The Other McCain

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

Fear & Loathing: Breakfast of Champions UPDATE: Rick Santorum Wins Iowa; Perry Will Quit and Endorse Gingrich

The National Affairs Desk at McDonald’s in Greenville, S.C., 11:10 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2012 NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. My 13-year-old son Jefferson and I got back here at 2:30 a.m, and woke up Ali Akbar, in whose hotel room we’re crashing through Saturday. The topics of discussion were (a) the Republican primary and (b) why […]

Greetings from Charleston!

CHARLESTON, S.C. Thirteen-year-old Jefferson and I were rolling leisurely south from Myrtle Beach on U.S. 17 — past pines and palmettos and live oaks draped in Spanish moss — when a black SUV passed us and I did a double take. I’d gotten just a quick glimpse at the driver as he passed, but my […]

Greetings From Myrtle Beach

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. We were somewhere between Nakina, N.C., and the South Carolina border, cruising south on Highway 905 at 70 mph when I hit the brakes. My 13-year-old son Jefferson, who had been trying to sleep in the passenger seat of the rented Toyota Corolla, sat up suddenly. “What? What is it?” “Deer,” I […]

This Vintage Pin-Up Girl Would Probably Look Better in a Santorum Sweater Vest

This post is not merely a timely reminder that you can get your own Rick Santorum sweater vest for a $100 contribution to his campaign — although it can’t hurt to remind you — but also an opportunity to rattle the tip jar as I prepare to head back out on the road. While I […]

Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Seventeen Days on the Campaign Trail

P.J. O’Rourke encounters Andrew Breitbart at the Manchester, N.H., Radisson Bar, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012 PHILADELPHIA “Wheels up” from Boston’s Logan Airport was at 1:09 p.m., and as Flight 1727 ascended from the runway, I noticed the houses that dotted the little spits of land jutting out into the bay. There were docks and piers […]

Departing from Logan: Live Free or …

“There was never enough time. Every deadline was a crisis. All around me were experienced professional journalists meeting deadlines far more frequent than mine, but I was never able to learn from their example.” – Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 BOSTON LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Pete Da Tech Guy woke […]

Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Eight Days in a Mustang Later …

“What I fear will happen is that Perry will spend several months sucking up media oxygen and burning through GOP donor cash, only to collapse early next year. This will have the effect of suffocating other conservative candidates, and thereby lead to … Romney 2012.” — Robert Stacy McCain, Aug. 9, 2011 “Stacy’s not smooth […]

Iowa Victory Lap

DES MOINES, Iowa Today I checked out of the hotel near Santorum HQ in Johnston and drove down toward the Des Moines International Airport where I checked into a cheap motel. Then I went to Taco John’s and got four tacos, a burrito, chips and salsa. On the way back to the motel, I stopped […]

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