Weigel

Politico’s Anarchist Pulitzer

The easy narrative of Politico’s and Huffington Post’s Pulitzer wins goes something like this: Online news organizations have made it, baby! I like that narrative, for obvious financial reasons. Still, it’s notable that Politico’s Pulitzer went not to any of its reporting (its scoop-a-minute debt limit coverage, for example), but to cartoonist Matt Wuerker. The cartoonist is the only outright liberal voice in a magazine all about ideology-free reportage on Washington/campaigns. Take an example at random from Wuerker’s winning portfolio. Screen shot 2012-04-17 at 7.54.47 AM That’s basically the Democratic argument against the Ryan plan, from the week they were making the argument. My old colleague and friend Mike Riggs finds Weurker’s work to be over-labeled and obvious, but it’s more than that – it’s got a clear, liberal point of view in a time when it’s fashionable to groan about “both parties being responsible for blah blah etc.” And we shouldn’t be surprised! Wuerker cut his teeth at publications like The Nation and Z… poke around the vast Internet, and you can find lots of Wuerker art with a strong POV. It’s a delightful little irony that the publication so often derided by the left as “Drudgico” has won its first Pulitzer for cartoons that made the Left’s arguments.