Mike Judge - Political Views

Political Views

Despite his King of the Hill protagonist Hank Hill being identifiable as a conservative and his The Goode Family being essentially a satire of many liberal precepts, Judge avoids discussing his political leanings. The Goode Family has been called a conservative show, and it has been suggested by the conservative site Newsbusters that the show's negative reviews were a consequence of liberal institutions having a poor sense of humor.

In reviewing Idiocracy, Salon stated, "Judge's gimlet eye is so ruthless that at times his politics seem to border on South Park libertarianism." The libertarian Reason seems to agree, comparing King of the Hill to South Park and The Simpsons' anti-authoritarian point-of-view, though it calls the show more populist, noting the disdain King of the Hill seems to have for bureaucrats, professionals and big-box chains.

Still, Judge denies having political messages in his shows, saying in an IGN interview:

I try to not let the show get too political. To me, it's more social than political I guess you'd say, because that's funnier. I don't really like political reference humor that much. Although I liked the episode where Hank's talking to the mailman and he says, 'Why would anyone want to lick a stamp that has Bill Clinton on it?' To me that's just like more of a character thing about Hank than it is a political joke or anything. I don't want to do a bunch of stuff about the war, particularly.