The Other McCain

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

Will Folks: Now His Sacred Honor Compels Him to Gay-Bait … Me?

CHARLESTON, S.C. Longtime readers will perhaps need no introduction to Will Folks, the South Carolina political gossip blogger who made himself an infamous laughingstock by claiming to have had an affair with Nikki Haley. The vile human stain whom I dubbed “Deuce Bigalow, Blogger Gigolo” is now supporting Ron Paul — go figure — and when […]

Deadline Hell in South Carolina

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley spins for Mitt Romney after the CNN debate, Jan. 19, 2012 CHARLESTON, S.C. Last night was one of those deadline nightmares that occasionally occurs when I’m exhausted, trying to make sense of a complex situation with a brain numbed by fatigue. I only got about four hours sleep after my […]

Some Things Never Change

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. During tonight’s debate, Mitt Romney started talking about his father, George Romney, the former governor of Michigan who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1968 and subsequently served in Nixon’s cabinet. When I heard that, I reached into my computer bag and retrieved a book I carry with me everywhere on the campaign […]

Perry Campaign Post Mortem:
Doomed From the Start

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. Several years ago I picked up a book called The Black Box: All-New Cockpit Voice Recorder Accounts Of In-flight Accidents, which is a major reason why, whenever I travel by air, I always pray before takeoff. Because what you will learn from studying air disasters is that takeoff is the most dangerous […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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