If you're reading this, chances are you don't need to be convinced that George W. B*sh is pretty much the worst president the republic has suffered, certainly in the bottom five, and that he ought to be acknowledged as such. Some believe that impeachment is what he deserves, of course they are right. But resistance to impeachment is curiously strong, and 43 may yet serve out his whole second term, so it may be necessary to use other means to consign him to the historical oblivion which he has earned.
To that end, may I suggest the liberal use of the astrisk.
I encourage all lovers of justice, fairness and linguistic creativity (and baseball, as explained below) to join today in the Blot B*sh! movement, and never again suffer the indignity of writing the full name of a half-assed president.
More below the fold. . .
As a small act of civil disobedience I have, for the past six years, refused on principle to write the Current Occupant's name in full. When I must refer to him by name, I write it as any person of decency writes any expletive word or phrase--by replacing the vowel with an astrisk. Thus, the painful necessity of mentioning this executive by name is transformed into a joyful celebration of the first amendment and resistance to unjust authority, just by writing "B*sh," thereby giving him the respect he truly deserves.
Reasons to Blot B*sh!
First, the baseball analogy (for those who don't follow the game).
In 1961, when Roger Maris threatened Babe Ruth's record for home runs in a single season, the Baseball Establishment (indeed, the nation) was so traumatized that the Commissioner of Baseball, Ford Frick, decreed that the record book would include an astrisk next to Roger Maris' name, explaining that Maris broke the record in a 162 game season, whereas the Babe's mark was set in a 154 game season. (for the record, cooler heads prevailed and no astrisk was ever actually placed in the record books)
So why give B*sh the astrisk Maris never got?
- (lest we forget) To enshrine forever the dodgy means by which this president acquired and retained his office, through unconscionable electoral shenanigans involving myriad methods of fuzzy ballot counting and outright voter suppression in Florida in 2000 and again in Ohio in 2004.
- To indicate support for impeachment, to give Dubya the legacy he deserves and to remind us ever and always that, whether he is ultimately impeached or not, he should've been. (The astrisk represents the rightful abbreviation of his term.)
- To distinguish him from his father, George H. W. Bush, the 41st President and former head of the CIA, who was not good, necessarily, but was nowhere near as abysmal as his firstborn. And likewise to distinguish, for brevity and historical clarity, the wars that each fought. (Iraq I and Iraq II is to obvious, Gulf War I and Gulf War II imply wider conflicts which are not quite historically accurate. But Bush War I and B*sh War II have a certain ring. . .)
- Because this B*sh is an expletive, and like any curse word should not, for decency's sake, be fully spelled out.
In other words, the astrisk is a blot that an errant President, who a scared Congress is too shy to impeach, has clearly earned. What better way to reward this president (who, after all, would rather have been the Commissioner of Baseball) than to give him the astrisk he so richly deserves?!