For a while I’ve been mystified by the political cartoons of Steve Bell that regularly appear in The Guardian. Because I simply don’t get them, I was inclined to think that they operated on the level of a private joke with the more enlightened readership of that esteemed organ. Recently, however (mainly because I’m reluctant to acknowledge any theory that might put me at fault), I’ve come to the conclusion that this guy is simply chancing his arm and nobody has called him on it. Sure, he can draw but he doesn’t appear to have anything in the way of satirical gifts.Take this most recent example, available online. Oh, I see, President Bush is a big, lumbering lunk of a war-mongering chimpanzee. Now, you can blather on about the great tradition of caricature practiced by Daumier and Gillray, but shouldn’t a modern political cartoon offer something more? Such as…I dunno…insight?