On Winning the War and Losing the Alerts

deadline poet

By Calvin Trillin

This article appeared in the January 26, 2004 edition of The Nation.

January 8, 2004

We're fighting terror in Iraq, Bush says,
So we won't have to fight these guys right here.
Then why the orange alerts and canceled flights
That leave the nation shaky-legged with fear?

No matter. Voters trust the GOP
To battle terror, so the polls have said.
Is orange what Supreme Commander Rove
Believes will turn election maps all red?

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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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