Dept. of fraying tempers

John McCain's brother exchanged sharp words with a police operator after calling 911 to complain about traffic.

His call, and a call back to reprimand him for an inappropriate use of the service, were recorded by City of Alexandria Police, WJLA first reported.

Here's the exchange:

Operator: 911 state your emergency Caller: It's not an emergency but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic's coming the other way? Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause) Caller: "(Expletive) you." (caller hangs up)



The operator then called back, and received this message: "Hi this is Joe McCain I can't take this message now because I'm involved in a very ... important political project... I hope on Nov. 4th we have elected John."

McCain then apparently called 911 again, to complain about the message.

You can listen to the call here (.wav): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3.

(WJLA is part of the same company as Politico.)