View from a Pulitzer-winning cartoonist

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Cartoonist Matt Wuerker of the Washington, D.C., newspaper Politico has elevated political humor to an art form, using his pen to poke fun and make a powerful point. This year Wuerker received the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.
Wuerker said the idea for this cover for the "Swimsuit Edition" of "Bankers Illustrated" came to him while on a supermarket checkout line, looking at Sports Illustrated: "It occurred to me that really it should be applied to bankers instead - nearly naked greed, bodacious bottom lines. This was a lot of fun to draw."

Wuerker told CBS News' Chip Reid that he started drawing political cartoons in junior high school protesting the war in Vietnam. "I grew up as a kid following Paul Conrad in the (Los Angeles) Times, and Conrad - he made Nixon's enemies' list," Wuerker said. "I mean, his cartoons had that kind of bite."

When asked if his goal in life was to make the president's enemies list, Wuerker replied, "That wouldn't be bad, I'd be OK with that. That would be great."

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At left, Wuerker comments on the recent Republican National Convention, and the chatter that vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan may have outshone the top of the ticket.

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So how does Wuerker caricature the candidates? Of Mitt Romney Wuerker said, "He's got this sort of blockhead - and that 'Romney hair.'"

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And President Barack Obama? "His ears stick out [and] he's got an extremely broad, toothy smile. That's great for cartoonists."

Matt Wuerker says the ideas for his political cartoons come from everywhere, a steady diet of reading the papers, checking Twitter feeds, even mundane events.

... though there was nothing mundane about the travails of N.Y. Rep. Anthony Weiner.

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Wuerker said he has heard from the people he satirizes. He recalled a cartoon attacking Donald Rumsfeld during the Iraq War:

"I got an email from a colonel in the Pentagon who said that [Secretary Rumsfeld] had seen the cartoon and was wondering if he could have the original to hang on his wall, which just filled me with such mixed emotions. I wanted him to feel the sting of my pen. And he wanted to hang it on his wall!"

Matt Wuerker's commentary on coverage of "post-truth" politics in 2012.

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A look at the highly venerated class of "job creators."

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Money matters have been major subject matter for Matt Wuerker.

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Perhaps President Obama would do better sharing a beer with House Speaker John Boehner than playing poker.

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Matt Wuerker portrays the president's changing positions.

Is it a voucher Paul Ryan is wielding in his plans to change Medicare as we know it?

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Playing the "Blame Game" as the U.S. heads toward a fiscal cliff.

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Fireman-in-Chief Obama meets the Tea Party and the "Party of No."

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Matt Wuerker channels a certain unfortunate dog in relating the Republican Party's discomfort over Mitt Romney.

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Just as the Republicans were about to launch their nominee in their effort to depose a sitting president by campaigning on "jobs, jobs, jobs," Missouri Congressman Todd Akin brought the politics of abortion, rape and women's health front and center with statements that challenged science and common sense - and pulled the GOP back into the spotlight of contentious social issues.

toon120828.jpg.jpg — Matt Wuerker/Politico

The timing of Akin's remarks only magnified attention being paid to the Republican Party's platform as the GOP convention opened last week.

toon120815.jpg.jpg — Matt Wuerker/Politico

Rep. Paul Ryan's ascendancy to Veep nominee was viewed by many as a game-changer - and whose game was changed differed depending upon which side of the aisle you asked.

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Conspicuously absent from the Republican convention were the 43rd President of the United States and his VP.

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Matt Wuerker's take on a classic Norman Rockwell illustration of Thanksgiving.

For more info:

Political cartoons and humor from Matt Wuerker (Politico)
Obama-gram (iTunes)

By CBSNews.com senior editor David Morgan