Sideshow Bob Roberts - Themes and Analysis

Themes and Analysis

David L.G. Arnold comments in the book Leaving Springfield that the episode is a satire on "society's lazy, uninformed attitude about the electoral process," as well as "a comment on the role in society of a cadre of elites (the Republican party) who see themselves as naturally suited to lead." The episode also portrays Republicans as willing to break the law in order to achieve this; in this case, Bob commits electoral fraud. This is most displayed in Bob's line: "Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down inside you secretly long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king. That's why I did this: to protect you from yourselves."

Matthew Henry writes in the same book that the episode "well illustrates the battle of ideologies … and its engagement with the politics of sexuality." He refers to the scene where Smithers intimates that Bob rigged the election; his motivation for whistleblowing is Bob's conservative policies, which disagree with his "choice of lifestyle", namely his homosexuality. Henry concludes the scene shows that conservative politics and homosexuality "cannot coexist" and that the scene marks the point where Smithers' sexuality became "public and overtly political."