Clever and unpredictable, Ariail skewers politicians on both sides of the ideological fence with award-winning cartoons drawn for the Spartanburg, S.C., Herald-Journal. A celebrated artist, Ariail is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist (1995 and 2000) and was recently named the 2012 winner of the Clifford K. and James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoons, presented by the National Press Foundation.
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Nick Anderson by Nick Anderson
Chuck Asay by Chuck Asay
Comments (39) (Please sign in to comment)
dtroutma
said, 4 months ago
Houdini needed?
masterskrain said, 4 months ago
We might not be able to turn off spending, but we could sure slow it down if we could just figure out a way to eliminate Pork Barrel Projects from being attached to necessary spending bills!
Too bad the SCOTUS declared the Presidential Line-Item Veto to be Unconstitutional…
Ellen Gwynne said, 4 months ago
It’s not either or, it’s both and.
Radish
said, 4 months ago
End the wars, reduce the military.
Tue Elung-Jensen said, 4 months ago
pull the plug? Or open the door and ruin the bathroom.
Robert Landers said, 4 months ago
@
You mean solutions like social security, which is all that stands between tens of millions of senior citizens and abject poverty?
Or Medicare, which is all that stands between millions more senior citizens and pain and even death?
Perhaps others like yourself will then take up the slack and actually “honor your parents” like it states in the bible?
Up to actually supporting them in a reasonable and dignified manner?
And seeing the tone of most of your posts here, why should I even doubt your “compassionate conservatism”?
MortyForTyrant said, 4 months ago
The GOP has three points of leverage:
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1. The continuing resolution
2. The sequester
3. The debt ceiling
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If they use #1 there will be a partial government shutdown like in 1995. That tends to get the people to pay attention, and if Obama/Boehner could do what Clinton/Gingrich did back then it would be good for the country.
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If they use #2 there will be immediate cutbacks to important social programs, but also the first cutbacks to the military since only God knows when (1950’s, probably). If the social priorities could be re-arranged (meaning: kill ineffective programs) that would be good for the country. Further reductions in military spending would be even better once it has sunk in that you are massively overspending on things you don’t need and are being gouged by the private sector for those things you do (KBR, Halliburton).
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If they use #3 the U.S. will default, collapse, there will be anarchy and blood will be running in the streets, followed by week two – when things get worse.
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I don’t know about you, but to me the strategy for the GOP is clear. Rule out #3 publicly and stand fast on #1 and #2. Doing so would save the party from extinction in 2014. If the markets tank just because of the POSSIBILITY of a default, if the U.S. loses another level of it’s credit rating, who would be to blame? I can see the future campaign ads from here and I hope so does the “leadership” of this party (who is this, by the way?)…
sw10mm said, 4 months ago
Fitch is saying, cut spending or we cut your credit rating.
uh-oh
said, 4 months ago
Turn off the other guys spending is more like it.
Respectful Troll said, 4 months ago
The Doomsday Clock is at 5 min to Midnight.
Climate Change is one of several reasons, but this cartoon shows another. The willingness to destroy the world’s economy in order for one side to ‘win’ over the other.
I firmly believe there are hundreds of ways to reduce the cost of government, I’ve seen it being done by people who work in civil service and inspect/audit/review military contracts and methods. This one office of intelligent motivated people, led by a supervisor who believes in the purpose of their mission, has more than paid for their compensation and future retirement in savings they have brought to our nation.
To tell the world that we will no long pay the bills on money borrowed is dishonorable, unethical, and immoral. It endangers countries. This debt ceiling ‘crisis’ is not the battleground the Republicans should be trying to hold. If this was a republican president, they would cheerfully raise the debt ceiling and then work to cut spending.
The last time we did this, it raised our cost of borrowing as a nation and increased our debt.
I agree we need to cut spending, but this is not the place to make that stand.
Respectfully,
C.
DGF999 said, 4 months ago
@masterskrain
Perhaps if they made a rule stating that they couldn’t attach an unrelated rider to a spending bill?
masterskrain said, 4 months ago
@DGF999
You ACTUALLY expect Congress to do something like that?
“No one’s Life, Liberty, or Property is safe while the Legislature is in Session!” Mark Twain.That would MAKE SENSE, so therefore it will NEVER happen!
Besides, Congress will NEVER get off it’s Pork Diet!
ARodney said, 4 months ago
Congress does the spending. It’s their debt ceiling, not Obama’s.
lonecat said, 4 months ago
As I understand the situation, the debt ceiling has to do with paying for spending already agreed upon, not new spending. If people want to cut future spending, okay, let’s see a plan and get to work. But paying for spending that’s already been agreed upon just seems fair. If they didn’t want to spend this much they should have made the cuts already. The Republicans have no credibility on this issue.
ossiningaling said, 4 months ago
It really isn’t a good metaphor for excessive spending or raising the debt limit. A better concept would be running out of something you are obligated to provide.
In this illustration, the House approved the amount of water that would fill the shower without addressing the fixed limits of the budget (which is smaller than the approved spending).
Regardless, there is no representation in this drawing for revenue, which I assume would be the drain. So a better proposed solution would be to unclog the drain to increase revenue, which again I would assume by this illustration is set to “No revenue.”