This year's Pulitzer for "them damn pitchers" went to Michael Ramirez. The Dubster can breathe easier because Ramirez doesn't target the Bushies much because he's too busy drawing blood from The Hillster, The Hopester, and The Geezer. If this is (fair & balanced) give & take, so be it.
[x San Jose (CA) Fishwrap]
Editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez wins second Pulitzer Prize
By Shaya Tayefe Mohajer
Between news of struggling industries and a flailing housing market, readers of Investor's Business Daily have had something to smile about: the editorial cartoons of Michael Ramirez.
On Monday, it was Ramirez' turn as he received his second Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, the first for the Los Angeles-based, 210,000-circulation publication.
The conservative cartoonist won a Pulitzer in 1994 for the Los Angeles Times, but he was dropped from that paper, along with several columnists, in a 2005 reorganization. He joined the staff of Investor's Business Daily as editorial cartoonist and senior editor in 2006.
"I didn't think it would be, but I think I'm having more fun the second time around," Ramirez said.
The Pulitzers are journalism's highest honor, and Pulitzer judges cited Ramirez's work for humor and "detailed artistry," among other attributes.
"He has such a unique way of crystalizing the issues, never afraid to take a controversial stance," said Chris Gessel, executive editor of Investor's Business Daily. "The thing that a lot of people don't see is that in meetings he'll throw out six, seven, eight ideas and all of them are excellent cartoons."
Ramirez said his favorite work submitted to judges was a cartoon of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, mocked up as one of the mysterious monolithic statues of Easter Island.
Copyright © 2008 Michael Ramirez
"It was just the perfect metaphor for him (Obama) because here you have this mystical statue that's revered by all, but nobody really knows much about it, and where it came from, and where it was before," Ramirez said.
Ramirez added that editorial cartoons remain an important part of the newspaper, and are "a distinctive part of journalism."
"The cartoons may make you laugh, or they may make you cry, but hopefully every time you look at one, it makes you think," Ramirez said.
In recent years, other Los Angeles journalists not at mainstream papers or covering nontraditional subjects have been recognized for Pulitzers in criticism. Jonathan Gold of the LA Weekly was awarded in 2007 for his restaurant reviews. Dan Neil of the Los Angeles Times nabbed a Pulitzer for his automobile reviews in 2004.
[Shaya Tayefe Mohajer regularly reports for the Associated Press (AP).]
Copyright © 2008 San Jose Mercury News
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