So I get an email at 2:41 this afternoon from “frighteningly talented ‘Good Morning America’ producer Max Culhane” asking if I was available to do a “quick taped interview in DC” about the Coulter open letter. I noted to myself that there would be nothing “quick” about anything in DC that time of the day, but nonetheless telephoned him and we chatted a bit about the letter, the convention, and related issues.
Long story short, he agreed to send a car out to my secret, undisclosed location while I changed into suitable conservative television garb (I don’t blog in my pajamas but I don’t wear a suit, either). The car was to arrive at 4.
Around 4:15, I emailed noting said car had yet to arrive. Several back and forth emails and phone calls ensued, each with promises of new arrival times from new car companies. (Apparently, the original car company didn’t actually have an available car and pawned it off on another company without telling ABC and then the other company didn’t have a car and then didn’t bother letting the first company know.)
At 5:25, after I called to say I was backing out given that it appeared this was a giant waste of time, I’m told another car company was definitely going to have a car here within 25 minutes and that I could have the car the rest of the evening to do what I wished. Figuring I’d sell the car (well, actually, just take the wife to dinner), I agreed.
At 5:59, I get another email saying the car had just gotten off I-395, and would be here soon. I emailed to inquire, “How did they think they’d get here in 25 minutes 40 minutes ago and they’re still 20 minutes away?!” and note that, “assuming they’re not lying about their location–which is an assumption I’m no longer willing to make–I’m not going to be there before 7.”
This leads to another round of telephone calls at which point it is learned that the crew has a “hard deadline” of 7 o’clock before they’re dismissed.
Culhane was very apologetic about the whole thing and this speaks more to the unreliability of DC car services than ABC News, which is at their mercy. But it makes it easy to see why Larry Sabato is on television all the time. Most people aren’t willing to put up with this kind of thing and the eager ability to subject yourself to it any time, any place for a minute or two of air time is a valuable commodity.
As a consolation prize, we were told we could use the car for the evening anyway. I’ve fed the animals and written this post and they still ain’t here.
