2012-03-11

A two-panel SMBC comic contrasting a child's behavior with a politician's rhetoric. Panel 1, labeled NORMAL CHILD: a red-haired boy sits at a table with a slice of chocolate cake on a plate. His mother (off-panel) says, 'Bobby! We have rules in this house! No dessert until you finish dinner!' The boy grumbles, 'Aww, mom! Fine.' Panel 2, labeled FUTURE POLITICIAN: the same boy, now with a mustache and goatee and a smug look, sits at the table with an empty plate. His mother says, 'Bobby! You already ate your dessert!?' He replies, 'The dessert was a terrorist.' Votey (aftercomic): a close-up of the smug boy gesturing as he declares, 'We will return to traditional cake law once hostilities end.' The joke parodies how politicians justify exceptional, rule-breaking actions with security-threat language and promises to restore normalcy later.