E-Mail This Article to a Friend Play your cards right Satirical decks help you lay your cards on the table in style BY GENEVIEVE RAJEWSKI

If you think the Bush administration was the first to push its political agenda with a pack of playing cards, think again. Politically charged decks have enjoyed a long history prior to Dubya’s bluffing the country’s way into conflict. Since the 17th century, playing cards have satirized and promoted politicians and supported and derided royalty, wars, rebellions, and other current events.

For those who like to play war or even "Rummy," we suggest visiting Newbury Comics for a replica of the infamous Iraqi Most Wanted Deck ($4.99). However, if you’re hoping that November’s election will result in a royal flush, opt for the biting counterparts spawned by the Iraqi decks. Urban Outfitters carries Bush Cards ($10), which highlight ironic and amusing-in-a-depressing-way information about Bush’s cronies and cabinet members. Meanwhile, Brookline Booksmith stocks the very popular Regime Change Starts at Home deck ($7.95), which pictures the "most unwanted" villains in the US administration and beyond.

Hoping to play your cards right and remain on good terms with both your conservative and liberal friends? Bridge the gap by choosing Politicards 2004 ($9.50). Available at Leavitt & Pierce Inc., the deck features caricatures by Peter Green and nonpartisan jabs at presidential candidates and prominent politicians and pundits.

With corporate scandals causing investors’ portfolios to fold left and right, you may prefer to take a swipe at some infamous high rollers. Wall Street’s Most Wanted playing cards ($11.95), available online, highlight corporate excesses, poor governance, conflicts of interest, and fraud with profiles of the likes of Ken Lay, Jack Welch, Dick Grasso, Martha Stewart, and Jack Grubman.

If your idea of current events runs more to E! than CNBC, you can play celebrity poker with a set of Starz Behind Barz cards ($6.99). Urban Outfitters carries this deck, which chronicles the law-breaking escapades of famous entertainers and athletes — complete with mug shots. Michael Jackson serves as the joker in a group that includes Robert Downey Jr., Bobby Brown, and Hugh Grant.

Of course, all politics are local. To that end, you may want to reference the controversial smoking ban. Archie McPhee’s Death Cigarettes deck ($4.95) pairs illustrations of smoking skeletons with facts and statistics on the dangers of smoking. And Archie McPhee’s Death on Drugs playing cards ($4.95) could serve as the next generation of presidential propaganda should Bush fall prey to ’80s nostalgia and forsake the War on Terror for the War on Drugs.

Where to find It:

• Archie McPhee, www.archiemcphee.com

• Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline, (617) 566-6660; www.brooklinebooksmith.com

• Leavitt & Pierce Inc., 1316 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 547-0576.

• Newbury Comics, various locations; www.newburycomics.com

• Urban Outfitters, 361 Newbury Street, Boston, (617) 236-0088; 11 JFK Street, Cambridge, (617) 864-0070; www.urbanoutfitters.com

• Wall Street’s Most Wanted, www.wallstreetmostwanted.com