Death Race 2012

Chuck Asay, 5/30/12:

Asay is taking the bold stand against President Reagan's 1986 law that required hospitals in the US to care for all comers before worrying about payment.

And why not? Clearly, the only worthy people are the ones who can afford to pay, so we're better off letting the rest die as quickly as possible, no?

Remember: YOU Need to Be "OK" With Other People's Marriages for Them to Count!

Terry Wise, 5/30/12:

Wise takes a bold stand in favor of hypocrisy!

(And neither he nor his editor clearly knows the word he wants is "prejudiced" -- as usual, the shoemaker's son is barefoot.)

Living in a Reality-Based Community

Ed Gamble, 5/29/12:

Yes, federal spending has increased at the slowest rate in 60 years under Obama -- as they used to say, you could look it up (in the Wall Street Journal, no less).

Gamble is apparently so confident that his readers won't bother to look, though, that he's willing to play the truth for a laugh.

We Don't Believe in No "Evolution" 'Round THESE Parts!

Chuck Asay, 5/29/12:

Obama is massively better at explaining why and how his positions have changed over the years, and thus is more persuasive about those changes, than Romney is.

...and this is bad because we don't like no stuck-up citified metrosexuals around hyar!

My Country, Right or Wrong

Ken Catalino, 5/24/12:

I'm not sure if this was an early Memorial Day cartoon -- it was posted on Thursday -- but, even if so, one might note that Germans and Japanese would agree that the American forces that conquered their countries were, in the end, "good guys."

But one might also note that Afghanis and Iraqis -- several hundred thousand of whom have died during the wars of the last decade -- would probably not agree, and might not agree even sixty years later. It's easy to claim the moral high ground for one's own side, but much less easy to be worthy of it.

(This might also be the place to note that Memorial Day cartoons, as usual, focused almost exclusively on WWII vets -- in several cases, the cartoonists' own dead fathers -- and rarely even mentioned currently-serving troops.)

Irrational Exuberance

Michael Ramirez, 5/24/12:

True, but: this is different from all of the market's darlings of the past fifteen years exactly how?

Booking It Out of Town

Eric Allie, 5/22/12:

When you're appearing on a TV show as a spokesman for someone else, and you criticize your principal, it's both surprising and wrong when people notice that and point out that you're doing a bad job as a spokesman.

But it might be worth it if there's a chance of luring some hedge-fund dollars to prop up your failing city.

When You See a Fork in the Road, Take It!

Ted Rall, 5/28/12:

Obama's policies and goals are exactly the same as those of Romney, which is why right-wing criticisms of Obama (that he's a bailout-loving, union-coddling socialist who wants to pick economic winners and losers and massively grow government by giving away fraudulent benefits to his core constituencies) are exactly the same as the left-wing criticism Rall is clearly more familiar with.

For the Birds

Nick Anderson, 5/25/12:

In investing, amateurs without the training, expertise, specialized equipment, and deep knowledge possessed by the professionals -- who have to take extensive courses and pass rigorous licensing exams before they are allow to trade -- should be able to buy an IPO stock on the first day and resell it to a bigger sucker a few hours later.

This holds true for all fields of human endeavor, as well: we can all fix our own cars, do our own tax accounting, design and build our own houses, and diagnose and effectively treat all of our own illnesses.

Damn the Science -- Full Speed Ahead!

Ed Gamble, 5/26/12:

Sure, early detection of a slow-growing cancer that doesn't affect your life for many years only adds costs, causes anxiety and stress, and shifts healthcare resources away from treatments that will help more people -- Gamble admits all of that.

But, goddamn it, old white men run this country, and they deserve to get every single cent of federal money that they can get their hands on. So detect their prostate cancers early, and spend lots of money to ruin their sex lives and make them unhappy for years before they finally die of something else -- it's their due.

No Magic Underwear Here!

Bob Gorell, 5/25/12:

Look, Gorrell's not saying that Obama's a secret Muslim, OK? He's not saying that at all. Really. Why are you looking at me that way?

Slug Bug!

Chuck Asay, 5/25/12:

Apparently, every major economy -- save only one -- subscribes to a particular set of economic principles, which (presumably) aided them in becoming the biggest economies in the world.

Asay thinks that is a bad thing; we should all be like Germany, with their cradle-to-grave social services, their hugely generous government-mandated vacation time, their heavily regulated industrial and retail economy, and their tiny, tiny swimsuits.

Saying "Good Doggie!" Until You Can Find a Rock

Clay Bennett, 5/25/12:

When making a "ha ha! your media outlet is totally lame!" attack, one should strive to avoid aligning one's own positions with sheep.

Gandalf's Handbook for Istari Pride Club Domination

Tom Toles, 5/25/12:

There is an actual notebook of "gray campaign practices" -- issued to every political campaign, at every level, in this country, to sit on the Official Shelf alongside its companions devoted to White and Black campaign practices, respectively, and define the D&D-ish alignment of that campaign -- but its spiral binding is particularly susceptible to coming unraveled, snaking down the drain, and...I'm sorry, I have no idea where this metaphor is going.

Men in Tights!

Mike Peters, 5/24/12:

Some might look at this cartoon and assume that Peters doesn't know his Marvel from his DC. Not me.

In this summer of The Avengers, how could a working cartoonist not know what Superman and Batman are DC characters? Inconceivable!

So Peters is playing a deeper game here, and making the old insinuation that any man who runs around at night in his long underwear punching people must be awfully light in the loafers. And who's to say he's not right?

Drawn From Life

Robert Unell, 5/23/12:

Only liberals have the fanatic anal-retentive nature necessary for drawing sufficiently nit-picky redistricting lines; all other strains of political belief are too loosey-goosey to do it right.

So (big sigh!) Unell will -- reluctantly, oh so reluctantly! -- claim this onerous duty for his fellows, just so it's done correctly. So selfless!

Lay Pipe, Baby, Lay Pipe!

Ken Catalino, 5/22/12:

Sure, who wouldn't want to spend billions in government money to build a leaky terrorist target through our pollution-sensitive farmlands so that Canadian companies can ship their oil more cheaply to their overseas customers?

It's a total no-brainer!

The Romance of Repression

Terry Wise, 5/22/12:

Certain sexual acts -- those so heinous, so deviant, that Wise doesn't even need to specify them -- are inherently evil, and doing any of them will immediately send you to H-E-double hockey sticks.

Face the Face

MStreeter, 5/22/12:

After two consecutive tech booms and their ridiculous IPOs, no one in America knows how to react when an IPO is properly priced and doesn't shoot up drastically right afterward.

Hint: a company wants to raise as much money from an IPO as possible, and if the stock goes substantially up afterwards, that just means it should have priced the IPO higher. 

(Also see today's cartoons from Walt Handelsman,  Steve Kelley, Glenn McCoy, Dana Summers, Jeff Darcy, Bob Gorrell,

Standing His Ground

Terry Wise, 5/21/12:

President Obama has single-handedly kept the Trayvon Martin story in the news, by talking about it incessantly and making strong policy statements that grew directly out of that single, local crime story.

And America is intensely focused on those policies, too.

Beast of Burden

Gustavo Rodriguez, 5/18/12:

Yes, one's career is very much like an airplane: your college diploma is a sticker on the underwing engine, while debt is...cargo that breaks through the undercarriage plating? a cancerous extrusion that pops the landing gear wheel with its many spikes? a shmoo-like creature squatting on the tarmac and keeping the plane from flying?

What is that thing, anyway?

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.

Remember That There Are No Gay Hispanics

Lisa Benson, 5/9/12:

One of the dangers of editorial cartooning is that events can run faster than the cartoonist anticipates.

Here's an unfortunate example (unfortunate for Benson, at least), since it appeared the very day that Obama declared that his position had finally evolved all the way over to agreeing that gay people should be allowed to get married like everyone else.

Also caught by surprise today: Steve Kelley:

And Mike Luckovich: