On the Possibility That Pat Buchanan Will Run as a Third-Party Candidate

Deadline Poet

By Calvin Trillin

This article appeared in the September 27, 1999 edition of The Nation.

September 9, 1999

Buchanan hints he's leaving.
The GOP says, "Stay!"
They fear that he'd be draining
The wacko vote away.

» More

To win they're going mainstream.
The big tent's been OK'd.
They speak of other issues,
Forgetting Roe v. Wade.

But folks who hate what's foreign
And like their neighbors white
Are vital to the party
In any race that's tight.

And therefore all the leaders
Say, "Pat, let's not lose touch.
We want you in the party,
Just please don't say too much."

About Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin is The Nation's "deadline poet." He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1963 and has written the syndicated weekly column "Uncivil Liberties" since 1986. He has authored many, many books, including Tepper's Not Going Out and Deadline Poet: My Life as a Doggerelist. more...
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