Behold! Another cartoon of the constant battle between Republicans and Democrats!

This cartoon from the blog “Funny Political” on February 23, 2010 shows a donkey feeding an elephant a large pill but he looks to be unsuccessful in his efforts. The artist rendered the donkey as a small and thin animal compared to the fat and large elephant. This emphasis on the size of the animals reflects directly to the actual political parties of the Democrats and Republicans. The pill, with its large size, has the words “$790B STIMULUS PACKAGE” written on it. This representation of the large proposal is quite funny as it is important to the nation. The struggle to have the elephant swallow the pill is the current battle to have the actual Stimulus Package passed in Congress. In reality, the Democrats have proposed a plan to heal the country, but it will cost 790 billion dollars. However, the Republicans in Congress do not agree with some of the principles in the proposal, and they will not swallow the Stimulus Pill. The dialogue of the donkey is also funny and a little strange for forcing an elephant to swallow a pill. He is saying “Quit…..grunt….being so…huff…obstructionist!” It would be expected that one would say “Swallow…grunt….the damn… huff….pill!” However, here this is not just a pill; it is a plan that could drastically alter the United States. This dialogue by the donkey relates directly to the Republican’s nature in Congress. In Congress the Republican Party is in fact obstructing the Democrat party from ever passing the Stimulus Package Bill.

The rhetorical intent of the artist is that he is presenting the current battle in the Legislative Branch of the Federal Government of the United States in a funny, creative and resourceful way. At first view, this immediately convinces the viewer that the donkey or Democrats are struggling to feed the elephant or push to Stimulus Bill. The artist portrays this through the size comparison of the two animals, and the efforts of the donkey to push the pill into the elephant. The artist justifies his intent further when he provides the donkey with dialogue. The animal’s dialogue convinces the viewer that the Republicans are stopping the Democrats from ever reaching their goal of passing the Stimulus Package.