After our packed Dubliner event on Friday evening, some of us spent our Saturday remembering why our heads are clearer veering clear of the D.C. elite party circles: Too much white wine, dudes, doesn’t make for the best judgment. Which perhaps explains Alberto Gonzales? That’s based on nothing but the fact that he apparently showed (I didn’t run into him myself) despite Thursday (and everything else).
RICH LITTLE
He was the entertainment for the night at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
God bless him. He made the Reagan Hilton a time warp.
THE FULL TRUTH
David Letterman, who sent a top-ten for the night at the president’s expense, was the night’s actual entertainment.
TONY SNOW
God bless him.
It’s not often a (Republican) White House press secretary gets a standing ovation in a ballroom full of media and Hollywood elites.
So good to see him.
THE PRESIDENT
I thought he was unnecessarily somber. It was an awful week. But we’re also at war and he still does the joke shtick every year, at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and the Radio & TV one. Saturday night should not have been an all-out joke, but he probably should have said a few things in the spirit of the night, in good taste.
I would have preferred a few mild jokes Saturday night to him ever joking about WMDs.
Alas.
VIRGINIA TECH
The editor of the paper there spoke. As a friend said to me after, comparing her to the president, “…he really deflated the room. And if that young student from Virginia Tech can get up there and lead the ‘Go Hokies’ chant to the crowd of a few thousand, the president could have been a bit livelier.
ANOTHER REASON TO NOT LIKE HILLARY CLINTON
According to the Washington Examiner:
Sources familiar with the planning of the event tell Yeas & Nays that originally, Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were all slated to appear on stage and perform a “Three Tenors”-type musical routine. Each president would take his turn singing country-western and Elvis songs. But the idea was short-lived: One prominent Republican charged with negotiating the participation of the three tenors, er, presidents, told Yeas & Nays, “41 loved it but said he had to ask the White House. The White House loved it, and 43 loved it, but Mrs. Clinton nixed” Bill’s participation.
THE PARTY SEEN
Drop-bys at the NR pre-dinner cocktail party at the Hilton included Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, Senator Sununu, Governor and Mrs. Romney (I think that was them behind the constant swarm), the gracious Dana Perino, former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, and Fox News star Greg Gutfeld, and new movie star (he debuts at Tribeca tomorrow night!) Steve Hayward with his lovely election-law wiz wife Allison.
Rumor mill tells me that the CBS reception was a ghost-town compared to the NR one. I wasn’t at the other one though, so I just tell you what I heard.
My feeble attempts at getting Sanjaya there failed. I blame Rich, who was seen talking to him (the latter, a true story).
DEMS
Rudy (Judi-free), Huckabee, Romney, Fred were at dinner, but the only Democratic presidential candidate I personally saw at all on Saturday was Joe Biden, who was at Hardball producer Tammy Haddad’s pre-dinner brunch. Where were they all?
IF I WERE A GLOBAL-WARMING SISTA…
…I would have done it all differently. Bet all D.C. partygoers are glad I’m not.
MC ROVE RECAPS
Jim Treacher has Karl Rove rap the Crow-David run-in.
Midday Fashion Report
At the Haddad brunch: Politico’s Mike Allen wore seersucker. Kevin Madden press man wore: “Got Mitt?” cap. Morgan Fairchild, all glam. Smart women wore flats.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
While a friend was getting me a drink at the brunch, I hear, “Yes, that’s Kathryn Lopez.” The (clearly brilliant) bartender, Joe, is an NRO reader and Corner fan. I take some humble solace in the future if America’s bartenders are reading NRO. I wonder if they are. If you’re a bartender and you’re reading The Corner today, I want to hear from you. Maybe we’ll do an NRO America’s Bars Tour.