Victoria_Beth_Berdon@cup.portal.com (07/07/90)
The Chinese Bush (Read My Blips: No New Taxes)
Sometime Before the Presidential Election of 1988:
Under cloak of darkness in the Chinese Oval Office, George Bush covertly
studied sloganeer Peggy Noonan's latest rule book: mutter "Read my lips. No
new taxes." George, ever the good civil servant, did as he was told, and only
what he was told. The gray matter shrunk away from the cranium. The neurons
shriveled into shreds. What emerged were the happy trails of immutable
associations of the sight of reporters to the mutterance, "Read my lips. No
new taxes." A stimulus response Arc de Triomphe!
Two Years Later:
Peggy, obsolete by her own success, is unwilling to join the ranks of the
voluntarily homeless, and tries a correspondence course in neural hardware.
Her former efforts have failed: George, in environs unexpected, starts to
twitch. His fingers move, scrawl, "new taxes." Peggy, frantic, searches the
vast cavern of his skull. It's damp, moldy, the No zone oxidized beyond
recognition. "Damn, I knew I should have worked in a clean room!" thought
Peggy. George's popularity wavers and returns -- as the mold progresses, the
forest products industry rallies behind George's promise of New Axes.
Peggy has found that burning in the software can burn out the hardware.
Moral: Burning symbols can get you into trouble!
(Written in association with Ken Presting)