# Please explain this Onion editorial cartoon. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416 "2008-08-27T14:03:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/1 "2008-08-27T14:03:47Z")
> **[The Onion | America's Finest News Source.](https://www.theonion.com/)** > > The Onion brings you all of the latest news, stories, photos, videos and more from America's finest news source. I don’t geddit. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/2 "2008-08-27T14:07:58Z")
I’ve always thought of _The Onion_’s editorial cartoons as poking fun at the relatively unfunny, un-get-able nature of editorial cartoons rather than as trying to convey an actual joke. In that sense, I suppose I mean to say, I think of them as meta-humor rather than humor. OTOH, she’s got hooters! Whooooo! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/3 "2008-08-27T14:13:43Z")
Mispost. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/4 "2008-08-27T15:11:31Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I’ve always thought of _The Onion_’s editorial cartoons as poking fun at the relatively unfunny, \*\*un-get-able \*\* nature of editorial cartoons rather than as trying to convey an actual joke. In that sense, I suppose I mean to say, I think of them as meta-humor rather than humor. [/QUOTE] I’ve always taken them to be rather the opposite - satirising editorial cartoons by making the metaphors all too obvious, and usually of a patriotic/commensensical/right wing subject matter. Like [this](http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-11-2008) one - making General Motors into a dodgy used-car salesman burning the stars and stripes, while a ‘wily oriental’ stereotype looks over a Hummer (presumably GM are selling the Humvee to a foreign car company - I haven’t heard). And always the ‘editor’ in the corner to make the message even more gratuitously clear. I don’t understand the cartoon in the OP particularly - is the ‘Miss USA’ Clinton, feeling robbed, or something? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/5 "2008-08-27T15:31:22Z")
To me, it looks like the joke is about the Democrats using Hillary Clinton as a “spokesperson” so to speak for their party and their cause. Like Miss America, she has no actual power- her only job is to look pretty and talk about how great America is. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/6 "2008-08-27T16:09:43Z")
Yeah they’re usually fairly obvious and IMHO fucking hilarious for their gaucheness but this one just does nothing for me. Is there meant to be an entente between the editorial cartoonists and the Dems for some reason? ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/7 "2008-08-27T16:17:11Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] To me, it looks like the joke is about the Democrats using Hillary Clinton as a “spokesperson” so to speak for their party and their cause. Like Miss America, she has no actual power- her only job is to look pretty and talk about how great America is. [/QUOTE] Bingo. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/8 "2008-08-27T16:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] her only job is to look pretty [/QUOTE] FAIL ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/9 "2008-08-27T16:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] To me, it looks like the joke is about the Democrats using Hillary Clinton as a “spokesperson” so to speak for their party and their cause. Like Miss America, she has no actual power- her only job is to look pretty and talk about how great America is. [/QUOTE] I thought it satirizes the ‘popularity contest’ notion surrounding the elections – ‘Miss America’ is pure eye candy, and the public is pleased for having a nice pair of knockers to look at, and thus, everyone’s a winner. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/10 "2008-08-27T16:59:39Z")
[QUOTE=Staggerlee] I’ve always taken them to be rather the opposite - satirising editorial cartoons by making the metaphors all too obvious, and usually of a patriotic/commensensical/right wing subject matter. [/QUOTE] Exactly right. Usually, the joke is that the cartoonist is a dumb rightwing reactionary who is incapable of any kind of subtlety or satire, to the point where he draws himself in the cartoon saying things like “it’s true.” [Really, he’s a cartoonist version of Stephen Colbert.](http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/jun-09-2008) Like the GM one: it’s incoherent and xenophobic. Actually, they’re almost all [incoherent and xenophobic](http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-20-2007). (And, now that I review some, they’re usually very sexist.) This one is unusual in that it’s really not clear what he is trying to say. **mobo85** is right - this is supposed to be Hillary. The joke, I guess, is that he’s just seeing her as a sex object. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/11 "2008-08-27T17:17:58Z")
That’s not supposed to be Hillary Clinton - that’s the Weeping Statue of Liberty that appears in just about all of the cartoons. I think the gag here is that she is being paraded around in a skimpy outfit (in some metaphorical way), which normally would be considered demeaning, but the cartoonist approves. Or to put it another way, a big-breasted statue of liberty in a revealing costume, to that cartoonist, represents the “USA IS #1” sentiment on the banner. Remember, the joke is supposed to be on the cartoonist in these things. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/12 "2008-08-27T17:24:05Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] To me, it looks like the joke is about the Democrats using Hillary Clinton as a “spokesperson” so to speak for their party and their cause. [/QUOTE] The female figure in a Statue-of-Liberty crown represents America. Compare [http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-11-2008](http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-11-2008), [http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-11-2008](http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-11-2008), [http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-04-2008](http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-04-2008), [http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-11-2008](http://www.theonion.com/content/cartoon/aug-11-2008) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/13 "2008-08-27T17:26:45Z")
Just checked in with Onion-related FOAF (I call him once a day so he can explain the jokes to me). It’s not Clinton, it’s Lady Liberty. And democracy is a big popularity contest/beauty pageant. Monsters! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/14 "2008-08-28T12:07:22Z")
Ok, can we agree that it is a rare example of a bad Onion cartoon? Thanks for your input folks. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/15 "2008-08-28T12:23:38Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I’ve always thought of _The Onion_’s editorial cartoons as poking fun at the relatively unfunny, un-get-able nature of editorial cartoons rather than as trying to convey an actual joke. In that sense, I suppose I mean to say, I think of them as meta-humor rather than humor. OTOH, she’s got hooters! Whooooo! [/QUOTE] I agree with this completely. I had not read these before, but looking at them now, going back through previous weeks, I am fairly certain that the editor is making fun of editorial comics, rather than stating his own belief. A ‘left wing’ paper, like The Onion, would not put in a picture of George Carlin and Tim Russert in hell except in the strongest sense of satire. Likewise their views on those dastardly skateboarding teenagers and foreign beermakers buying Busch because they are unable to make good beer on their own. With that in mind, I think the current comic is just making the point that Democrats are awesome and that Lady Liberty would be a democrat if she was an actual person. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/16 "2008-08-28T16:01:22Z")
All previous cartoons though are from a Right-Wing broadly Republican perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/17 "2008-08-28T16:09:39Z")
[QUOTE=TommyTutone] With that in mind, I think the current comic is just making the point that Democrats are awesome and that Lady Liberty would be a democrat if she was an actual person. [/QUOTE] That would be out of character for this mock-cartoonist. I think the joke is that the cartoonist fixates on the most banal aspects of conventions–the patriotic slogans and oratory, the red white and blue bunting, the funny hats, and the beauty-pageant-style introductions of party big-wigs–and actually _celebrates_ them. He’s too simple-minded to know or care that the Democrats are espousing an ideology with which he disagrees; instead he just sees flags + patriotic oratory = good. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/18 "2008-08-28T16:14:30Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] That would be out of character for this mock-cartoonist. I think the joke is that the cartoonist fixates on the most banal aspects of conventions–the patriotic slogans and oratory, the red white and blue bunting, the funny hats, and the beauty-pageant-style introductions of party big-wigs–and actually _celebrates_ them. He’s too simple-minded to know or care that the Democrats are espousing an ideology with which he disagrees; instead he just sees flags + patriotic oratory = good. [/QUOTE] If the cartoon is portraying the cartoonist as conveying that message, then this cartoon portrays the cartoonist as far more clever than he has ever been portrayed before. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/19 "2008-08-28T16:22:46Z")
There’s a [blog](http://www.theonion.com/content/whitehousewar/blog) written by the cartoonist that should help to explain the perspective behind the cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416/20 "2008-08-28T16:24:55Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] If the cartoon is portraying the cartoonist as conveying that message, then this cartoon portrays the cartoonist as far more clever than he has ever been portrayed before. [/QUOTE] I don’t understand. What’s clever about celebrating the banal? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-onion-editorial-cartoon/461416.md?page=2)