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Questions
1. What is the elephant a symbol of? Why is he angry?
2. Who are the two men walking past the elephant? Why are they happy? (What is the cartoonist’s joke?)
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.
Reprinted here with permission from Creators News Service.
Answers
1. The elephant is a symbol of the Republican party – in this case Republican members of Congress. Note the elephant’s hat, which says GOP (Grand Old Party), the nickname for the Republican party. He is angry because one provision of the economic stimulus package will give tax refunds to people who don’t pay any income tax.
2. The two men walking past the Republicans are President Obama’s choices for two important Cabinet positions – Tim Geithner was confirmed as Treasury Secretary and Tom Daschle recently withdrew his name for Secretary of Health and Human Services. After being nominated by President Obama, it was discovered that both men did not pay large amounts of their taxes. They both said they had made honest mistakes and then paid the taxes when the information was made public. The cartoonist is joking that they are happy that people who don’t pay any taxes will receive tax refunds anyway.
