Mike Luckovitch, a Pulizter Prize editorial cartoonist, illustrates the relations between the Republican party and the NSA in this cartoon. In this cartoon, a representative from the NSA is sitting in front of a board of elephants, who represent the Republicans. He is seemingly reporting back the NSA’s findings to the Republicans by saying, “We intercepted the ‘chatter’ of a group plotting to cripple the U.S. government and harm the economy”. In reply to this, the Republicans say, “we don’t appreciate you listening in to our phone calls”.
For the intended audience, well-educated people who know a little about politics, the multiple messages are clear. The first message is that the NSA is using the protection from terrorism as an excuse for listening to people’s phone calls. The audience knows this because the three Republicans are the congressmen at a political hearing for the NSA to justify what they are doing. By saying “we intercepted” something, the NSA is justifying the fact that they are abridging American freedoms. The second message is that the party in power, now has the ability to spy on the opposing party. The NSA is controlled by the Democratic Party currently, and they have the ability to spy on the Republicans as exemplified here. This demonstrates the particular danger of using terrorism to justify domestic spying. The third and most prominent message, and also the punchline of this cartoon, is the fact that the Republicans are the sources of the terrorist ‘chatter’ that the NSA found. Luckovitch is commenting on the motives of the Republican party. The third message is that Republicans do?{'-"{ not have America’s best interest at heart. Instead of talking about how to improve America over the phone, they were “plotting to cripple the U.S. government and harm the economy”. This illustrates that the Republican party is really maliciously plotting for their own good.
Through the use of humor and multiple layers of meaning, Luckovitch achieves his purpose. He is able to get across his messages with multiple layers of underlying meaning as the reader chronologically reads the cartoon. The first message about the NSA can be deduced from just the fact that the NSA was at a political hearing. The second message comes through when the reader sees the Republicans as the ones being spied on. The punchline brings the cartoon home with humor. Luckovitch is able to use humor to illustrate deeper meanings and get his messages across in this cartoon.
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