The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Some Stranger in San Francisco Now Has Tucker Carlson’s Cell-Phone Number

Posted on | January 11, 2010 | 22 Comments

Also, the personal numbers of Tom Wolfe, Bob Barr and Hunter S. Thompson’s widow, Anita, which were in the phone I accidentally left in the SF international airport Saturday during a long layover en route home from California. So if any of my good friends receive harassing phone calls in the next few days, please contact the FBI. Speaking of my good friends:

Finally, one of the several sofas I crashed during the California trip was at the Burbank home of Valley of the Shadow who compares me to the Bill Murray version of Hunter S. Thompson in Where The Buffalo Roam:

Mock him at your peril. Driving from Costa Mesa to Griffith Park by way of the Sepulveda pass, I saw Smitty and RS write a post on the road. . . .

Actually, JSF didn’t see Smitty, except perhaps in one of those weird hallucinatory dreams. (Most of my dreams like that involve Natalie Portman, and/or Christina Hendricks, but if  JSF’s dreaming about Smitty . . . well, NTTAWWT.) What JSF actually saw was me dictating a blog post about the Crimson Tide’s homeward departure, after a technical glitch trashed most of what I’d written at a Starbucks in Costa Mesa.

JSF is a wonderful guy who, like 95 percent of America, drives too damned slow. This didn’t bother me much except Friday afternoon when we were trying to get down to Costa Mesa and then back up to Griffith Park before sundown. Being born with the hillbilly NASCAR gene, my natural tendency is to drive like Bo Duke with Enos and Boss Hogg in hot pursuit.

Chris Cassone had invited me for dinner at his girlfriend’s home in the Hollywood hills, and the thought of being trapped in L.A.’s notorious rush-hour gridlock was heavy on my mind as the clock ticked close to 4 p.m. in Costa Mesa and I finally abandoned any hope of finishing that blog post at Starbucks. As we left Orange County, I expected JSF to be driving the way I’d be driving under those circumstances — namely, with a desperate and reckless haste. Not to perpetuate any stereotypes, but the neutral objective facts are that (a) JSF is originally from Manhattan, and (b) no Manhattan native has ever won at Talladega.

Despite his genetic deficiencies in automotive prowess, JSF managed to improvise a relatively gridlock-free route via the 410 and various surface streets so that we crossed pass on Sepulvada Boulevard and thus made it from Costa Mesa to Griffith Park in less than three hours. Not bad for a non-hillbilly, so you should visit Valley of the Shadow blog and remember JSF in your prayers.

As for me, I’m doing OK in the prayer department — Mrs. Other McCain prays enough for both of us — and mainly need you to hit the tip jar so I can get up to Massachusetts this week.

Comments

22 Responses to “Some Stranger in San Francisco Now Has Tucker Carlson’s Cell-Phone Number”

  1. uberVU - social comments
    January 11th, 2010 @ 5:56 am

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by rsmccain: Some Stranger in San Francisco Now Has @TuckerCarlson’s Cell-Phone Number http://bit.ly/8VIFVc #teaparty [] PLZ ReTweet…

  2. LIttle Miss Attila
    January 11th, 2010 @ 11:37 am

    So it’s a BETRAYAL not to want to drive all the way down to Redondo Beach to see you when I know you’ll be at CPAC anyway?

    Don’t be silly–I even blogged about that kid you wanted me to mention in terms of her reporting instincts.

    And you were very close by, but never visited here.

  3. LIttle Miss Attila
    January 11th, 2010 @ 6:37 am

    So it’s a BETRAYAL not to want to drive all the way down to Redondo Beach to see you when I know you’ll be at CPAC anyway?

    Don’t be silly–I even blogged about that kid you wanted me to mention in terms of her reporting instincts.

    And you were very close by, but never visited here.

  4. Robert Stacy McCain
    January 11th, 2010 @ 11:43 am

    Expecting me, in the midst of intensive gonzo journalism, to put aside everything and come visit you?

    Just like a woman . . .

  5. Robert Stacy McCain
    January 11th, 2010 @ 6:43 am

    Expecting me, in the midst of intensive gonzo journalism, to put aside everything and come visit you?

    Just like a woman . . .

  6. JT
    January 11th, 2010 @ 12:32 pm

    Slag away as you see fit.

  7. JT
    January 11th, 2010 @ 7:32 am

    Slag away as you see fit.

  8. Robert Stacy McCain
    January 11th, 2010 @ 12:40 pm

    Sorry, JT, you’ll have to provoke me more than that. I’m resolved not to slag. But the effect — much like nicotine withdrawal on a transcontinental flight — is to make me intensely irritiable, which means that David Brooks is likely to get a very vicious fisking in the near future.

  9. Robert Stacy McCain
    January 11th, 2010 @ 7:40 am

    Sorry, JT, you’ll have to provoke me more than that. I’m resolved not to slag. But the effect — much like nicotine withdrawal on a transcontinental flight — is to make me intensely irritiable, which means that David Brooks is likely to get a very vicious fisking in the near future.

  10. JT
    January 11th, 2010 @ 3:19 pm

    Ah. Well, constructive criticism is always welcome!

  11. JT
    January 11th, 2010 @ 10:19 am

    Ah. Well, constructive criticism is always welcome!

  12. Patrick
    January 11th, 2010 @ 6:44 pm

    Welcome home sir. 😀

  13. Patrick
    January 11th, 2010 @ 1:44 pm

    Welcome home sir. 😀

  14. Bob Belvedere
    January 11th, 2010 @ 4:29 pm

    Stacy: Nicorette…it’s great…I’ve been chewing it since I was forced to give up coffin nails on 21 July 2001 @ 0011 hours. I knew Nicorette was great when it got me through 11 September 2001.

  15. Bob Belvedere
    January 11th, 2010 @ 9:29 pm

    Stacy: Nicorette…it’s great…I’ve been chewing it since I was forced to give up coffin nails on 21 July 2001 @ 0011 hours. I knew Nicorette was great when it got me through 11 September 2001.

  16. Bob Belvedere
    January 12th, 2010 @ 12:30 am
  17. Bob Belvedere
    January 11th, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
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    January 12th, 2010 @ 5:32 pm

    For those of you under a rock……

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