If the shoo fits...

A reporter, expressing his mood,
Made a gesture to Bush that was rude.
Though he took it in jest,
He has been such a pest
It seems fitting, somehow, he got "shoed."

All I can say, after reviewing the video, is "What a lame duck!"

Bush Trip To Iraq Has Sole, Reporter Throws Shoes
Morining Edition, NPR, 12/15/08

It's about f**king time!

Seems al-Maliki sides with Barack
With regard to our troops in Iraq.
That for Bush and his war,
Like a pimp with his whore,
Withdrawal should be on the clock!

Iraq Wants Withdrawal Timetable In U.S. Pact
By Ernesto Londoño and Dan Eggen
The Washington Post, 7/8/08

4K? Not OK!

It’s exactly five years, 1st of May,
I recall hearing Dubbaya say
That our mission was done
With the war shortly won.
Now we’re mourning the loss of 4K.

So it isn’t the billions we pay,
Lack of victory, or the delay;
But the breach of our trust.
When a war is unjust
Even one death is never OK.

U.S. toll in Iraq reaches 4,000
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times, 3/24/08

Faulty intelligence?

His plan in Iran has a crimp
And his war in Iraq, he can't pimp.
Has Science now shown
What we always have known?
Can Bush be replaced by a chimp?




Chimps Exhibit Superior Memory, Outshining Humans
By Henry Fountain, The New York Times, 12/4/07

Won't get fooled again!

Presidential address preview

As his surge simply slows to a crawl,
Mr. Bush has learned nothing at all.
With his words rearranged,
His solution's unchanged:
He just says "military," with drawl!

Limited Pullout Is Middle Way on Iraq, Bush Will Say
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Steven Lee Myers
The New York Times, 9/13/07

Land of Libberty?

Even sans Bush's chosen commute,
We were still on a treacherous route.
Our country's been mugged
By political thugs
And the thieves have escaped with the loot!

WASHINGTON - President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term on Monday, issuing an order that commutes his sentence

read more | digg story

Soft on Crime
Editorial, The New York Times, 7/3/07

A Tony departure

The Britons have had their full share
Of Iraq and Prime Minister Blair,
So he soon will step down.
But we're left with our clown
And for respite we haven't a prayer!



House Approves Revised War Bill
Two-Part Funding Faces Veto Threat
By Jonathan Weisman, The Washington Post, 5/11/07

Britain's Blair to Step Down June 27
By Danica Kirka (AP), The Guardian, 5/11/07

Mayday! Mayday!

2003 vs 2007

This bill was a head-on collision
Meant to challenge George Bush's decision
To keep us at war.
Congress evened the score,
But have they accomplished their mission?

Bush Vetoes Iraq War Bill on Day of Political Theater
By Brian Naylor, NPR All Things Considered, 5/1/07

Self-inflicted wounds

New rules of engagement apply
Now that Congress is questioning why,
When Bush went to war,
Without bullets or gore,
That Truth was the first one to die.

Panel Hears About Falsehoods in 2 Wartime Incidents
By Michael Luo, The New York Times, 4/25/07

Maybe it's the accent

Every time that he comes to the dais
Mr. Bush uses words that dismay us.
I keep hearing his voice
Say his leadership choice
In Iraq is a man named "Betrayus!"

(with thanks to Michael Feldman for the inspiration Oh, let's be honest; I stole his joke.)

The Bush plan and the Petraeus doctrine
By Paul Reynolds, BBC News, 1/11/07

Taking the bulimia by the horns

Mr. Bush is indulging the urge
To seek a solution in "surge."
But more troops in Bagdad
Will not end the jihad
Just as sure as a binge follows purge.

Bush Works To Rally Support for Iraq 'Surge'
By Michael Abramowitz, The Washington Post , 1/9/07

Knock, knock, knocking on Robert's door

The Senate would hold no debates
Before casting our lot with the Fates.
After Donald from Hell,
What's an easier sell
Than Heaven lies just beyond Gates?

Senate Confirms Gates as Secretary of Defense
By David S. Cloud, 12/7/06

Bush's "struggle for freedom"

From another bad news cycle

Once again, George W. Bush has zeroed in, with laser-like focus, on the key element of this intricate problem:

"I'm so tired of this liberal drivel
On my war in Iraq. Let them snivel
Over how it's defined.
You'd be out of your mind
To believe that the conflict's been civil!"

And Donald Rumsfeld thought that the war was too complex for the average Joe to understand!

White House Wages War of Words Over 'Civil' Term
By Peter Baker, The Washington Post, 11/29/06

Halloween chills

How long can you bear Bush’s lies
While another American dies?
You can show at the poll
Your response to this toll:
Vote "No" on October's Surprise!

The scariest part is that it really doesn't come as much of a surprise.

DEADLY OCTOBER
By AP writer, Steven R. Hurst
San Jose Mercury News, 10/31/06

Hard to swallow

Bush claims that this study’s "not credible"
But facts aren’t so easily shed-able
Nor truth overlooked.
Since his data’s been cooked,
The bull that he’s fed us aint edible.


Counting The Iraqi Dead
By Eugene Robinson
The Washington Post, 10/13/06

More favorite things

Imagine, if you will, a bird’s-eye view of the mountains of Tora Bora in Afghanistan. The camera swoops down in a long, slow zoom, zeroing in on Mr. Bush atop one of the peaks. As the orchestra swells, we see him dancing and singing but with a quizzical look that says, "Where is all this music coming from?"

Fast forward to the Oval Office. We see the president sitting with little Katie Couric, assuring her that she will be the best anchor since Walter Cronkite if only she remains the polite, good girl and forgets about follow-up questions. Flush with embarrassment over the compliment, Katie timidly asks, "Do you wish that your administration had handled detainees and sort of the rules and - and the guidelines for the treatment of these - detainees differently?"

Bush reaches behind a brocade-trimmed curtain, pulls out a spruce-top guitar, and launches into this rendition (excuse the pun) of the Rodgers and Hammerstein favorite.

Click for the music

Black hoods on Muslims or just waterboarding
Blasting their ears with Black Sabbath recordings
Making them jump like a puppet on strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Prisoners stripped naked and in solitary
Making them shave even when they are hairy
Upping the shocks just a couple of joules
These are a few of my favorite tools

Flush Korans down
In the toilet
That’s how we stop a plot
Please don’t restrict us or then you will spoil it
And it’s really all that we’ve got.

Good cop and bad cop and sleep deprivation
Rapid-fire questions and forced isolation
CIA prisons kept hidden from view
These are some things that we still plan to do

Black hoods on Muslims or just waterboarding
Blasting their ears with Black Sabbath recordings
Making them jump like a puppet on strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Threaten dog bites
Executions
Make them stand and stand
I’ll simply remember these former solutions
And then I will feel quite grand

Bush Vows to Use All Anti-Terror Tools
President Bush Vows to Use All Tools Available
to Fight Terrorists Determined to Attack U.S.
By Jennifer Loven, ABC News, 9/7/06

War on a lie

[Now there's a scary title]

The current Iraqi morass
Raises scares that no film could surpass.
When King George gets sincere
It increases our fear
Of political snakes in the grass!

Finish What Job?
President Bush's simplistic rhetoric could be used
to justify open-ended commitment in Iraq.
The Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2006

Remembering the cost

It’s a year, and one tear can revive
All the grief for a parent deprived
Of the life of a son.
That war’s never done
For survivors of 3/25.

In Ohio, Marines' Deaths Still Felt
Joe Milicia, The Wahington Post, 8/3/06

Time will tell

Can the death of Zarqawi be bartered
For the violent acts he has chartered,
Or will the insurgency
Feel a new urgency
At having a leader thus martyred?

Al-Zarqawi Killed in U.S. Bombing in Iraq
By Patrick Quinn, The Washington Post, 6/8/06

General dissent

An Easter Parade

This week brought a new powder keg:
Six generals differed to beg
That Rumsfeld, this Easter,
Be out on his keister,
As the crack in Iraq's rotten egg.

Behind the Military Revolt
By Richard Holbrooke, The Washington Post, 4/16/06