The Ballad of the Shape of Things Gone By

The politics of defamation
    My party honed, perfected,
And we know how to sow sensation
    To get a man elected.

Oh, Willie Horton, Willie, Willie,
    With skin as black as pitch,
We rode that scandal like a filly,
    That one-two, bait-and-switch.

Ah, we know how to ply the craft
    (We call it law and order,
And guns for white men—don’t be daft!
    We must protect the border.)

We had our Willie, Willie, Willie!
    And rapists coming in
From Mexico—it may sound silly
    But that is how to win!

A genuine hero, horse-face Kerry,
    We labeled an effete
And out-of-touch elitist—very
    Astute, it was a cheat!

Thank God for Willie, scary Willie
    (Though that was not his name,
But something up with, willy-nilly,
    Our PR people came!)

For fear of Willie got us in
    And once we’re in—haha!
There never is an end to spin
    Or tearing down the law.

My party has a million Willies
    We draw upon, to slander,
And so we take down an Achilles— 
    I tell you this with candor.

So long as you Americans
    Take slander as the norm,
When lies around the truth can dance
     You’ll have the perfect storm.

But it will not be Willie, Willie
    When you are dead and gone— 
From Pakistan to Piccadilly
    As traitors you’ll be known:

As traitors to the best in Man
    Which you defamed so shrilly,
The fault with you, AMERICAN,
    And not so much with Willie.