Showdown At The Tempe Corral
[With apologies to Sir Walter Scott.]
Oh! young Dubya Bush is come out of the west,
Through all the Lone Star State his spin was the best;
And with his connections mere votes he could shun.
Though second in ballots, the Court said he won.
So saved from his sin, and so former a lush,
There never was Prez like the young Dubya Bush.
He paused not for U.N. and stopped not for Pope,
He bombed the Euphrates and made leftists mope,
But ere he wore flight suit to his third debate
The people were misled, the hero came late:
For a tosser of medals and spewer of mush
Was seducing the voters from young Dubya Bush.
Yet so boldly he entered the ASU hall,
Past liberals, and leftists, and pundits, and all,
That the rich Ketchup Consort did quiver and twitch.
Then spoke up Bob Schieffer, his hand on the switch.
“Oh! the polls show you losing”, his voice it did gush,
“Is this your last hurrah, young President Bush?”
“You sought to unseat me, with counterfeit proof
Of something you all knew was really the truth.
You might have done damage, but reached much too far,
And if I’m not able to shake off that scar,
Well, I may start a radio talk show like Rush.
Many folk would call into ex-President Bush.”
He smiled when John said “You sent jobs overseas.”
He grinned when John mentioned “increased PCBs”.
And “unfunded mandates” made George laugh out loud,
Till whispers of “drunk!” did begin in the crowd.
Smelling blood, JFK made a last strident push,
Shouting “You are a failure, young President Bush!”
As pundits were drooling upon George’s loss,
Sure now he could never spin gold from his dross,
He spoke to the viewers, looked straight in their eyes,
And then he announced — The October Surprise.
Cross the stage his sneer meant “Shove that up your tush”.
Election was certain for young Dubya Bush.
[The fibreglass white knight was by Graham Ibbeson.]
October 8th, 2004 at 8:54 am
Your ode to the Boy Prince
filled me with glee
till the October surprise;
Oh what could that be?
Osama’s head, sliced off at the neck?
Unemployment down, with gas prices in check?
Cheney converted to the Gospel of Truth?
Real vote totals from a Diebold booth?
Judith Miller indicted to prove she’s no shill?
Please tell me, what surprise should cause me to thrill.
A ceasefire with Sadr, who killed all our boys?
Fresh Abu Ghraib videos? Beheadings? Collateral kills?
I feel pity for freepers and dittohead wankers
who reach past sanity like Stepford gangplankers
shredding their dignity on crooks and deceivers.
Martyring their cred like true believers.
Hoping beyond hope for an October surprise
that still might save them from the tsunami of lies.
Why do they worry so? Do they forget?
One red alert can save their asses yet.
October 8th, 2004 at 10:43 am
You are a Poetic Goddess of the Blogsphere (a term skippy did not coin)!
October 8th, 2004 at 4:29 pm
“like Stepford gangplankers”? Backwards reels the mind over the legions of possibilities in that phrase!! I want the movie rights!!
October 25th, 2004 at 9:49 am
New York Times: October 11, 2004
“Voting Our Conscience, Not Our Religion”
By MARK W. ROCHE
Dean of College of Arts and Letters
University of Notre Dame
South Bend, Indiana USA
For more than a century, from the wave of immigrants in the 19th century
to the election of the first Catholic president (John F Kennedy) in 1960,
American Catholics have overwhelmingly identified with the Democratic Party.
In the past few decades, however, that allegiance has largely faded.
Now Catholics are prototypical “swing voters”.
In the year 2000 general election, they split almost evenly between
Al Gore and George W. Bush, and recent polls show Mr. Bush ahead of
Senator John Kerry, himself a Catholic, among white Catholics.
There are compelling reasons - cultural, socioeconomic and political-
for this shift.
But, if Catholic voters honestly examine the issues of consequence
in this election, they may find themselves returning to their
Democratic roots in 2004.
Both political parties appeal to Catholics in different ways.
The Republican Party opposes abortion and the destruction of blastocysts
for stem-cell research, both positions in accord with Catholic doctrine.
Also, Republican support of various faith-based initiatives,
including school vouchers, tends to resonate with Catholic voters.
Members of the Democratic Party, meanwhile, are more likely to criticize
the handling