ad hominem attacks universally recognized as bad

Yet, peculiarly, James Chancellor's middle name continues to, or at least appears to remain:

As-hole.

Rumors that Chancellor is considering a middle-name change to ASSHAT, are as yet, unsubstantiated.

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Wikipedia definition of Asshat:

Asshat is a slightly more trendy and less severe variation of asshole, graphically describing someone who has his "head up his ass" (i.e., not knowing what's going on), or a variation of "butthead." In the former sense, it is suggested that one is "wearing one's ass for a hat", or alternately, "a hat for one's ass." A more modern usage of asshat describes a person doing something stupid, and can apply to anyone: "the boss is up to asshattery because he broke the computer even though he knew he was doing the wrong thing."