Email This PageBush Leaguers
During the fall election campaign, McCabe Library played host to Bush Leaguers: Editorial Cartoons Take on the White House, a traveling exhibit of nearly 100 original cartoons by members of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists. Curated by Rob Rogers, cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the show kicked off in October with a panel discussion featuring Rogers and Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonists Signe Wilkinson of the Philadelphia Daily News, and Tony Auth of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Taking on everything from the Iraq War to the role of Vice President Dick Cheney, the cartoons were almost uniformly negative regarding the outgoing administration. College Librarian Peggy Seiden reported a few complaints alleging political partisanship, especially because the display coincided with the presidential campaign, but she explained that Bush Leaguers was the latest in a long series of exhibits and programming sponsored by the library in an effort to highlight the importance of free speech.
“Cartoonists have a long tradition of lampooning the incumbent in the White House,” Seiden said. “We’re recognizing the role that political cartooning plays in public debate about the choices our leaders make.”
—Jeffrey Lott
