Original air date: 4/9/2003
The boys get caught in the middle of a conflict between pro-Iraq War and anti-Iraq War advocates and have to write a report about what the Founding Fathers would think about the war.
"I'm A Little Bit Country" contains examples of:
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The entire cast (minus Stan, Kyle, and Kenny) thank the audience for celebrating the show's 100th episode.
- Counterpoint Duet: Between Randy (anti-war) and Skeeter (pro-war). The song was reprised at the episode to show that they had reconciled.
- Field Trip to the Past: Invoked by Cartman to find out what the Founding Fathers would say.
- Flashback Effects: Cartman tries to have a flashback by repeating his words and pantomiming with his hands.
- Golden Mean Fallacy: Half of the town opposes the war in Iraq, while the other half supports it. Cartman believes he has the right answer, that America needs both groups. The pro-war people to support America's wars are needed so America looks like a strong country, but also the anti-war people to oppose these wars so America looks like a compassionate country. Both sides are happy with this answer, because it basically means the war will continue, and the anti-war crowd gets to continue protesting.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The boys pretend to be against the war so they can get out of school and goof off. They are instantly drafted into actually protesting by Mr. Mackie, asked serious questions on live television by a reporter, only to say they have no idea who the founding fathers even are on air. The boys are humiliated on TV, a furious Mr. Garrison yells at them for lying about being against war just to get out of school, then punishes them for their ignorance by assigning them a report on the founding fathers.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Early in the episode the boys imply that they have no idea who the Founding Fathers are when they're asked about their views about the Iraq War during a walkout, later they are harshly reprimanded by Mr. Garrison for not knowing anything about the Founding Fathers, considering the fact that he's never taught them anything about history.
- Some war protesters break into an electronics store and steal TVs.
- Kenny is berated by his pro-war father for hanging out at Stan's and is pulled away from the study group. Gerald and Randy express disgust over Stuart convincing Kenny to side with him and then push their kids to participate in the war protest by reading their essay.
- The punchline of the episode is how everyone concludes that America works best when it runs on hypocrisy, protesting the war but going ahead with it anyway.
- Laborious Laziness: Cartman goes through a lot of effort to avoid actually studying.
- My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: America is described as "an entire country founded on saying one thing and then doing another."
- Never My Fault: After the boys' interview at the beginning, Mr. Garrison harshly reprimand the entire class for knowing nothing about the Founding Fathers, punishing them with a report on the Founding Fathers in the process, but this is rich coming from a man who is more interested in teaching the class celebrity facts and other pointless subjects instead of actual education.
- Non-Standard Character Design: The people of 1776 in Cartman's dream are drawn way more realistic than how everyone on the show is drawn.
- Opinion-Changing Dream: Cartman acts as if he doesn't care about American history so that he can have a flashback. He elaborately stages incidents that would render him unconscious so that he can have the educational dream and thereby avoid the bother of actually studying. He eventually succeeds, but not before...
- Special Guest: Norman Lear as Benjamin Franklin.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: When the kids here can either stay in school and do work or leave school for the day in protest, they choose to leave school treating it like a day off. However they weren't let out to go goof off, they were let out to protest. When the kids leave school, they are drafted into protesting.
- This Is My Side: When the town attempts to split themselves into pro-war and anti-war halves, they almost immediately find that certain needs of theirs are on the other side of the line they just made, and Skeeter concludes, "What we really should be doing is just beatin' the hell out of each other like we were."
- What Year Is This?: After Cartman is told by the official messenger boy that it is 1776, he realizes that his plan worked.
