I went to the John Kerry rally this morning where he announced his running mate. I assume everyone has heard that it's John Edwards by now. Perhaps the slogan can be "It's time for America to go to the John."

Also, toward the end of his speech, Kerry quoted Langston Hughes' poem "Let America be America Again" at length. If that is the message of Edwards, what poem describes Dick Cheney? I'm open to suggestions, but tentatively I'm going with another Hughes poem, "Fire." It goes like this:

Fire,
Fire, Lord!
Fire gonna burn ma soul!

I ain't been good,
I ain't been clean --
I been stinkin', low-down, mean.

Fire,
Fire, Lord!
Fire gonna burn ma soul!

Tell me, brother,
Do you believe
If you wanta go to heaben
Got to moan an' grieve?

Fire!
Fire, Lord!
Fire gonna burn ma soul!

I been stealin',
Been tellin' lies,
Had more women
Than Pharoah had wives.

Fire!
Fire, Lord!
I means Fire, Lord!
Fire gonna burn ma soul!