An Evening Out With Congress
Tonight is the annual congressional correspondents' dinner hosted by the Washington Press Club Foundation. The Sleuth will be there, live tweeting the goings on and who's who, both on stage and behind the scenes.
The highlight of the dinner, or the entertainment - a word we use loosely - each year are the main speakers: one House member and one senator, from different parties, who are expected to be funny, which, as you now from watching C-SPAN, can be one heckuva challenge for the crowd on Capitol Hill.
Still, with the help of a combination of hipper staff and witty speechwriters, they usually pull it off. (With last year being an exception for one of the stand-up acts, the one who had the misfortune of following Rahm Emanuel.)
This year's chosen comedians are Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who - we have witnessed - can do funny, and the relatively unknown Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who's just a month into his second term.
Can McCarthy do funny? "I hope so," McCarthy spokesman Nick Bouknight tells us. "The congressman hopes so, too."
Follow our live tweets on the laugh-off and decide for yourself.
By
Paul Volpe
|
February 4, 2009; 2:37 PM ET
Save & Share:
Previous: Leo Hindery, Up the Creek Without a Patron
Next: Klobuchar, a Laugh a Minute at Press Dinner
Posted by: AngryLiberal | February 5, 2009 9:05 AM | Report abuse
Look AngryLiberal, chill a little. This is one of those rubber chicken events that happen throughout the political year, journalists and polticians can actually do both, entertain and investigate.
I presume your blood pressure will go off the charts after hearing that sometime in the summer the Republican and Democratic members of Congress have an annual softball (or baseball) game and President Obama will be invited (and will probably accept) an invitation from the press corps to an annual dinner/roast?
Remember what the president hammered down on the campaign trail, you can disagree without being disagreeable.
Just a brief point.
Posted by: Kruhn1 | February 5, 2009 1:29 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
Should Senators be entertaining journalists or should they be doing their damn jobs?