FAMOUS FOR DC

Sort of long ago (three years?) and not so far away (maybe a dozen blocks south of here) I approached Jonah Goldberg (mentioned in this post, which was supposed to come right before this one -- oh well) at an event to honor conservative college journalists (we picked up at least two awards) and told him he looked even fatter in person than he said he was. This, because he'd written several times that fans would come up to him and similar events and tell him: 'Hey, you're not so fat.' So this was my attempt at originality. He chuckled, but I doubt he was all that pleased. And surely other half-in-the-bag college students had said the same thing to him before at other such events.

Anyway, enough with the trip down memory lane. That path has long grown over with weeds; allow me to look back on one more recently traveled:

The other night I was at the terrace-equipped Morton's on Connecticut at a reception to honor Weekly Standard reporter Steve Hayes, whose book "The Connection" is just out. The booze was free but alas the book was not. So I have not read it -- but I'm reasonably certain all the basic points are covered right here.

Of all people Goldberg was at the event, and though I didn't talk to him this time, I did almost spill my glass of wine all over his suit. Truly a missed opportunity.

I also managed to snag ten minutes of Christopher Hitchens' time, which made my day, week, month and year-to-date. First off I asked about his Slate essay on Ronald Reagan -- couldn't his kind of complaints about Reagan be applied to Bush, whom Hitch supports? Yet the last paragraph seemed incongruous -- it seemed to praise Reagan for getting communism right -- Hitch nodded and said he was having some fun with the "liberal intelligentsia." (Note: Having met him means I can use that nickname with authority. Or something.)

On the downside, he seemed a bit nonplussed when I told him that it seemed to me his "Fighting Words" column didn't get as high a billing as, say, Fred Kaplan's highly pessimistic Iraq writing. Not actually reading Slate much himself, I'm afraid I sowed a bit of discontent. Oh, who am I kidding? I hope he reads Jacob Weisberg the riot act.

Frankly, I was just pleased with myself for holding my own with him for that long, and he seemed pleased that I had actually read "Why Orwell Matters." And I concluded by mentioning a bit of shared knowledge about a "senior administration official" with a nearly obscene penchant for [REDACTED]. Oh, all right. For a certain condiment. Sorry, but I first heard this from [REDACTED]. Hitch concurred -- this was very weird.

I also talked to Standard writer Matt Labash, who seemed pleased to hear he was a favorite of a few liberal journo-politicos I know. This may have partly influenced him to buy a round of drinks for those of us present. Then again, he was under the influence at the time. But hey, so were we all. And even though he wasn't present at that moment, so was Hitch. Especially Hitch.

Other famous-for-DC folks in attendance were current and former Standardites Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, Tucker Carlson, plus a few notables from this newsmagazine or that, not to mention the former deputy mayor of Washington. Unfortunately, I neither spilled drinks on them, nor did we engage in political debate. And that was probably all for the better, because my most impressive achievement of the night was knowing -- and it's a skill it took me too long to develop -- when enough was enough.

My last great achievement of the evening was not falling asleep on the Metro system and waking up in Prince George's County, Maryland.

No no, don't congratulate me.

---

posted by WWB at 9:59 PM |