Okay, this past Friday VDB had had just about enough out of John McCain — enough of the handholding with Bush and Falwell, the nicknames and the public hugs, enough of the elaborate pre-positioning for the 2008 Southern primaries. Enough of the threadbare myth of McCain as straight-talker.

And we posted some pretty harsh words, concluding with the sort of challenge no real man ducks. The kind of challenge that makes it clear: we were ready to take this fight out to the parking lot.

“Bring it on, Johnny Mac,” we wrote.

And then the guy circles the Rutland airfield nervously for an hour and just splits, without having the guts to land?

Coincidence? Our ass it was a coincidence.