Last week, president Bush's approval rating slipped below 35%. One might take heart that Americans, after having elected<fn> him not once, but twice, are finally coming around. One might also wonder what took so bloody long and further wonder what's wrong with the other 35%. How can they be so foolish? Those "red staters". Those "Republicans". It's not so simple. The fingers of propoganda grasp far and wide and reach deep into the unwary mind. Thanks to sufficient propaganda, a lot of people live in a complete fantasy world, justifying arguments and actions with reasoning that has no basis in reality. A simple question like "How's the war in Iraq?" turns complicated when propaganda rears its ugly head. It's easy to forget that it was officially over almost 3 years ago. It's easy to not notice that US control is less and less in a country over 6000 miles away. If you only listen to Scott McLellan, the Bush administration's official mouthpiece, things are going pretty well. Major breakthrough coming any day now. Why is that? Well, reading is not only hard, it's boring and it takes away from precious TV-watching time. If you get your hands on a newspaper that isn't printing only sensationalist claptrap about foreigners or bird flu, you might actually absorb a factlet or two. Even the so-called "better" newspapers are more concerned with truthiness<fn> than truth or indeed any form of fact-checking. Facts are for <i>intellectuals</i> with too much time on their hands---and intelligence is frowned upon. Nobody skips the political cartoons though. There's a nice, big picture and an acceptably small amount of writing under it. Even if you have to sound out some of the words, the picture is there to help you get through it. Let's examine some cartoons plucked from the pages of American newspapers; they all come from the same publication day (today) and run the gamut of great American conversative myth. The comics come from <a href="http://mycomicspage.com">MyComics</a>; just click on any of the images to see a larger version. <h>The Media is Liberal</h> <img attachment="crsou060309.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="State of the Union by Carl Moore"> This cartoon works an old stand-by to remind us that the television media is liberal (except for Fox, MSNBC and CNN, all the major networks and most print media). If there is nothing new to report on that day, a conservative cartoonist can always fall back on the liberal media. It also sadly shakes its head against the wooly-headedness of a liberal mindset that can't understand the simple truth of "incarceration = fighting crime". People in jail are bad. Liberals think there are too many people in jail. Liberals are idiots. Q.E.D. <h>Liberals Love Terrorists</h> <img attachment="crcbo060308.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="Taliban/Liberal Friendship by Chip Bok"> Another popular theme is to play a variation of the "if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists" theme. As you can see from the cartoon above, "subtle" is <i>not</i> a prerequisite. Balding, bearded, wooly-headed professor? Check. Bias against the military? Check. Friendship with the Taliban? Check and mate, liberals. <h>Dick Cheney is God</h> <img attachment="gm060308.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="Cheney Targets Iran by Glenn McCoy"> It was a toss-up as to whether this should be titled "Muslims Love Bombs", as this one depicts a generic Muslim<fn> praying to a missile---a classic case of projection given the American love affair with military hardware. Here, good ol' Dick is a grinning rascal---one of the few people with enough chutzpah to give it to the Iranis like they deserve. It also deftly, and implicitly, excuses Dick for having shot a 78--year-old man in the face by making it into a joke. Oh, Dick ... I can't stay mad at you! <h>Abortions Are Bad</h> <img attachment="gm060309.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="South Dakota Abortion by Glenn McCoy"> South Dakota has recently outlawed abortion and the Christian right-wing is riding high. Here's a classy little joke showing a baby flipping off an out-of-work doctor. That is, the doctor has finally been stopped from cutting a swath through fields of unborn babies---stopped in his tracks before he can kill again. There's no mention of whether the mother pushing the carriage was raped<fn>. This cartoon also reminds us that children have feelings that start as soon as a spermatozoid has drilled its way into an egg. Babies have feelings too. Plus, giving someone the finger is a laugh riot. <h>Europeans Are Pussies</h> <img attachment="tmdlo060305.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="Uncle Sam Collects by Dick Locher"> Europeans are cheese-eating surrender monkeys who would all---to a man---be goose-stepping their way to work in the local Volkswagen factory if we hadn't saved their collective asses in the "Big One". Iraq is just as honorable a cause as fighting fascism and here go the Europeans again, trying to sneak out the back door without paying. We took out Saddam for the good of the world and Europe is pretending not to see it so they can stiff us with the bill. The poor US taxpayer once again shoulders the burden of keeping the world free. Includes a not-too-subtle blending of church and state as a consolation prize for those who don't know what "Iraq" or "Europe" are. <h>Democrats Suck</h> <img attachment="tmdlo060306.png" align="center" class="frame" caption="Thin Ice by Dick Locher"> Ok, Ok, so George has fibbed a bit. He's misjudged a few calls.<fn> But who in their right mind would criticize him? He's got a tough job. There have been enough questionable acts by his administration---in the form of coverups, lies, outright briber, kickbacks and more---that he is, even to a Republican, "skating on thin ice". A couple more doozies and we might have to start thinking about organizing a committee to investigate the plausability of considering whether to gently admonish him for the job he's doing. Until then, don't forget that <b>Bill Clinton</b>, whose Big-Mac--inflated ass is interred under the ice<fn>, transgressed the bounds of ethics and besmirched the office of the POTUS<fn> in ways unfathomable to one of Bush's unquestionable moral fiber. Bush doesn't even <i>smoke</i> cigars. <h>Propaganda Wins</h> How can anyone thinking person resist such an onslaught of humor and incisive logic? The American mind is assaulted by enticing nuggets of information like this hundreds of times a day. If something is everywhere you look, you eventually stop questioning it and accept it as part of your world. <hr> <ft>That just got footnoted on principle; the words "Bush" and "elected" have permanent asterisk status, like a Barry Bonds batting record.</ft> <ft>Copyright (c) Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Report Inc. See the definition of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truthiness" source="Wikipedia">truthiness</a> for more information.</ft> <ft>For once, it doesn't seem to be a depiction of the president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami.</ft> <ft>The South Dakota allows <i>no</i> abortions, without exception. Children of rape, incest or other heinous circumstances are all God's children and the mother should thank Jesus every day for the little miracle bestowed on her.</ft> <ft>Do not ever confuse this with "made some mistakes". George Bush, as God's appointed leader of God's chosen country (seriously Israel, get over it), does not make mistakes. He has only ever admitted to one in his five years and that's one more than his proponents will ever admit.</ft> <ft>He was hardly ever as fat as he is often depicted in these cartoons and has certainly been much thinner since he got that most all-American of surgeries: the quadruple bypass.</ft> <ft>President Of The United States</ft>