Bush whacking in Washington Sq. on the Fourth

Downtown satirical artist and activist Joey Skaggs ( right ) and his troupe of pranksters staged an elaborate, two-hour send-up of President Bush and his cabinet members in Washington Sq. Park on Independence Day. The spectacle included a “faux pro-Bush parade” — a group seemingly in support of the Bush-Cheney ticket marching into the park, only to hand out money on which was written, “Be proactive — Hold your leaders accountable while you still have your rights.” The Saudi royal family doled out money to buy votes for Bush, while Bush’s cabinet — four actors in rubber masks — looked on approvingly. Finally, in what Skaggs called the piece de resistance, the front of a model of the White House that had been brought in on a bicycle flew open to reveal a mannequin of Bush not in the Oval Office but on an oval of another sort, a toilet. Although the Saudi connection angle of his skit closely parallels allegations in “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Michael Moore’s new documentary, Skaggs said he started working on the production over a year ago. Skaggs, a Soho resident, charged that — aside from The Villager — there was a media blackout of his event. “You’re it man,” he said. “The media didn’t want to cover anything that was critical of Bush on what is supposed to be a patriotic holiday.”