In his analysis of how the Rush Limbaugh controversy is dividing the GOP, Rick Moran makes the following observation:

The right is in Dante's ninth circle of hell, condemned to be encased in solid ice with only their heads showing, with those positioned next to each other forced to gnaw on their neighbors' necks for sustenance.

The text says nothing about Limbaugh, though, but describes Schicchi as a "madman" who "gnaws the other in his raving."

Not to get too Dalinian over the GOP, but there's also "News of the Lower Depths of Hell" -- in which an elephant-like figure devours a woman.

Of course, from a purely rational perspective, just as Schicchi cannot represent Limbaugh or his GOP enemies, the elephant cannot represent the GOP. Nor can the woman represent Sarah Palin or any other female Republican. Dalí did these illustrations back in the 1950s. Back when all was well and everyone* liked Ike.

So much for my rational disclaimers.

As to the irrational and the superstitious, such dark lurking things are intended for entertainment value only, and should never stand in the way of logic and reason.

* Well not quite everyone. And I don't refer solely to Democrats or liberals. Some "conservatives" believed President Eisenhower was a "dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy."

I'm sure some still do. (Similarly outlandish things were said about McCain.)

(See "The Paranoid Style in American Politics.")