Middle man
Joel Pett is the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist of the Lexington Herald-Leader. His work also appears in USA Today.
The 2009 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning went to Steve Breen of the San Diego Union-Tribune, who also won in 1998. The awarding of journalism’s highest honor to the ideologically middle-of-the-road Breen set off a predictable round of teeth-gnashing, hand-wringing, eye-rolling, tongue-wagging and head-shaking among the also-rants. The right-wing ink-slingers may have forgotten that last year’s prize went to former Los Angeles Times staffer Michael Ramirez, now of Investor’s Business Daily. And the lefties are left to wonder: What happened to anti-establishment passion and outrage? -- Joel Pett