什么人是共和党人？ 　　The Republicans held their national convention last week. Like the Democrats' convention in August, it was a typical example of what such gatherings have become in recent years: chances to shape the image of each party and advertise its presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Until the 1970s these conventions were often the scene of fascinating struggles between different factions within the parties, and they were televised from beginning to end. Now the national broadcast networks will agree to devote only a few hours to prime-time coverage of today's much less gripping conventions. As a result, the organizers must arrange the schedule of speakers to make sure that the ones who appear on TV are those who will sway the most voters. 　　One speaker the Republicans were careful to get before prime-time viewers was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. As a moderate in a party increasingly dominated by hard-line conservatives, bodybuilder and action film star "Arnie" can appeal to centrist and independent voters, especially male ones. In today's cartoon David Horsey makes fun of Schwarzenegger's address, which was light on substance -- but no one expected much of that anyway. 　　Who is a Republican, Schwarzenegger asked. His speech included several repetitions of the conclusion "Then you are a Republican!" Horsey, however, has substituted his own evidence for what makes a voter a Republican, and here is where the mockery comes in: Republicans believe that the WMDs that might justify the US invasion of Iraq are still hidden somewhere, waiting to be found. They think environmentalists are deluding us all: there isn't really any global warming. Republicans blithely shipped jobs for lower-middle-class Americans off to India. Corporate profits up -- great! Fellow citizens out of work -- who cares? 　　In frame 4, "scripture" means the Bible. It is characteristic of American evangelical Protestants (the Protestants most likely to support President Bush) to cite the Bible by starting with the phrase "Scripture says" -- and to cite the Bible in political contexts, where other Americans question its relevance. Many such Protestants strongly believe that the End Times (the last period before the end of the world) are upon us and that Jesus Christ will soon reappear. When he (or He) does, believers like themselves will be lifted to the clouds to meet Jesus; this ascent is called the "Rapture". 　　Horsey's point? That today's GOP is full of religious fanatics who think political debates can be decided with selected quotations from the Bible. 　　Padthai(stir-fried thin rice noodles) in frame 5 is the name of a popular Thai dish -- popular, that is, among people who feel comfortable in the multicultural world of America's coastal cities, teeming with immigrants from all over the globe. Republicans, Horsey implies (remember, perhaps unjustly), would like to keep America as white and familiar as possible. Not too many of those exotic immigrants, please! 　　美国社会热点/名家漫画赏析WD White(美)

漫画美国大选：谁是共和党人？(图)

上周，共和党召开了全国代表大会。近年来，这类集会已变成了两党塑造各自形象、为其总统和副总统候选人做广告的机会。正如八月举行的民主党大会一样，本次共和党大会也是这样的一个典型例子。而在上个世纪七十年代之前，在两党的代表大会上往往能看到党内各派系之间引人注目的纷争，电视台还对大会进行从头至尾的实况转播。现在，对于吸引力已变得小得多的两党大会，全国广播电视网只愿意投入几小时的黄金时段播出对大会的报道。结果呢，为了确保在电视上出现的人是能够影响大多数选民的人物，大会的组织者们必须安排好发言者演讲的顺序。 　　共和党为黄金时段的电视观众精心安排的一位演讲者是加州州长阿诺德·施瓦辛格。如今，在强硬的保守派日渐占主导地位的共和党中，作为一位较为温和的共和党人，健美运动员及动作片明星“阿尼”(施瓦辛格的昵称)则能够吸引中间派人士和独立选民，尤其是其中的男性。在今天的漫画中，戴维·霍尔西取笑了施瓦辛格对严肃问题所作的肤浅的讲话———不过，也没人指望他能谈多少有深度的内容。 　　谁是共和党人？施瓦辛格在演说中问道，而他的演说中有好几处重复使用了“那么你就是共和党人！”这样的结论性话语。不过，此处霍尔西用自己的话代替了施瓦辛格所说的那些决定某位选民是共和党人的标志，这正是嘲讽的所在之处：共和党人相信，能使美国入侵伊拉克合理化的大规模杀伤性武器至今仍然藏在某个地方而有待发现；他们还认为环保主义者是在哄骗大家，全球性变暖根本就没有真正发生；共和党人还轻率地将下层中产阶级的工作机会转移至印度，公司的利润上升了———很好！自己的美国同胞却失业了———有谁关心呢！ 　　在第4幅图里，“Scripture”指的是《圣经》。美国福音派新教教徒(即最有可能支持布什总统的那些新教教徒们)的特点就是爱引用《圣经》，总是以“《圣经》中说……”作为话头，而在讨论政治问题时他们也引用《圣经》，其他美国人则对二者的相关性表示怀疑。 　　这类新教教徒中的许多人深信，人类正在经历“末世”(即世界末日到来前的最后阶段)，耶稣基督将很快再度现身。当他现身时，他们这样的信徒们就会升至云中与耶稣见面，而这种飞升就被称作“极乐升天”(Rapture)。 　　那么霍尔西想要说的是什么呢？就是今日的“大老党”(共和党的别称，GOP＝Grand Old Party)中充斥着狂热的宗教徒，他们以为靠从《圣经》中选摘语录就能对政治上的争论进行裁决。 　　第5幅图中的“Pad Thai”(一种细的炒米线)是一道很受欢迎的泰国菜———说它受欢迎，是在那些住在美国沿海城市多元文化环境中感到自在的人们中受欢迎，那里到处都是来自世界各地的移民。霍尔西暗示(请记住，他的暗示也许不太公平)，共和党人愿意让美国尽可能是白人的世界，是熟悉的面孔的世界———拜托啦，不要来太多的外国移民啦！

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