Salon Core Presents: Politics Gone MAD
| MAD Magazine probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of hard-hitting political comedy, but think again. Since its gapped-tooth idiot mascot, Alfred E Neuman, first ran for President in 1960, MAD has consistently churned out top-notch political satire. MAD found its political voice in the 1960s with its legendary take downs of President Nixon and its potent anti-war humor. Nearly a half century later, MAD’s political humor is as fearless and sharp as ever, with a distinctive visual parody look. Here’s a sampling of the magazine’s recent takes on President Obama and the Republican nominees for the White House. (Click to view larger versions of the images.) |
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Mitt Romney Monopoly Cards A new version of Monopoly based on Mitt Romney’s run for the presidency recently appeared—and its “Chance” cards are as revealing as one of Romney’s tax filings. |
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Better Homophobes Although presidential candidate Rick Santorum finds himself increasingly busy on the campaign trail, he still makes time to read his favorite magazine -- because even hateful far-right ideologues need to unwind. |
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Weekly World Newt After Newt Gingrich scolded CNN debate moderator John King for asking about Gingrich’s alleged “open marriage” request, a new tabloid showed up on newsstands. Fortunately for its editors, Gingrich can be counted on to provide more than enough idiotic material to fill a weekly paper. |
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Bachmann Pledge After Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann signed “The Marriage Vow”—a homophobic, racist, yet supposedly “Christian” document—she signed on as the spokeswoman for a new brand of deodorizer. Unfortunately, no amount of spray could cover up the stench of Bachmann’s campaign. |
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Pee-Wee Cain Herman Cain’s comically inept presidential campaign was like a surreal TV show—one minute, he’d be crooning “Amazing Grace,” and the next he’d be trying to remember what, exactly, “Libya” was. The whole thing was bizarre, comical, and in retrospect kind of sad—just like another insane production from the not-so-distant past. |
| Get a FREE six months (3 issue) subscription to MAD with your Salon Core membership. Click here. |
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Wizard of O What’s more unbelievable than a farm girl and her dog being swept up in a tornado and sent to a land of talking scarecrows, munchkin towns, and flying evil monkeys? Why, Barack Obama’s vow to “change” Washington, of course! Which is why he was a natural fit as the feckless, disappointing “man behind the curtain.” Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 |
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The Walking Debt The depressing, pointless battle over raising the country’s debt ceiling was easily one of the scariest, most gruesome political events in recent memory. Not for an instant was there anything resembling leadership on the issue, as virtually all of our elected officials stumbled around D.C. like the pack of grotesque zombies that they are. |
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Obama: The First 100 Minutes While a president is usually measured by his first 100 days in office, in today’s fast-paced world, the first 100 minutes are a more accurate barometer of success. And anyway, 100 minutes is about how long it took for Obama’s base to feel disillusioned and betrayed. Part 1 | Part 2 |
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“I’m With Stupid” Cover At a time when George W. Bush was about as popular as an anthrax-dusted envelope, the brave citizens at MAD “stood by” the commander-in-chief. After all, they were grateful—not since Richard Nixon had a president supplied so much political-comedy fodder. |
| Get a FREE six months (3 issue) subscription to MAD with your Salon Core membership. Click here. |