Bye, Bayh

Whatever song is playing over the speakers here at the M&D sounds awfully similar to Bob Dylan's Tryin' to Get to Heaven from Time Out of Mind, but there are no lyrics this time around, and it is becoming more and more Celtic with each passing bar. I wish that it were Tryin', because that's a beautiful song about hopelessness and optimism, and it references both Missouri and New Orleans. Most people might say Texas or California, but I think that Missouri and New Orleans are the two most visceral US locations out there. I have no personal basis for this claim, and I think that is why I feel the need to make it.

My favorite editorial columnist, the smug and biting Frank Rich, wrote a particularly insightful article today about the possible pitfalls of GOP moves to the right socially when the rest of the country appears to be headed in the opposite direction. In it, he calls out John McCain for his blunder on ABC's "This Week":
"Are you against civil unions for gay couples?” he asked the senator, who replied, “No, I’m not.” When Mr. Stephanopoulos reiterated the question seconds later — “So you’re for civil unions?” — Mr. McCain answered, “No.” In other words, he was not against civil unions before he was against them.
Now that is leadership.

On the same side, Newt Gingrich has announced that he will be sitting on the sidelines until the fall, leaving the frontrunners to duke it out through the summer and hoping that his late splash will prove beneficial to his campaign. In the meantime he called today's social challenges, presumably gays, God, and guns, "greater than any since 1861," and is touting his new slogan "Real Change requires Real Change." Hey, we here at 3Q approve of that motto because, hey, let's start with the obvious. As for likening same-sex marriage to slavery, we might be getting ahead of ourselves a little bit.

Getting back to the title of the post, Sen. Evan Bayh has changed his mind after years of preparation and decided to end his courtship of the Democratic nomination. Every article about this says the same thing, how everyone is shocked to hear the news. Well, I am, too. Not to mention disappointed. From what I could gather he seemed to lack charisma, but I was nevertheless interested to hear what he had to offer, especially in contrast to the Big 2. Indiana, the Crossroads of America, has lost it's hope for the big stage.

The warm winter is continuing here in Quabbin Qountry, which made for a great run this afternoon. Yesterday as I was running toward Knight Pond I was flagged down by one of the local residents asking me if I had seen any xmas tree poachers on her property. I hadn't, but I used the opportunity to ask the woman if she would allow me to run on her property, which was dotted on either side of her house for a few hundred meters with dozens of No Trespassing signs. She obliged my request, saying that the signs were only there to deter ATV riders who illegally and dangerously romped through her woods on a regular basis, destroying trails and annoying anyone in earshot all the while. Today I took her up on her offer, and set off into the trails, which are wider than singletrack, and not too rugged. Ideal for running with a small group of people. I anxiously await the days that I can show them off to my cohorts, from the early pine forests to the rickety marsh bridges, and through to the clearcuts that remind me of my childhood days in Oak Harbor.

It has been a long and trying weekend here at QQHQ, time to go home, rustle up some grub and read until I fall asleep. Should only take about ten minutes.

Early on the campaign trail,

BTB