Life — May 27, 1920 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "If Senators Talked at Home as They Do in Congress" This satirical comic strip contrasts senators' public rhetoric with their home behavior. In six panels, a senator speaks to his wife with increasingly grandiose, flowery language borrowed from Congressional speeches—discussing ordinary matters like coffee with inflated patriotic rhetoric about "American ism as against un-Americanism" and the "foundations of this great and glorious nation." The joke satirizes senators' tendency to use pompous, verbose language and self-important declarations during official proceedings, even on trivial matters. The wife's patient, bemused reactions emphasize the absurdity of applying such overwrought political grandstanding to domestic life. The satire suggests senators are out-of-touch with reality and prone to theatrical excess in their public statements.