Whats the story behind the * in place of Bush's name?

[LalahLand]

Does the * carry any type of significance?

[Maple]

1. It's from the

Doonesbury cartoon....showing an asterisk wearing a Roman helmet, and a toga of the US flag

[kskiska]

5. It denotes *'s illegitimacy

When * was selected, commentators intoned that he would always carry around an asterisk after his name because of the dubiousness of his legitimacy.
Gary Trudeau also used it. Don't know which came first.

[Bozita]

2. From Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury.

Check out Sunday's strip for a real hoot.

[alcuno]

3. Welcome to DU, Lalahland

I use it because for all of history, I believe that there should be an asterik placed beside the name of GWB because of the way he was placed in office by the SCOTUS.

[wtmusic]

4. One of the dissenting justices

in his opinion, remarked that GWB would forever have an asterisk next to his name should the court approve the election.

[Booberdawg]

8. What he said

It came from the words of one of the dissenting justices in the bush v. Gore decision.

[proud patriot]

6. The astrisk will follow bush's name in history books

Every history book will have this because they will
have to explian the he wasn't elected by the people's
vote he was appointed by the supreme court after a mess
in Florida ...That's the idea behind it anyway .

[gmoney]

7. It's from Doonesbury...

The * symbolizes that he was elected "with an asterisk" referring to when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's single season home run record. Since Roger had more games in the season, MLB decided to put an "asterisk" next to the 61 in the book, with a footnote that he had 160 games vs. Ruth's 140 (or whatever the numbers were.

The Billy Crystal movie about Maris is called 61* for that reason.

I think if any election deserves to have an * next to it, it's Florida 2000.

For years, Trudeau has opted not to depict the President directly... he puts a floating "symbol" in their place. I think Clinton was represented with a buttered waffle. Bush is a floating *.

[Cha]

9. I didn't know either and was waiting to see! Thanks for asking

LalahLand! And Welcome to DU!

Much more interesting than what I thought!

[LalahLand]

10. Thanks for the info!

LOL, I'm glad I asked. I would have never been able to guess that. And thanks for the warm welcome.

[newyawker99]

11. Hi LalahLand!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ikojo]

12. It's like not saying he whose name must

not be said.....

Valdemort.....you know?

[Buns_of_Fire]

13. All of the above, PLUS...

An * looks suspiciously like the anal orifice that exists in most primates (not that I would know, since I'm not a proctologist, nor do I play one on TV).

Either way, we all know what comes out of *...