Bush & Company

The question is, who'll take the blame

For George's lethal losing game,

If his doomed war goes still more sour

While our commander's still in power

And dozens more lives have been lost

(For just which cause and at what cost?)

Will it be some Petraeus flaw

That makes us finally withdraw

Or maybe our Iraq undoing

Will be Ambassador Crocker's doing;

But maybe it's one out of three---

Petraeus? Crocker? Maliki?

He's got to scapegoat some poor sap

(Already primed to take the wrap?)

Forget that---hold onto your hats---

He could just blame the Democrats!

OR

People die, he'll say, in war,

You know we've told you that before;

Then holding up the victory sign,

He'll tell us everything is fine.

We couldn't leave for any less

Than a United States success.

See, everything has turned out great,

Because Iraq's a sovereign state!

Fabled "scribbling bachelor" James

Could have invented Valerie Plame,

Who, thrust into unasked-for fame,

Joins the roster of Jamesian names;

Though not the same as counterpart,

Well-meant but contriving Adela Chart

Or Miriam Rooth, the "tragic muse,"

(Who could have made the evening news).

Not Fanny Knocker, once so plain,

A knockout when she reached her prime,

Nor potboiler novelist Greville Fane,

Obliged to write for financial gain;

Nor Fleda Vetch, who loved in vain---

Her good intentions so humane,

Was thereby doomed from love to part

And ended with a shattered heart.

Val, pawn in an egregious plot,

A made-up character was not,

Who goes down in the annals of time,

No creature brilliantly begot

Of the storyteller's art;

Unvindicated she and who's

The victim (fated to remain?)

Of a so far, still unpunished crime.

One can't help wondering who's to blame

For tarnishing the family name.

From duty as from boyish scrapes

Young Bush enjoys countless escapes,

Because his father bails him out---

Could that be what it's all about?

In business deals nobody tops him;

Conflict of interest never stops him;

A son whose ethics ape his own---

(So early on the seeds were sown!)

Yet who by any norm exceeds

By far the patriarch's misdeeds;

A father who won't criticize

Has tears of pride still in his eyes.

How many breaches are allowed?

How can a father stay so proud?