It's the Day of the Weasel

By: Dave Astor Is George W. Bush's middle name "Weasel?" That was the thought of many of the 35,874 people voting in a Dilbert.com "Weasel Poll," the results of which were announced Monday.

Bush was named "Weaseliest Individual" in the survey. Winners of the other five categories included politicians ("Weaseliest Profession"), France ("Weaseliest Country"), Microsoft ("Weaseliest Company"), the Recording Industry Association of America ("Weaseliest Organization"), and blaming fast-food restaurants for making you fat ("Weaseliest Behavior").

In the last category, religious extremism finished second. Which led "Dilbert" creator Scott Adams to jokingly tell E&P Online that Al Qaeda might kill more Americans if it opened some artery-clogging fast-food restaurants.

Among the other runners-ups were the U.S. (in the country category), lawyers (profession), and Halliburton (company). That firm, which Vice President Dick Cheney has close ties to, has been criticized for profiting from Iraq's reconstruction.

If fictional characters were allowed in the "Weaseliest Individual" category, might the winner have been the employer from hell in "Dilbert"? "I'd like to think the pointy-haired boss would have been No. 1, but it's hard to compete with the head of the civilized world," said Adams.

This was the second annual "Weasel Poll," and it received nearly double the votes garnered by last year's version of the unscientific contest.

Why the poll? One reason, said Adams, is a tie-in with Dilbert And The Way of the Weasel, the HarperBusiness book being released in paperback Tuesday. "But the macro reason is, almost all the news now is about someone being a weasel," he added.

Do winners receive any kind of citation? "I could mail something to France, but I don't know where they'd hang it," replied Adams.

Adams -- who said he doesn't personally agree with all the winning choices -- admitted to some weasel-like behavior himself by having five guest cartoonists do the Oct. 20-24 "Dilbert" strips. Monday's was by "For Better or For Worse" creator Lynn Johnston. Since "Dilbert" and "For Better" each run in 2,000-plus newspapers, Adams believes Johnston became "the most widely read cartoonist in the history of planet Earth" for a day.

The United Media creator added that the guest cartoonists were allowed to do anything in the Oct. 20-24 comics, including killing a character. Reportedly, one cast member did get knocked off, giving Adams the challenge of resurrecting that person when he takes back the reins of his comic this Saturday.