Now I have a button sporting a picture of the president wearing a cowboy hat, surrounded by the words "Stop Mad Cowboy Disease.’’ It is Susan’s favorite, so I only have one left. But I do have plenty of other buttons.

We went to Dutchess County recently to stay over with some old friends. When we drove up, Chip was carrying a large shopping bag full of something from his truck. "Oh boy, fresh corn,’’ I thought.

Within minutes we were on his deck and the bag was open. But rather than shucking corn cobs we were beset by buttons. Hundreds of them, all anti-Bush.

Susan quickly had a "mad cowboy’’ one pinned on her blouse. I reached in and pulled out one that said "Re-Defeat Bush in 2004.’’ Another offered "11/02/04 – The End of an Error.’’

When I got to the one that said "Have Another Pretzel, Mr. President,’’ I was reminded of the incident three years ago when Bush choked on a pretzel while watching television on a Sunday afternoon.

"Where did you get all these buttons?’’ I asked as I looked at one that read:

Bechtel

Unemployment

Standard Oil

Halliburton

Chip said he made them himself and freely distributes them. "It’s my way of anger management in reaction to the Bush administration,’’ he said.

He and his girlfriend, Vicki, go to flea markets in the area, set up a table and give them away. The only catch, he explained, is that if you want one, you have to wear it.

Here, take a bunch, Chip said, as he poured several dozen out of the bag. "I’m sure you won’t have any problem finding people to wear them.’’

Suddenly an array of buttons was before us on the table. I was looking at one that had the words "Remember Florida’’ around a map of that infamous state while Chip said he would be making hundreds more to take to New York City for the protests at the Republican National Convention next month.

It looks like the president is going to stick with Cheney as his vice president. Granted, you wouldn’t expect Jerry Mahoney to fire his ventriloquist. As bad as Cheney is, it probably wouldn’t look right for Bush to dump him now because that would be admitting there’s a big problem.

Browsing the sea of buttons before me, I came to one that read "Vote for Bush and You Get Dick’’ with American flag art as background. It’s true: It is hard to imagine those two separated. Even if Cheney weren’t vice president, he would be lurking somewhere telling the president what to do.

Next week the Democratic convention takes place in Boston and, fingering a button that read "Bush=MIA’’ with the words "Missing in Alabama’’ printed on a map of that state, I thought of John Kerry and how he would be playing up his service in the Vietnam War.

But many people are not real happy with Kerry because he hasn’t done well in articulating specific proposals that would clearly place him on a higher plane than the president. Maybe it will occur at the convention. Regardless, that’s why the message on the "Anybody But Bush’’ button is so important.

Chip and I agreed that people will have to realize by November that when it comes to foreign aggression, the environment, the health-care crisis and handing billions to the oil and pharmaceutical corporations, it’s time for a change.

Then he fished around in his bag and came up with a button that read "Bush: Leaving No Billionaire Behind’’ around a whistling billionaire complete with a body of currency and top hat.

"You know, Chip, I thought I had been dedicated to doing what I could to make sure this guy’s a one-term president, but you’re truly obsessed,’’ I said, adding that in columns I often referred to the triumvirate as "BCR’’ for Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.

He quickly pointed out that I omitted the attorney general and handed me a button. It read like this:

The No Carb Diet

No Cheney

No Ashcroft

No Rumsfeld

No Bush

But now Rumsfeld has been virtually in hiding since the debacle of the prison torture at Abu Ghraib. And all of them are made to look like anything but innocent fools in the Moore film "Fahrenheit 9/11.’’

Perhaps the factor that will decide the election, however, is trust. Most people realize they were lied to about the reasons for invading and annexing Iraq. And there’s a button for that, too.

"Bush: A Weapon of Mass Deception.’’

Cary Brunswick is managing editor of The Daily Star. He can be reached at (607) 432-1000, ext. 217, or cary@thedailystar.com.