel of dynamite; you almost expect Wile E. Coyote to come bursting out of that door, his tail on fire, in a follow-up panel.

Gas 'n' Go

Clay Jones, 2/23/11:

The SUV of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the oil of patriots and tyrants, as Thomas Jefferson never actually said.

Look Away, for God's Sake!

Steve Bell, 2/23/11:

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Working Here Is Like Being Bombed By Su-22s

Clay Bennett, 2/23/11:

Working here is like being oppressed by Muammar Quaddafi, amirite? I mean, they're always shooting us with automatic weapons and exploiting our tribal difference to maintain a firm grasp on absolute power, aren't they?

You Can Dress Them Up...

Paul Berge, 2/23/11:

There are some contests that machines will never win.

...or will they?

Tunnel of Mild Distaste

Graeme MacKay, 2/22/11:

Canada is not so enthusiastic about the US these days, and they may even be whispering disparaging comments about our border crossings.

Who's Walking Who?

Henry Payne, 2/22/11:

Unions are the rich and powerful ones in American society today, which is why they have been winning so many political battles and why union leaders are powerful, well-known political figures.

Gotta love the jaunty insouciance of that fat cat and his demme dog, though.

Draw Me!

Pat Bagley, 2/22/11:

Bagley would desperately like to get out of cartooning and into the lucrative conning-suckers line of work.

Propping-Up-Dictators Man?

Lisa Benson, 2/22/11:

There has been a sudden burst of international wars -- with lots of bloodshed -- recently.

Wait, what?

Silence Dogood, You've Changed!

Nate Beeler, 2/22/11:

Beeler had no good ideas yesterday, but then remembered that he really hates Sarah Palin.

Is That a State in Your Pocket?

David Cohen, 2/22/11:

Little known fact: it is completely legal for anyone to carry a gun anywhere in the state of Texas -- provided that the gun itself is in the shape of Texas.

Airball

Gary Varvel, 2/22/11:

People who have paid into essentially-solvent government programs for decades and now wish to benefit from them are the moral equivalent of crying children.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

Bill Mutranowski, 2/21/11:

God is precisely like a deadbeat father of a stereotypically minority ghetto child. And there's absolutely no racial condescension here, either.

Just Draw the Cliche

Rick McKee, 2/21/11:

Sometimes a deadline is looming and all you can think of is a cliche. Don't feel bad: go for it!

By the way, it's the Augusta, Georgia city administrator who now has hiring and firing power, which not everyone is happy about.

How About a Wafer-Thin Mint?

Victor Harville, 2/22/11:

All of the oil in the world comes from Libya.

(As opposed to last week, when all of the oil in the world came through the Suez Canal.)

The Running-Away Revolution

Lloyd Dangle, 2/21/11:

Stopping democratically-elected governments from doing their work is A-OK as long as you disagree with their plans. And this thinking will be extended to all ends of the political spectrum, right?

Wetbacks

Bill Leak, 2/22/11:

Australians, not unlike their North American cousins, have had trouble with unwanted illegal immigrants for a very long time.

Why Are Liberal Cartoons Always So Much Wordier?

Jen Sorensen, 2/22/11:

The Wisconsin school teachers threatened by their state's governor with massive givebacks and with the loss of all future collective bargaining rights should use this moment to indoctrinate their students and, once those students are old enough to vote, eventually get that law rescinded. But their nemesis is one step ahead of them.

Portrait of a Stereotype

Steve Benson, 2/21/11:

Gun owners are deliberately obtuse about the fact that guns are designed to kill things, and are often used to kill things that are also people.

Also, all gun owners are fat unkept ugly beardies, so who wants to be one of them?

Yet Another Public Service We Offer

Signe Wilkinson, 2/21/11:

Some cartoons just cry out, "I'm based on a very specific news story, and you haven't found it yet."

And here at Editorial Explanations, we go the extra yard to find that story for you: this is based on the true story of a teacher in the Philadelphia suburbs. She wrote that her students "curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire and are just generally annoying.” Her district was less than happy when they discovered what she had been doing.

You Want Me To Get That?

Ted Rall, 2/21/11:

Sometime over the past decade, Benson became Homer Simpson's butler. Also, indentured servitude is apparently still alive and well.

Advanced Falconry

Martin Rowson, 2/21/11:

The British are vastly more advanced than we poor Americans at incomprehensible editorial cartoons; this one is clearly against the power of Barclay's Bank, but otherwise requires specialized and detailed knowledge to decipher. (Not to mention excellent eyesight, to make out the little labels.)

Chop Away

Ken Catalino, 2/19/11:

There are more "Demogators" than the Republican elephant can handle, even though he's holding the sacred Axe of Cuts, and has an unbreakable majority in the House.

Either that, or it's time to drain the swamp (representing...well, maybe the traditional budgeting process?)

Federal Budget Joke # 26,492

Brian Fairrington, 2/9/11:

The budget for the government of the largest economy in the world should somewhat smaller than it is, in unspecified ways.

Slippery Slope

Joel Pett, 2/19/11:

Men are from the private sector, women are from the public sector.

His Name Is "Wishes"

Clay Bennett, 2/19/11:

Democrats are working, salt-of-the-earth common folk, who want only to be left alone to wrest a meager living from the soil. And Republicans are heartless aristocrats, gleefully stealing from that working man to party and play their lives away.

Who's He Looking At?

Nick Anderson, 2/18/11:

Uncle Sam is waving the bloody shirt, though he's holding it as if he's a bullfighter. Also, it's not clear why Mexican drug violence is staining his flag rather than Mexico's. (Except, perhaps, for the fact that the US is the most important nation of all time, so everything is only important in as much as it affects us.)

The Shirt Off His Back

Gary Varvel, 2/18/11:

Vouchers not only miraculously make all students smarter, they also make those childrens' clothes fit much better.

Either that, or the boys' shirts represent the differing levels of funding -- but, in that case, a big, baggy shirt shouldn't be a bad thing, should it?