So we're sitting at home on a Monday night, the promise of our pot of almost-brewed tea the most exciting thing on the horizon, when we suddenly hear all this shouting outside.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: we live on a busy street in a busy city. Along with flautists and reggae-players and glass-breakers, there are pretty much always people shouting outside. In fact, I think I've heard more arguments than your average marriage counselor in the last year and a half we've lived here, the only difference being that at least 15% of the arguments I've heard have been between pimps and prostitutes rather than husbands and wives. Oh, how you wish I were joking.
After a few minutes the shouting still hasn't stopped and so we run to the bedroom window---we sometimes do this for sport when there's nothing good on TV: eavesdrop on other people's fights, I mean, because hey, if they're having them on the street outside our bedroom window, they're pretty much public domain at that point, don't you think?---and we see that the road has been blocked off by policemen on flashing blue motorcycles and that approximately seventy four people are standing at the side of it, yelling at other people on their cell phones.
"Want to go outside and check out what's going on?" asks Sean.
I don't even hear him because I'm already putting my shoes on.
Out on the street, the cars being held back by the policemen on motorcycles are laying on their horns in protest, and the policemen are yelling back "Just two minutes! He'll be here in two minutes!"
The crowd of onlookers has grown bigger: people on the way back from the grocery store, drinkers drawn out from the bar on the corner, busybodies like us who've been roused from their living rooms by the noise. A woman on the eighth floor of an apartment building yells something from the window; it's mostly lost in the blare of the horns and the whirl of the lights, but we manage to make out the word "president."
"Oh my god, do you think George W. Bush is coming?" I ask, aghast.
Sean pretends to retch into the shrubbery.
"Maybe it's Bill Clinton!" I crow. "Maybe Bill Clinton's going to drive past! Quick, how's my hair?"
As it happens, however, I don't even have time to apply a little lipgloss (uh, wouldn't you?) because a second later the empty street fills with a cavalcade of ten or twelve motorcycles, which come careening down the hill at top speed, slicing through the hooting and the gossiping and the yelling with a jumble of flashing red lights and growling engines, the screech of tires on asphalt.
Behind them, two police cars race to catch up, and behind them, a sleek black Mercedes carries two men in dark suits, their faces set in grim determination. "Ooh, Secret Service!" I exclaim to anyone who's listening, but it turns out that no-one's listening because we're all craning our necks to see who's inside the next car, a large silver Lexus. As it flashes past, I catch a brief glimpse of a straight-backed John McCain in the back seat, staring straight ahead at the road, eyes fixed forward as he zooms past the gawking crowds in three and a half seconds flat. He looks exactly like he does on CNN.
I'm not a McCain fan, not by any stretch of the imagination, but there is something begrudgingly thrilling about having a nominee for the most exciting election in years whizz past your apartment on a foggy Monday night. I wonder what John McCain saw as he raced through the streets of San Francisco, cucooned by cops and bodyguards, on his way to his next private engagement. If only I'd had time to get a little more prepared! Because I would have made sure it was something like this:
Jul 28, 2008
Pimps and prostitutes, yes, but what about the crack whores? ;-)
Jul 28, 2008
I saw him too!! A group of people beside me booed really loudly, and we all gave him the thumbs down. He was talking on his cell phone and didn't look at us. Oh well. Welcome to San Francisco, gramps.
Jul 28, 2008
What a letdown (not your well-written post, but the "star-sighting")!
Jules
House of Jules
Jul 29, 2008
The french fry guy?
xoxo, SG
Jul 29, 2008
Even if it's someone icky like John McCain, it's always kind of exciting to see a famous person!
Jul 29, 2008
Seems a shame to have let the tea stew for so long...
Jul 29, 2008
Growing up in Washington, DC I became somewhat used to seeing politicos- but your story is hilarious. I would have done the same thing. I also would have regretted not having an Obama-themed something to display. Along with a huge smile. I love it! Hopefully a victory in November will make all this (ughhh) waiting worth it. I hope.
Jul 29, 2008
My FIL is still spouting all the "Obama is a muslim" stuff that he hears around here (Texas) but considers himself a huge hippie, so while I was in town I happened down to Haight Ashbury and took a picture of all the Obama signs in the windows; I will be printing the picture and bringing it to him as evidence that his hippie brethren are backing Obama :)
Jul 29, 2008
I saw Bill Clinton and his motorcade leaving an event in NYC when I was fifteen or so. It really is exciting no matter which 'side' you're on...
Jul 29, 2008
What an awesome story and an even better ending. Have you seen this hilarious website that answers the ongoing question about Obama's religious views http://isbarackobamaamuslim.com/?
Jul 29, 2008
Holly, I LOVE the picture at the end of this post :). And Janssen, that site IS hilarious!
Jul 29, 2008
bahahahaha! Totally agree!
Jul 29, 2008
Haaa! Brilliant entry. Once, long before he was out of the running, I snuck into a Howard Dean rally where he was speaking to a bunch of well-dressed business types. I shook his hand, but I think he was a bit frightened by my companion and I, who were more of the "urban thrift store" type than the "Young Democrat's Society" type.
Jul 29, 2008
OMG. I have ALWAYS worried this would happen to me with Bush so I have planned exactly what I would say if I ever saw him.
I want my twenties back.
Jul 29, 2008
That's kind of exciting! McCain sounds like he was real thrilled to be out and about. Perked up your eveing at least!
Jul 29, 2008
I sometimes daydream about telling GWB exactly what I think of him. Yelling a few choice thoughts at the back of McCain's silver Lexus as it speeds away would have been almost as good.
Jul 29, 2008
Oh, this DID happen to me with Bush! When he was running for president, I was driving home from the movies with some friends, when all of a sudden a police car pulls in front of me in a large intersection and blocks my way. He actually told us who was coming, so we were prepared with our "BOO"-ing, but there were like 17 black cars in the motorcade and there was no way to tell which one he was hiding in. Oh well. I'm not sure I could have handled actually seeing him up close without collapsing into some sort of convulsions. And vomiting. There would have been some vomiting.
Jul 29, 2008
That was freaking priceless:)
Jul 29, 2008
Seriously, I'd rather see a pimp and prostitute fighting!
Funny ending though.
Jul 29, 2008
Excellent props if you see him again!
Jul 29, 2008
Did you catch a whiff of Polident as his Lexis zipped past you?
Jul 29, 2008
A presidental candidate rollin in foreign cars.....are you serious?
Jul 29, 2008
I once was blocked from leaving an airport because W was flying in on Airforce One, I didn't get to see him but seeing AF1 was pretty darn cool - it landed right in front of our terminal and taxied by whilst I flipped him the bird because I am mature like that.
Jul 29, 2008
I will now be officially referring to John McCain as "Gramps" whenever possible.
Jul 29, 2008
Good for you, Holly! Obama ought to use that photo for his campaign. Was McCain wearing his usual used-car-salesman cheesy grin?
Jul 29, 2008
Holly - I love those earrings! ...please say you got them at a large, national chain, preferably recently :).
Jul 29, 2008
I'm guessing those earrings are from H&M?
Jul 29, 2008
Yes and yes! H&M, five bucks or so, last week.
Jul 29, 2008
Wow! That is exciting! I live on a noisy street too but it's the kind of noisy that you watch from a dark room while peeking out from behind a curtain. My fella is terrible at this and it usually ends up in us bickering because he's a terrible hide-and-go-peeker and I'm sure he's going to blow our cover.
I so wish you had that Obama sticker at the time.
Jul 29, 2008
Camels and Chocolate so stole my comment.
When I was in college, I lived near the Bush ranch and it was big fun to drive out to the airport where they kept Air Force One when he was in town. Damn, that is a big plane.
Jul 29, 2008
i'm an Obama girl but i respect McCain. he's a good man.
Jul 29, 2008
I agree Maggie - Obama fan but McCain has his head screwed on. I guess it comes with maturity. ;)
Um, have you ever listened to Dane Cook talking about what you should do when a big event suddenly happens just outside your house? "Shoes?...shoes? F*ck shoes!!". You should listen to it. i can imagine Holly being quite similar...
Jul 29, 2008
I was so hoping you were going to see the other one...talk about a let down (although I loved the photo).
I attended a conference of sorts in Eugene OR this past April and, as luck would have it, Bill Clinton chose the same hotel to stay in whilst out stumping for Hillary.
My travel buddy made me get out of bed to go see him give a bit of a town hall talk in the hotel lobby.
My thoughts on it?
Seeing Bill Clinton wasn't nearly as exciting as the time I saw the Queen and even THAT wasn't terribly exciting...
I wonder if there's a bumper sticker for that?
Jul 30, 2008
I met McCain when I was pregnant with my son, he shook my hand, asked about the baby, all that jazz... so I thought I was a fan until he became a candidate, 14 years later.
There's absolutely no point to this story other than to feel smart by sharing it.
I had to laugh at the image of you holding that sticker with a sweet smile as his motorcade zooms past. haha! Good stuff.
Jul 30, 2008
Ha! That is awesome! Obama was in my town for a rally before he wrapped up the nomination and I had to work, so I wasn't able to go. I was bummed.
The closest I ever got to a president/possible president was when our current idiot in chief was inaugurated in 2001. A bunch of kids from my college and I drove all the way to Washington from Kalamazoo, MI to protest at his inaguration. We saw him as he drove down the street to the White House and I don't think he even cared about the thousands of protesters there. However, we did seem to have the most prescient home made t-shirts there, though. They said, "Democracy Sold". Too bad we weren't aware then of just how bad things would get. Maybe we would've been louder or something.
Jul 31, 2008
Oh! Last Friday afternoon in Houston, we were attempting to get out of town for a mini weekend in Galveston; and EVERY possible route out of town was closed off. We could not get to Highway 45 to save our lives. Cops were everywhere, blocking everything, not helping anyone. We also thought that it had to be the president. For whom else would they close off 45 during Friday rush-hour?!
We finally got on 45 from the (way) south side of town; and as we passed Ellington Airfield, we saw Airforce One taking off.
Aug 01, 2008
I would have gone for the bushes, too! It would have prevented holding a sticker like you would have though, making my movements somewhat counterproductive. :)
Aug 04, 2008
Y-E-S!!! I love it! My car/front yard/dog all have Obama stickers/banners/collars (yes, collars) on. I wish that you could vote!
Aug 05, 2008
I had a very similar John McCain sighting right before I moved from Charleston. I was driving down Rutledge St. and he was standing outside of that synagogue right by Ashley Hall School. It was just him and a few guys in suits posing for pictures. Nothing as grand as your sighting with the cops and the spectators and such. I hate him, but I was still shocked and excited to see him standing on the side of the road.
Aug 17, 2008
I got to shake Barack Obama's hand on 4th of July in Butte, Montana. I took two photos with my camera phone (my digital had just died) and they are located on my flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonkrood/2637511058/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonkrood/2636563169/
It was AWESOME.