Are our editorial cartoons anti-Bush?

A reader called me this morning to complain about today's editorial page cartoon on Page B5. It shows a caricature of the president with his arm around Vladimir Putin. Bush asks Putin, "Can I look into your eyes again to see how your soul's doing?" Putin is thinking to himself: "How could I possibly want democracy for Russia if ninnies like this can get elected?"
Such a cartoon is demeaning to the president, the caller said, and he added that he never sees a cartoon that shows Bush in a positive light.
We do not have an opinion cartoonist on our staff, so we purchase them from a wire service. The one today was done by a cartoonist at the Daytona Beach, Fla. paper.
When I have heard editorial cartoonists talk about their work, a key point they make is that they don't care who is occupying the White House. Their main drive is to sketch provocative cartoons about that person, Republican or Democrat. Certainly when Bill Clinton was president, he was skewered frequently by cartoonists.
_ Tad Weber