My hometown is fortunate to have as a resident Pulitzer Prize winner, cartoonist Ben Sargent.
Sargent has been contributing political cartoons to the Austin American-Statesman since 1974.
One of Sargent’s favorite subjects for his cartoons has been George W. Bush, both as Texas governor and as the 43rd president. Most of the cartoons depicting Bush have not been very flattering—perhaps deservedly so—and have drawn a lot of fiery criticism from Conservative Austinites and Texans.
After one such episode of indignant reaction to one of Sargent’s cartoons, I wrote in the Statesman, in part:
I was somewhat puzzled by the attacks on Pulitzer Prize winner Ben Sargent and his political cartoons. Puzzled, because it is my understanding that political cartoonists use metaphors, caricatures, exaggerations, and sarcasm to convey a political or social message designed to influence their audiences.
As a matter of fact, one of the earliest American political cartoonists, Thomas Nast, did exactly that in the 1870’s when his depictions of corrupt New York politician William Tweed and the “Tammany Ring” materially led to Tweed’s fall and imprisonment.
A furious Tweed is said to have bemoaned ,”Stop them damned pictures. I don’t care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents can’t read. But, damn it, they can see pictures!”
And so it is, whether people like or dislike Sargent’s work, it is powerful and it is a treasured American concept called freedom of expression. A freedom that many Conservative political cartoonists and pundits exercised extremely well in the 90’s (and continue to do so) when depicting a Democratic president, and his First Lady, and his daughter, and his cat.
This weekend, the Statesman published a two-page spread of Ben Sargent’s portrayal of George W. Bush—big ears and all—over the past 14 years, with the following introduction (in part):
His portrayal in editorial cartoons kept pace, as over the years the ears grew larger, the stature smaller and the attitude more clueless, a long evolutionary passage from his original caricature as an inexperienced but benign governor.
As George Bush makes his exit from his long turn on the political stage, we offer a look back at the Bush years as Sargent saw them.
Whether you like Bush or not, take a look at Ben Sargent’s work. You’ll find that the 13 cartoons fairly or unfairly represent “The evolution of George W. Bush”
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.