Political Poetry

“Two more dead
A pistol that fears nothing
Bring them down slowly
It's a policy of killing
Cracking the silence
An end to the talking
Bringing forth violence
In the name of God
Both sides worship
Yet remain at odds
A system of oppression
Holding them down
One corrupt government
One bullet to the head”

“No thread should die without a second post...”

“Poetry is a funny thing. Remember what Ezra Pound said...

"Publishing a book of poetry in the US is like throwing a rose petal into the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo."”

“Amen Tilt, amen!
Poets come cheap
Political poetry
Is like rhetoric
Spewed from stumps
Floating forever
Riding the winds
Disarticulated”

“Rendell and Fisher
Trial lawyers
Insurance moguls
They call that a choice?”

“Tossing around orthopedic terms now, are we?

<G>”

“There once were commissioner candidates”

“And?????????”

“Billy Penn looks down
On blowing trash and black soot
Penn's greene country towne?”

“Wrong thread!”

“Liberal Jello

Severe jello!
Social Security tastes like conservative tax cuts.
Congress has affairs with voluptuous trade embargos.
My fellow Americans!

The Justice Department spews forth purple bananas.
Can you believe Hillary Clinton gives speeches on unconstitutional socialist health care?
Saddam Hussein wants to impeach the Religious Right's rapture.
There he goes again!”

“OOOOPS!!! (that's called "a post too soon")

I sent out the questionaire form
To the candidates (ya know, it's the norm)
They pissed and they moaned
They called on the phone
For whiners, they made it a quorum.

(and I see what I'll be doing this weekend, DUE FRICKIN' MONDAY! I have to talk to one of them on the phone at 5:30 p.m. today. JUST FILL OUT THE FRICKIN' FORM I SENT!!! DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!!)”

“Funny. When I was working on a daily in Virginia, they trooped into the newsroom with hats in hand looking for interviews. Working here in Philly, we have to hunt them down. Whoever heard of investigative election stories?

"I'm running for mayor, but that's off the record!"”

“Yeah, Geobeet. I sent out a questionaire with 9 questions (first two just on family stuff; last one, "is there anything else you'd like to address?").

Told them to get it back YESTERDAY. One guy says, gosh, I didn't answer much on the zoning question cuz I don't know much about it. I'd have to read up on it.

DUH, YOU'RE A COMMISSIONER CANDIDATE, MAYBE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THAT!!! Get reading!!!”

“I'd just publish his response as he wrote it, perhaps in 14-point boldface caps below his picture.

That is a classic Lizs, a true classic.”

“Rendell and Fisher
Dumb and dumber
Tweedledum and
Tweedle-very-dum
I think I'll vote
For Violin's foot”

“My left foot is running

And it is very tiring

My feet are smelling and my nose is running.

Oh no! What’s that in my pack?”

“Violin's pack contains the essence
Of the campaign's rhetoric
No more; no less
The message gags me”

“I don`t care much for Polly and her ticks
different faces, but the same old tricks
basket cases, drawn faces, life`s blood, slinging all of that mud
different faces, same old hard cases, Elmer Fudd, same old crud
dired up old jollies, suckers of lollies, each wanting their licks, used up old pricks”

“Sweaty sheister in expensive suit, put my needs before your greed?
Bald-headed man, o corporate criminal,
can you at least ask your buddies to lay off the forests?
O simian one, any chance the bill of rights
is good for something other than toilet paper?

No?”

“I try not to vote for anyone who can't turn in their homework on time!!!

LOLOL”

“I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician
(Roger McGuinn and Jacques Levy)

I want to grow up to be a politician
And take over this beautiful land
I want to grow up to be a politician
And be the old U.S. of A.'s number one man

I'll always be tough but I'll never be scary
I want to shoot guns or butter my bread
I'll work in the towns or conservate the prairies
And you can believe the future's ahead

I'll give the young the right to vote as soon as they mature
But spare the rod and spoil the child to help them feel secure
And if I win election day I might give you a job
I'll sign a bill to help the poor to show I'm not a snob

I'll open my door I'm charging no admission
And you can be sure I'll give you my hand
I want to grow up to be a politician
And take over this beautiful land

(Instrumental - Brass Band)

I'll make you glad you got me in with everything I do
And I'll defend until the end the old red white and blue
I want to grow up to be a politician
And take over this beautiful land
And take over this beautiful land
And take over this beautiful land

© BMI”

“"LISTEN TO ME, YOU HICKS!"

Willie Stark
All The King's Men
Robert Penn Warren”

“I Can't Appear Without My Nanny Dick

by Calvin Trillin

(George W. Bush explains the interview arrangements he's made with the 9/11 Commission)

When called upon to testify
I said I was a busy guy
So maybe we could do it on the phone.
They really want a face to face.
I said, OK, if that's the case,
I'm certainly not doing it alone.

I can't appear without my Nanny Dick.
For Nanny Dick I've got a serious jones.
I can't appear without my Nanny Dick.
I love the way he cocks his head and drones.

Cartoonists show me as a dummy,*
With voice by Cheney (or by Rummy).
I am the butt of every late-night satirist.
But I just can't go solitaire.
I need the help that's due an heir.
I need a dad, and dad's a multilateralist.

I can't appear without my Nanny Dick.
He brings along a gravitas I lack.
I can't appear without my Nanny Dick-
The one who knows why we attacked Iraq.

Yes, Condi Rice is quite precise
With foreign policy advice
On who's Afghani and who's Pakistani.
I like to have her near in case
I just can't place some foreign face,
But Condoleezza Rice is not my nanny.

I can't appear without my Nanny Dick.
I wouldn't know which facts I should convey.
I can't appear without my Nanny Dick.
It's Nanny Dick who tells me what to say.

_{* Though Charlie McCarthy's the dummy
Whose name has been most often heard,
Some folks who remember that act say
I'm closer to Mortimer Snerd.}


www.thenation.com”

“George W. Bush, Who
Says He's a Man With
a Lot of Political
Capital, Finds That
He Has No Liquidity

Calvin Trillin

He's lost support and stirred up people's fears
With plans to fiddle with their golden years.
Iraq's a mess, and, everyone agrees,
Schiavo exploitation failed to please
The folks who thought our way of life forebore us
From meddling in other people's tsoris.
With gas too dear to start a truck up,
His only answer is some Saudi suck-up.
DeLay, it's clear, is wallowing in graft,
And Bolton seems at least a little daft.
(Forgiveness, Khrushchev, surely is your due
If our guy starts to rant and pound his shoe.)
So Bush's numbers tumble toward the floor,
Reminding us of what we've seen before.
But why is that? Why does this path seem trodden?
Remember what Bush was before bin Laden.
last edited: 5/10/05 7:15:40 AM”

“Congressman John D. Dingell (MI-15) recited the following poem on the floor of the US House of Representatives:


Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House
No bills were passed ‘bout which Fox News could grouse;
Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,
So vacations in St. Barts soon would be near;

Katrina kids were nestled all snug in motel beds,
While visions of school and home danced in their heads;
In Iraq our soldiers needed supplies and a plan,
Plus nuclear weapons were being built in Iran;

Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell;
Americans feared we were on a fast track to…well…
Wait--- we need a distraction--- something divisive and wily;
A fabrication straight from the mouth of O’Reilly

We can pretend that Christmas is under attack
Hold a vote to save it--- then pat ourselves on the back;
Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger
Wake up Congress, they’re in no danger!

This time of year we see Christmas every where we go,
From churches, to homes, to schools, and yes…even Costco;
What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy,
When this is the season to unite us with joy

At Christmas time we’re taught to unite,
We don’t need a made-up reason to fight
So on O’Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter, and those right wing blogs;
You should just sit back, relax…have a few egg nogs!

‘Tis the holiday season: enjoy it a pinch
With all our real problems, do we honestly need another Grinch?

So to my friends and my colleagues I say with delight,
A merry Christmas to all,
and to Bill O’Reilly…Happy Holidays.



http://www.democrats.house.gov/news/librarydetail.cfm?library_content_id=590”