R.J. Matson, the editorial cartoonist for Roll Call in Washington, D.C. (and who I syndicate via Cagle Cartoons) came up with an original take on Mitt Romney’s much-maligned comments following the tragic attack on the U.S. consulate on Benghazi, Libya:

Matson is one of the most prolific editorial cartoonists working today. In addition to his job with Roll Call, Matson was the daily staff cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for seven years, before being laid-off last month as part of a paper-wide cutback of employees to save money.

I interviewed Matson about being laid-off, and he shares my fear about the future of editorial cartoons, which are more popular than ever online and in syndication, but threatened by these continued job cuts.

“It’s such a difficult job to do well day after day, I don’t see how cartoonist can crank out stuff like that unless it’s a full-paid job treated with a lot of respect by the publisher,” Matson said.

“The cartoonist is essentially a columnist and a vital voice for the paper, and a vital voice for the community,” Matson continued. “People love to see events in their town reflected back in editorial cartoons… If newspapers give up on that, they’re giving up on their local scene.”

Here’s the interview:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oaYDKfs5Kk]