If It's Not Perfect Right Away, Kill It Immediately

Ed Gamble, 12/4/13:

That's right: the alternative to healthcare is "cut taxes, cut spending." Because a smaller government magically makes people healthier by spending less on clean water, clean air, unadulterated food, firefighting, roads, and national security -- not even counting delivering healthcare.

It's Horrible When Things Cost Money

Ed Gamble, 11/21/13:

A government is a poor and limited thing, and can only do one thing at a time -- it's either a Mars probe or Obamacare. (Or, presumably, the interstate system, or the military, or Social Security, or Medicare, or the FDA, or or or.)

Those of us who remember the days when the federal government could launch two wars and a major new entitlement (Medicare Part D) without breaking a sweat -- let alone a two-front global war plus dragging ourselves out of the Depression -- wonder when Americans got so lame and wimpy.

Bet He Can't Afford a "Really Good" Car, Either!

Ed Gamble, 11/20/13:

Just so I get this straight: Gamble's complaint about the Obamacare "navigators" is that they're honest, reasonable people who don't promise or give undeserved benefits, but push people who want something they can't afford to find ways to increase their income?

I think he needs to read his right-wing briefing papers a little more carefully next time: Obamacare navigators are supposed to be identity-stealing escaped felons who rival ACORN in fostering theft, larceny, and deceit.

And Think of the Prison-Guard Layoffs!

Ed Gamble, 8/13/13:

We should keep minor criminals in jail -- not that's even what Holder said; he just isn't going to prosecute minor drug offenders under laws that would give them long jail sentences -- and pay about $100k a year each for them, just to keep them from competing with the already unemployed.

Because that's the smart economic thing to do.

The Binary of Stiff Upper Lip and Stark Utter Panic

Tim Hartman, 8/6/13:

and Ed Gamble, also 8/6/13:

When a President gets a serious tip about a potential major terrorist attack, the manly thing to do is ignore it, like Bush did.

If it turns out to be true, you can always invade some countries later, and look exceptionally tough while doing so.

Oh No! Foreign Ownership of Our Militarily Sensitive Pork Industry!

Ed Gamble, 6/6/13:

When foreign interests buy large American buildings -- as, for example, when the Japanese bought up huge swaths of Manhattan in the mid-80s, leading to gasps and garment-rending from Gamble's spiritual predecessors -- they immediately pack up those buildings and take them back to their homelands.

They certainly don't pump money into the US by that purchase and find themselves with a serious interest in the health of at least the micro-economy around their buildings. No, sir, that's the last thing they do.

Keeping THOSE PEOPLE Out

Ed Gamble, 4/20/13:

No more Caucasian immigration! It's clear those shifty buggers can't be trusted.

More Latinos! When was the last time you saw a Mexican terror attack in the US?

A Christian Nation

Ed Gamble, 3/31/13:

OK, so Gamble not only neglects his actual job to proselytize, badly, in favor of his hegemonic religion -- which is only what we expect of him -- but does it by reprinting his quick, lazy cartoon from last year?

Bravo, Gamble, bravo. That'll get people to switch to whatever particular brand of messianic Christianity you're vaguely promoting.

The Perils of Super-Majority

Ed Gamble, 3/22/13:

Actually, in our current all-filibuster-all-the-time Senate, nothing at all can even hit the floor unless it has sixty guaranteed votes. And the assault weapons ban didn't have that.

No more complicated explanation is necessary; that's just how it is these days. Super-majority or nothing at all.

Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk

Ed Gamble, 2/27/13:

And the third whammy is...businesses want customers?

That's a whammy?

I think Ed lost sight of his plans midway through today's cartoon, that's what I think.

Getting Warmer

Ed Gamble, 2/13/13:

If it's ever cold anywhere, at any time, that means there's no such thing as global warming.

Ignore those predictions of more extreme weather and greater precipitation -- that'll just confuse the Great American Booboisie.

Que?

Ed Gamble, 1/30/13:

Typically, an editorial cartoonist will take a stand on the issues, but not ol' Ed! He's content to just say that there's a plan on illegal immigration in the works, and he's sure our infinitely wise government will carry it out effortlessly.

Gamble is also possibly the only cartoonist left who could use an "out of the closet" metaphor like this, and mean it utterly innocently, bless his heart.

Waiting for the Flop

Ed Gamble, 12/20/12:

Agreeing to allow slightly higher taxes on a tiny fraction of incredibly rich Americans -- the same people who have benefited hugely from the last two decades -- is literally everything Boehner can offer as a compromise; he can't even conceive of compromising any further than that.

(If Boehner were sneakier and more of a gambling man, he'd double down on Republican end-the-deficit-now rhetoric and call for all of the Clinton rates to return.)

Not a GOOD Sam, Really

Ed Gamble, 12/18/12:

If only those liberal heathens hadn't driven Jehovah out of our schools -- allowing in Jews and Hindus and even worse heretics -- then the Newtown shooter would have been smitten down as he approached that school.

Wasted

Ed Gamble, 11/30/12:

We can painlessly balance the budget by simply eliminating "govt. waste," a phrase which here means "programs that benefit the other party."

Pillow Talk of the Lumpy and Depressive

Ed Gamble, 11/25/12:

Trusting in government -- or any outside agent beyond your own strong right arm and the AR-15 it contains -- is for fools and losers; the world is inevitably going to rack and ruin, so be ready to grab for everything you want.

Also, y'know, the whole Kenyan socialist Marxist sleeper agent thing.

Up on the Roof

Ed Gamble, 11/1/12:

Those mainstream media are always doing horrible things like reporting on things actually happening in the world and following around Presidents and Governors who are doing stuff, which is just wrong.

Instead, they should be talking about Obama made the US car companies bankrupt and is sending Jeep production to China! (Or whatever the latest Romney truth-stretcher is today.)

Does Anyone Think Romney Would Dis the Troops Like That, Anyway?

Ed Gamble, 10/10/12:

One appreciates Gamble's zest for the zinger, but how much of a slam is it against the current Democratic president to say that his Republican predecessor started two wars and didn't pay for either of them?

And that doesn't even get into the pointless nature of both wars, the policy fumbles, or the fact that the wars were aggressively not paid for, since taxes (and thus revenue) were cut at the same time.

Luckily, if Romney wins, we can return to the days of Deficits Don't Matter, and ignore all that pesky doublethink.

If You're Not With Us, You're Against Us

Ed Gamble, 9/16/12:

When individuals in a country take dangerous, provocative, damaging actions against a foreign nation -- for example, when a random American filmmaker deliberately tries to incite violence by insulting the religion of a billion people -- that is proof that the nation in question is itself now hostile.

Or perhaps the lesson is that diplomacy is hard, and relies on dealing with countries with radically different social and political structures from our own, which does not always work out in precisely the way we want it to.

Please Hold Your Violent Protest For a Un-Symbolic Day

Ed Gamble, 9/13/12:

Yes, both Afghanistan and Pakistan are in the "Mid-East."

And when a couple of Americans make a film to deliberately stir up violence, that's just free speech and has nothing to do with America as a whole, but when a couple of foreigners get stirred up into violence, it's an indictment of their entire countries. TL;DR: white people good, brown people bad.