From CNN's Glenn Beck to Comedy Central's Daily Show, and from The Weekly Standard to The Nation, America’s political pundits hold wildly varying opinions on almost everything. But when it comes to Islam and Muslims, both ends of the political spectrum are too often equally comfortable with simplistic two-dimensional treatments that end up reducing Islam’s more than one billion followers to caricatures and stereotypes.

The cartoon on the cover of the latest New Yorker magazine depicting Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as militant radicals drew the ire of the presidential candidates Monday and posed the question of how satirical journalism affects voters during an election season.