tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3709087743016851805.post3532846795776649447..comments2010-01-12T16:12:27.996-06:00Jake Parrillonoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3709087743016851805.post-58979885616726279572008-04-28T18:03:35.000-05:002008-04-28T18:03:35.000-05:00I always got the feeling that once he was in retirement and out of the Washington limelight, Eugene McCarthy was seeking opportunities to be recognized publicly and to convince himself that he was still relevant. I remember that he would occasionally endorse a program or write a brief introduction to a book on topics that he would never have deigned to discuss earlier in his career.<br><br>As your posts have detailed McCarthy&#39;s rise and fall, I cannot help but recall the comment concerning Lord Randolph Churchill (father of the prime minister) who resigned his post as Chancellor the Exchequer: &quot;He has thrown himself from the top of the ladder&quot; and he would not regain the position again. McCarthy&#39;s indifference to his own candidacy in the closing weeks of 1968 seems inexplicable. He wasted his opportunity by visiting with a drunken poet. His petty decision to delay his endorsement of Humphrey aided Nixon.Dan Kelleynoreply@blogger.com