Not What It Appears

Last night I wrote a post that would have been in this slot on my blog. After posting it and laying down to sleep I began to wrestle with regret. I began to feel dishonest and slimy for having written something so purely speculative about people I don't know. I honestly felt as if I had attacked someone.

I am sorry and I apologize. I am hopeful that because of the lateness of the hour and the short lapse between posts that few, if any persons, actually read what I wrote. (Of couse it helps that hardly anybody looks at the Central Standard.)

So, that post is gone. I started to do an update and correction on the same post and I realized, "Hey, Doofus, by doing this, the post you say you feel so bad about is still up." In other words, "Here, please read what I should never have written and now apologize for!" So, as I said, it's gone.

However, after reading this story in the light of day, I don't feel nearly so bad.

Meaty bits:
On the weekend before his State of the State address, Gov. Matt Blunt convened his campaign team for a strategic retreat at a luxury Ozarks resort just south of Branson.

Confidence filled the room. Blunt's trusted advisers discussed a fundraising goal that could have shattered the state record, developed a TV ad blitz to begin airing before spring and honed a campaign message for a competitive challenge from Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon.

Although the Republican governor never said so directly, he left little doubt: Blunt was running for re-election, and he was running to win.

So perhaps no one was more shocked than those in Blunt's inner circle when, just 10 days later, Blunt announced his exit from the race.

And:
Blunt's message, as sharpened during the meetings, would proclaim he converted a $1 billion inherited shortfall into three straight years of budget surpluses, significantly boosted education spending, presided over the creation 90,000 new jobs since he took office and transformed a broken health care system.

Finally:
"When you saw the story that could be told on an election campaign, you began to see the road map to victory very quickly," (consultant John) Hancock said. "You just looked at that message and you said, 'Yes, that's how you can get elected,' and everybody felt it."

Something happened in the few days between "Here's how we get re-elected!" and "Eh, never mind."

So let me re-state what I said last night in a way that doesn't leave me feeling like a stringer for the National Enquirer.

Gov. Blunt's somewhat less than satisfying explanation of his reasons for not seeking re-election create a vacuum which his friends and foes alike are eager to fill. I succumbed to the temptation last night. I don't believe, as some Dems have been yelling, that the governor is about to get busted. This seems kind of obvious to me, but just because I disagree with someone, I don't reflexively want them incarcerated. Anyway, I don't think it's that.

I am of the opinion that Gov. Blunt has gotten wind of another opportunity and it's just not time to say what it is.

And the silence you hear is the sound of the other shoe not dropping yet.