Comic Relief

Inside the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner, The Week's Opinion Awards and Buckley's Boomsday party

BY JANET DONOVAN

Stranger than fiction
Watching Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove morph into a "rock star" may have been more than guests bargained for at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner. But all was in keeping with the event's traditionally lighthearted program, which included an unrehearsed dance version of "The MC (Rove) Rock" with backup performer NBC's David Gregory, which amused guests. It was short-lived though ... a spontaneous and unscripted skit prompted head scratching when entertainers asked Rove what he did for fun, and he responded: "I like to go home and get a drink, generally the non-alcoholic type since I don't drink, and then tear the tops off of small animals." A good reason not to improvise.

G.W. - er ... President Bush - fared better at stand-up. "I'd like to thank the Radio and TV Correspondents Association for providing dinner tonight, and I'd like to thank Sen. Webb for providing security." (Virginia Sen. Jim Webb's aide, of course, was recently taken into custody for bringing a handgun into the Russell Senate Office Building in a briefcase allegedly belonging to the Senator.) "A year ago my approval rating was in the 30's, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had shot someone. Ah, those were the good old days," Bush said. On life after offi ce? Write a book. "I'm thinking of something really fun and creative, maybe a pop-up book," Dubya quipped. Most visible guest: Geraldo Rivera showing off his young bride and chatting with Fran Drescher.

Late night cheer
There should have been a warning label on the exclusive CNN Radio and Television Correspondents' after party invite: "Stiletto enthusiasts beware." Navigating The Russia House took some skill, but the vodka bar and caviar and blini stations were worth the peril. The upstairs/ downstairs, Fellini-esque atmosphere encouraged friends to gather in clusters (CNN's David Borman, Lou Dobbs, Jon Klein, Wolf Blitzer and former CNN host Frank Sesno), the better to observe other clusters, many of whom were overheard critiquing Rove's performance. Media Bistro's Patrick Gavin followed up with a poll: Laughing with him or at him? The latter won 75 percent to 25. Best place to meet and greet: the entrance, where smokers convened and chatted with latecomers Chris and Kathleen Matthews.

A-Listers speak out
Ricky Nelson would have loved the garden party at The Four Seasons that proceeded The Week's Opinion Awards dinner, where several hundred margarita-prone guests gathered before honoring columnist Michael Kinsley, editorial cartoonist Chip Bok and bloggers of the year Joshua Fruhlinger and Michael J. Totten. At dinner, Walter Isaacson introduced Ben Bradlee, whose opening remarks were enthusiastically greeted by the mostly print media guests. ("Journalism is dying, my ass," he said. "Think of a world without newspapers; you couldn't read on the porch, you couldn't go to the john.") A rather chatty Sir Harold Evans moderated a panel on "America in the World" which included Tucker Carlson, Thomas Friedman, Jim Lehrer and Claire Shipman. Fortunately for The Week's hostess Margaret Carlson, the love-fest was broken up by periodic questions from the audience, which included Teresa Heinz Kerry. Seen: Arnaud de Borchgrave, Tony Blankley,Ted Greenberg and Robin Bronk.

Political satire at its best
For his future book, the president may want to check out the colorful jacket of Christopher Buckley's latest novel, Boomsday. The cartoonlike cover promises to tell how Buckley "hilariously envisions the nation's next great brouhahagenerational warfare between profligate Baby Boomers and younger Americans who don't want to be stuck paying the bill, and how this conflict provokes the most outlandish presidential campaign in American history." And we thought chads had the edge. The author, who divides his time between D.C. and New York, spoke briefly to a closerethanthis crowd gathered in the front room at Café Milano. Not getting stuck paying the bill by getting free autographed copies: Jimmy Symington, Ann Compton, John Fox Sullivan, Kevin Chaffee and Roxanne Roberts.

Ed Henry, Suzanne Malveaux, Elaine Quijano and Karl Rove at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner.

CNN Pentagon correspondents Jamie McIntyre (far left) and Barbara Starr (far right) with Gen. Peter Pace and Lynne Pace at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner.