Playing the symbols

Clashing symbols are sweet music to cartoonists’ ears. A twisted picture is worth a thousand twisted words. So George Tenet’s silky Medal of Freedom was just waiting for Tom Toles to sling it around a sow’s neck. And it was only a matter of time until the late Pat Tillman, erstwhile symbolic war hero, was paint-balled with a broader brush, and until we applied the coup de grace to the prematurely celebratory “Fait Accompli” banner. It’s almost as if the photo-op fabricators have cartoonists in mind, setting us up for, in the words of a certain ex-spook … slam dunks.

— Joel Pett