During a particularly boring personal finance class, Brigham Young University student Pat Bagley doodled a political cartoon instead of paying attention to his professor. Proud of his drawing, he submitted it to the school newspaper.
To his surprise, the cartoon ran in The Daily Universe the next day. Someone at one of the nation’s elite news publications took notice, and the cartoon was reprinted in Time Magazine weeks later.
“It was all downhill from there,” Bagley said. He went on to become a prolific political cartoonist for The Salt Lake Tribune.
Bagley showed a PowerPoint presentation of his political cartoons to a packed audience at the Hinckley Institute of Politics on Monday. He poked fun at BYU-his alma mater-and rival newspaper the Deseret Morning News during his speech.
However, his current satirical material aims at the highest possible target in the nation, President George W. Bush. He recently wrote a series of Clueless George books, parodies of the children’s book Curious George that portray Bush as an infantile monkey being led around by “The Man,” Vice President Dick Cheney.
Bush has “been good for me because he’s radicalized me,” Bagley said. “I used to be kind of a moderate Republican. I’ve been pushed to the left.”
Although he is a registered Independent, not a Democrat, Bagley regularly pokes fun of the conservative Republican political majority in Utah.
The Utah State Legislature is a key Bagley target. He consistently depicts conservative lawmakers as heavy, balding, bespectacled old men who openly carry firearms. One cartoon criticized them for insisting that guns be allowed on the U campus.
Some of his cartoons focus on Utah’s predominant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint culture.
“The Mormon stuff I do because it’s the elephant in the living room,” Bagley said. “One of the great things about our Mormon heritage is that it provides a lot of grist for the mill.”
Bagley said he tries to be respectful and not cross the line of good taste in his humor.
“I come from the culture, so I think I know how far I can push the limits,” he said.
However, not everyone has been pleased with Bagley’s political commentary.
“I have had phone calls that are abusive,” he said.
He said some angry readers have threatened him, although he never thought his life was in danger.
Bagley said it is important for people to speak out on political matters, even if it brings them criticism.
“Students should get involved, even though it doesn’t look like it will make any difference,” he said.
“I like what he brings to the political sphere,” said Becky Webster, a senior in communication. “He brings humor, but he also makes us aware.”
“I was definitely impressed with how articulate he was and how fair he was,” said Chelsea Cragun, a junior in communication.
Lennie MahlerCartoonist Pat Bagley of The Salt Lake Tribune shows some of his work and discusses past and future decisions he must make as an editorial cartoonist during a lecture at the Hinckley Institute of Politics on Monday.