Blast from the Past

Every once in a while, a great voice will silence itself rather than yield to sheer popular momentum. In the case of PatRoW, I've had a busy two weeks. And the Mets crushed my hopes and dreams…or at least my plans for a weekend in Detroit.

So what did I miss?

Hey – there's an election thing going on and (fingers crossed) the Democrats haven't totally fucked things up…yet. With seemingly infinite proof that Iraq was a mistake and leadership has no plan, even military veterans and their families are on the cusp on deserting the GOP. Well at least Republicans still have the fierce loyalty of their bestest buddies, the Christian Right, right? Uh… not so much. The loss of those two groups will probably hurt more than the loss of support from high school bullies, who no doubt will be turned off by Rick Santorum coming out of the closet as a Star Trek Lord of the Rings geek.

It's not all good for the Dems. Likely presidential candidate (and perhaps only "I'm not Hillary" candidate with a chance) Mark Warner dropped out of the race to "spend more time with family". Like you, I assumed that meant an impending sex scandal…but it seems as if the former Virginia governor may simply enjoy hanging out with his wife and kids. Some wonder if Warner's exit will open the door for a figurative and literal dark horse. And a popular pollster compares a possible Democratic election victory to the life of Forrest Gump (mama always said electoral politics was like a box of chocolates).

How about the issues? Well, ladies – you better get your abortions now…that is, if you live in South Dakota. The environment is proving to be a convenient wedge issue in gubernatorial races from New York and Florida to Oregon and California. The GOP keeps trucking out its tired "stay the course v. duck and run" routine, but hey, at least Rummy's mission was clearly outlined by God. Did I just call it stay the course? Republicans never, ever said "stay the course"… except when they did.

There was an article entitled " Bill O'Reilly: not a good obstetric-health authority ", which is funny on so many levels that I couldn't even bring myself to read past the headline. But it does illustrate one more way Bill O'Reilly and I are exact opposites.

I'm back, baby! People of Norway – your hero has come home.