Bush Invites Cartoonists for Lunch, but Garry Trudeau Isn’t on the List

WASHINGTON —  President Bush invited some of the nation’s best-known editorial cartoonists to lunch Friday at the White House, but the guest list did not include Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau.

Trudeau lampooned Bush frequently in last year’s campaign, with jokes that he had put his manhood in a blind trust and that he had a secret twin brother, Skippy, who took care of the nasty side of politics.

Asked if the Doonesbury cartoonist was on the guest list for the private lunch, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater replied, “Garry, unfortunately, isn’t going to make it this year.”

Asked if Trudeau would ever be invited, Fitzwater quickly added, “Not in my lifetime.”