Mistakes Were Made

Deadline Poet

By Calvin Trillin

This article appeared in the April 9, 2007 edition of The Nation.

March 22, 2007

(A Bush Administration cheer that is adaptable for conditions at Walter Reed, the firings of US Attorneys or four years of war in Iraq)

Mistakes were made, mistakes were made.
The care of our wounded received a bad grade.
The press said our soldiers were grossly betrayed.
It wasn't as bad as they claim.

Mistakes were made, mistakes were made
While purging some US Attorneys if they'd
Not done what our party politicos bade.
But no one we know was to blame.

Mistakes were made, mistakes were made.
And three thousand two hundred people have paid
The ultimate price for a hand not well played.
Our policy's more of the same.

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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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