Political Irony

Cartoonists react to the news of Michele Bachmann retiring from Congress:

© Stuart Carlson

© Clay Bennett

© Chan Lowe

© Mike Luckovich

“A lot of people are criticizing President Obama, including Michelle Obama. She recently said she could take a whole afternoon and talk about Barack’s failures. She was immediately hired by Fox News.” – Conan O’Brien

“Michelle Obama gave a commencement at a high school in Nashville. The first lady said about her husband, ‘I could take up a whole afternoon talking about his failures.’ And today she was offered her own show on Fox News.” – Jay Leno

“The White House admitted President Obama’s chief of staff had advance warning that the IRS was targeting conservative groups. President Obama says the first time he heard about the IRS and AP scandals was from the media. See, that’s why President Obama holds press conferences. It’s not to explain what’s going on. It’s to find out what’s going on.” – Jay Leno

“These scandals at the White House are just getting worse. It turns out that President Obama’s chief of staff knew about the scandal at the IRS three weeks before the president found out. Obama was like, ‘Anything else you guys aren’t telling me?’ And Joe Biden was like, ‘Uh … I broke the copier’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Singer Mary J. Blige has been slapped with a $3.4 million bill from the IRS. I didn’t even know she was a tea party member.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama’s team knew about the IRS scandal but kept him in the dark about it. Or as Obama put it, ‘Guys, when I said ‘no spoilers’, I was just talking about ‘Game of Thrones’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“I feel bad for Barack Obama. He’s got the Benghazi scandal, the IRS scandal, and the FBI wiretapping phones. The president is in so much trouble politically, he’s thinking about killing bin Laden again.” – David Letterman

“President Obama gave the commencement address at Morehouse College over the weekend. Great speech, very inspiring. He told the young graduates their future is bright – unless, of course, they want jobs.” – Jay Leno

“According to a new survey, white Americans are more likely to see President Obama as angry than black Americans. After hearing about it, Obama got really angry – according to white Americans.” – Conan O’Brien

“Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced he will star in a low-budget horror movie called ‘The Toxic Avenger’. He wreaks havoc. He’s a monster. I have no idea what he’ll do in the movie.” – Craig Ferguson

“IRS: No one needs to avoid scandals more than you. You’re less popular with Americans than exercise.” – Seth Meyers

“I mean really, the government only keeps you around to make the DMV look good.” – Amy Poehler

“Really, Tea Party? Really? You’re surprised that you’re targeted by the IRS? You named yourself after a group of people who proudly and historically violated tax laws! Look, if I had a vanity license plate that said ‘Weed 420,’ I might expect to get pulled over now and then.” – Amy Poehler

“And really, politics aside, should we be surprised that the IRS takes special attention to the tax forms of the Tea Party? Judging from the terrible spelling on their protest signs, attention to detail isn’t really their thing.” – Seth Meyers

“President Obama this week denied that he knew about the inspector general’s report detailing the IRS’s increased scrutiny of conservative groups. So nothing to worry about, America, there’s just a bunch of stuff happening that the president doesn’t know about.” – Seth Meyers

“The President also condemned the IRS for targeting conservative groups for extra scrutiny saying, ‘Public service is a solemn privilege’. In response, Joe Biden quietly deflated his whoopee cushion.” – Seth Meyers

“Minnesota this week became the 12th state in the country to legalize gay marriage. So finally Minneapolis can stop pretending St. Paul is just its ‘twin’.” – Seth Meyers

“Prince Harry this week toured the Jersey Shore with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. It was the first meeting between the Prince, of the House of Windsor, and the Governor, of the House of Pancake.” – Amy Poehler

“Have you folks been paying attention to what’s going on in Washington? In a matter of six weeks we have three big scandals, and it looks like President Obama and all his buddies in the White House may go to prison. Finally, some good news for the Romney campaign.” – David Letterman

“Here’s the problem. When you get scandals in Washington – like the IRS, Benghazi, and the FBI – it really gets in the way of not getting things done. If they don’t fix these crises pretty soon, honest to God, it could bring gridlock to a screeching halt.” – David Letterman

“This whole IRS thing has become a huge story. They apparently were targeting conservative groups like the tea party. You know it’s bad when President Obama says, ‘Hey, why don’t we talk about Benghazi?” – Jay Leno

“They see Benghazi as a real powder keg. This scandal, they believe, may go as high as Dennis Rodman.” – David Letterman

“President Obama is not having a good week. With three scandals shaking the White House, they’re saying this is one of the worst weeks of Obama’s presidency. Obama was like, ‘How could things get worse?’ And Joe Biden was like, ‘You rang?'” – Jimmy Fallon

“In a new interview, Joe Biden says he spends four or five hours every day with President Obama. In response, Obama said ‘Hiring that Obama impersonator was the best decision I’ve ever made’.” – Conan O’Brien

“People always say this to me: ‘Hey, Letterman’, they say. ‘Why don’t you make jokes about Obama?’ All right, I’ll tell you why. I don’t make jokes about him because I don’t want the FBI tapping my phone, that’s why.” – David Letterman

“This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Watergate hearings. For those of you too young to remember, back then the administration had an enemies list. They were spying on reporters, and they used the IRS to harass groups they didn’t like. Thank God those days are gone forever.” – Jay Leno

“A lot of critics are comparing President Obama to President Richard Nixon, which is unfair. Nixon’s unemployment rate was only 5 percent.” – Jay Leno

“The National Aquarium in Washington is going to close. But don’t worry. If you’re in D.C. and you still want to smell something fishy, stop by the White House. They’ve gone from ‘Change you can believe in’ to ‘Changing the story until you believe it.'” – Jay Leno

“Since President Obama took office, the Democratic Party has lost nine governorships, 56 members of Congress, and two Senate seats. In his defense, Obama said, ‘Well, I did promise change.'” – Conan O’Brien

“China announced it will no longer buy recycled trash from the U.S. I don’t have a joke here. I’d just like to give a round of applause to whatever genius has been selling trash to China.” – Conan O’Brien

“Today the White House unveiled its latest high-tech weapon: the IRS audit.” – Jay Leno

“Did you hear about this? The IRS has admitted they were targeting conservative groups. President Obama called it outrageous and said he would immediately have his Benghazi investigators look into it.” – Jay Leno

“I love what IRS commissioner Steve Miller said today about this whole targeting conservative groups thing. He said, ‘Mistakes were made, but they were in no way made with a political or partisan motivation.’ Yeah, ‘Mistakes were made’ – try saying THAT during your next IRS audit.” – Jay Leno

“It was just revealed that the Department of Justice secretly recorded the phone calls of AP journalists for two months. Obama promised reporters that the incident will be immediately investigated – by the Department of Justice.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama’s right in the middle of three scandals. The IRS ratting out people it doesn’t like. Benghazi, number two. And they say Obama has been phone tapping the AP. So three big scandals. Here’s what I prefer: Weiner and Spitzer. Now those are scandals my writers can really work with.” – David Letterman

“First it was Benghazi, then the IRS scandal, and now this phone records scandal. Remember the old days when President Obama’s biggest embarrassment was Joe Biden? What happened to those days?” – Jay Leno

“Some Republicans are saying that due to his current scandals, President Obama should be impeached. In response, Obama laughed and said, ‘Two words fellas: President Biden.'” – Conan O’Brien

“The heat wave is continuing. There are warnings this could be a long, hot summer and they are telling everyone to cover up. Believe me. You don’t have to tell the Obama White House twice. They know all about covering up.” – Jay Leno

“The founder of Spanx announced that she is giving away half of her fortune to charity. She told her family, ‘We’ll be fine. Things are just going to get a little tighter.” – Jimmy Fallon

“The IRS has now admitted that they targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny. That’s why Mitt Romney wanted to be president so bad — to keep the IRS off his back.” – Jay Leno

“Well, congratulations, President Barack Obama, Conspiracy theorists who generally can survive in anaerobic environments have just had an algae bloom dropped on their fucking heads, thus removing the last arrow in your pro-governance quiver: skepticism about your opponents.” – Jon Stewart

“This has, in one seismic moment, shifted the burden of proof from the tinfoil behatted to the government.” – Jon Stewart

“Folks this proves that everything I’ve ever said about Obama is true. It’s official. He’s a secret Muslim, shape-shifting alien from Kenya who is coming for our guns. And Bo is a member of the Illuminati.” –Stephen Colbert

“I was going to start off tonight with an Obama joke, but I don’t want to get audited by the IRS, so forget that.” – Jay Leno

“On Saturday, the West Wing of the White House was evacuated when an overheated transformer set off a smoke alarm. Or as Obama put it, ‘Yeah, definitely check out that crazy transformer. Kind of smells like Marlboro Lights.'” – Jimmy Fallon