Cartoon Violence is CRAZY for CONDI!
Welcome to a very special someone-forgot-to-post-last-week Monday edition of Cartoon Violence, the nation's favorite way of reading Today's Cartoons without having to read Today's Cartoons.
After the jump, resident cartoon expert the Comics Curmudgeon rouses himself from his Sunday funnies-strewn bed and examines the back pages of our nation's A-sections for your edification.
Is there some sort of law that Secretaries of State have to befunny-lookingeasily caricatured? In the last few decades alone, we've had the dorktastic Henry Kissinger, the Cowardly Lion lookalike George Shultz, the mafiosiesque James Baker, and the twin Clinton-appointed gnomes, Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher. It sort of makes Colin Powell, that damn handsome sumbitch, look like an anomaly.
(Fun fact I learned while looking up correct spellings of Secretary of State names on Wikipedia: Did you know that Taft's Secretary of State was namedPhilander C. Knox?Is that the most awesome get-up-to-your-neck-in-poon-and-then-get-out-of-jail-free card or what? "Oh, honey, you're upset about my little affair? Well, maybe you shouldn't have married a guy namedPhilander!")
Anyhoo, Condi Rice may be in insanely good shape and have buns of steel and all , but she's a little on the easily caricatured side herself, with the teeth and the eyes and the hey hey. Plus, she's prone to doing things like calling a devastating mideast war "birth pangs," which totally endears her to bloodthirsty maniacs and political cartoonists everywhere. This week in Cartoon Violence: Condi, Condi, Condi, Condi, and Condi.
Condi: Is strangely reminiscent of Pat Benetar.
Wacky Condi antics: She's "sequencing" with a freakish mutant bird. Is this a term that I'm supposed to have read in the paper or something or know what it means? It sounds like some kind of psychedelic drug lingo to me. Dammit, political cartoonists of the world, I stopped subscribing toForeign Affairsyears ago when I started gettingInStyle,so don't try to use your fancy polysyllabic diplomatic jargon with me.
Troubling sexism alert: Horrifying fetish shoes, gleaming with potential pain, lacerate the swollen feet of the peace pigeon in ways that the sensible wingtips of a he-diplomat just couldn't.
Condi: Has a little something for you, Mr. Prime Minister of Lebanon. A very little something.
Wacky Condi antics: Are those supposed to be shrapnel holes in the window, or just very, very stylized explosions? Either way, Condi's Band-Aid offer is kind of mysterious: it's supposed to signify an inadequate U.S. response to Lebanese concerns, but since the Lebanese leader is in fact totally unharmed, it actually seems like overkill. If, say, one of his arms had been blown off, we'd be in business, metaphor-wise.
Troubling sexism alert: Condi's wearing the sort of dress not often seen outside of junior high orNaughty Teenage Diplomat Sluts Go Nuts 3.
Condi: Is standing in front of some carnage, carrying a briefcase with her name on it, in case you're a complete moron.
Wacky Condi antics: Almost totally absent. She's juststanding there,which maybe is the point, but damn it man, I need some action. You know how sometimes it seems like all you have to do to make a joke is do a play on words with a current pop-culture reference and then draw a person in front of some things? Well, it'snot true.That'snot all you have to do.
Troubling sexism alert: They call her a lady right in the title! Do I have to draw you a diagram?
Condi: Is tickled pink to be surrounded by carnage and death and severed limbs.
Wacky Condi antics: So, um, where are we exactly? It looks like the Oval Office ... where, of course, the Secretary of State doesn't work ... and then there's the sink in the corner ... and the crib ... and the pliers, and the axe, and the guns ... and, of course, the severed limbs. Wait, are those stirrups at the end of the desk? Did the patient get hacked to death in the Oval Office while giving birth? Has our political life been replaced some grindhouseTexas Chainsaw Massacrerip-off? Don't answer that last one.
Troubling sexism alert: If it had been aman,he'd be an "OB-GYN" mass murderer.
Condi: Has a last name that sounds just like a traditional foodstuff that you can buy in your supermarket! Isn't thatcrazy?
Wacky Condi antics: The cartoon payola scandal continues as the big food conglomerates and their deep pockets find plenty of takers. Presumably she hasn't consented to being the "Brand X" counterpart to Kraft's new Minute Rice. Not only does Kraft's new confection cook up fast, but it apparently can bring peace to strife-torn areas inmere minutes!An end to armed conflict: Only from Kraft!
Troubling racism alert: Let's just say we're lucky she's not on a syrup bottle, or some bad shit would be going down right about now.
Condi: Seems to be ignorant of the laws of aerodynamics.
Wacky Condi antics: She also seems to be ignorant of mechanical engineering. You can just carve a missile out of stone, Condi! You've got give billions of dollars to General Dynamics and they build it for you out of, like, wires and shit! Ask Rumsfeld, he'll tell you, no doubt at great and boring length.
Troubling sexism alert: OH MY GOD THE TITS THE TITS THEY'RE SO HUGE --The Comics Curmudgeon