Valerie Plame Expected for White House Correspondents Dinner

[sabra]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002382755

Valerie Plame Expected for White House Correspondents Dinner

NEW YORK Will Valerie Plame be the talk of this year's White House Correspondents Dinner? As of yesterday she was on the list of notable non-journalist guests, such as Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback Ben Rothlisberger, slated to attend this year's White House Correspondents Dinner, according to organizers.

As in the past, attendees at the annual black-tie affair, to be held on April 29 this year, often look for a controversial visitor who might spark extended gossip around the open bar. When outsiders such as Donna Rice, Michael Moore, Fawn Hall or Ozzie Osborne were escorted to the gathering, they sometimes drew as much attention as the president during his remarks.

Plame, the former CIA operative whose outing by columnist Robert Novak sparked a U.S. Justice Department probe that has already sent one reporter to jail and brought a White House official under indictment, may take that role this year. It is unlikely she will be seated next to Novak, but perhaps Bush may have a good view of her from the dais.

Mark Smith, White House Correspondents Association president and an Associated Press reporter, declined to weigh in on what Plame's presence might bring. "That's not for me to comment," he told E&P, also declining to reveal who invited Plame. "It comes at a time when we are wrestling over a lot of different things, like access issues."

[Pithy Cherub]

1. Ms. Plame would bring class and style to the event!

Certain members of the D.C press corpse should be ashamed and beg her forgiveness as well as a certain decider strategery BS expert who leaks.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. She shouldn't lower herself to be in the same room....

...as Herr Busch.

[Quakerfriend]

3. I agree ;)- !

[BOSSHOG]

5. That is probably what

the right wing scum want her to do, stay away. I hope she shows up and steals the show. Any member of the bush administration will pale in her presence. bush does not own the press corps (okay maybe not?) and the press can invite her. I also hope she brings that rascally husband of hers.

[oldtime dfl_er]

7. Who would invite her? Helen Thomas?

That would be so outstanding. Two super classy ladies together.

http://www.cafepress.com/scarebaby/1365270

[nashville_brook]

4. cool! it'll be the headline of the event

[WhiteTara]

6. I look forward to the gossip from that night n/t

[DianaForRussFeingold]

8. Hmmm.....In the same room as Bush . Interesting..

outside of a Court Room,I don't think so..

[BigDDem]

9. Leaker-in-chief

meet the leak-ee

[Salviati]

10. Is it just repubs up there at the dinner yukking it up?

Or are there some dems that get to join in on the fun? It would be hilarious if someone repurposed the slideshow that W gave the other year "looking for WMD's" as "looking for the white house leak" "I know that leak's around here somewhere, heh heh heh.... we'll have to smoke him out of his hole... heh heh heh"

[Up2Late]

11. Awkward...

:blush: :hide:

[rodeodance]

12. regular gossip session. 175.00a plate event.

The annual event that has become a must for local news and political types is set for the Washington Hilton. While Smith declined to opine about Plame's presence, he talked up the guest host, Comedy Central "newsman" Stephen Colbert. "He lampoons us as much as the politicians," Smith said. "So it will be great."

Admitting he does not watch much television, Smith said asking Colbert was actually the suggestion of incoming WHCA president Steve Scully of C-SPAN. "It was suggested and he was agreeable," Smith said of the TV talker. "I just kind of happened in to it."

The $175-per-person dinner has also brought more demand for tickets than ever before, according to Julie Whiston, who has organized it as WHCA executive director for 10 years. She said all 261 tables with 10 guests each are sold out. In fact, some $113,000 had to be returned to those who sought tickets, up from $107,000 in refunds last year.

"Regular members are allowed to request up to eight tables, associate members may request up to three," she said. "I choose who gets them with the president of the association and we take care of the board members' organizations first, then the regular members who participate in the travel pool, and then the associate members."

[Divernan]

13. W won't be able to look her in the eye, same as when he "visits" amputees

Have never forgotten the story from the woman who was at her son's bedside at -I think it was Walter Reed - the kid was a double amputee, and Bush came in to visit some vets. The mom said she never took her eyes off bush's face the whole time he stood at her son's bedside, and not once did he have the balls to look at her, let alone speak to her.

[flamingyouth]

14. kick

[TacticalPeek]

15. Valerie Plame To Attend White House Correspondents Dinner

Valerie Plame To Attend White House Correspondents Dinner

By Joe Strupp

Published: April 19, 2006 1:30 PM ET

NEW YORK Will Valerie Plame be the talk of this year's White House Correspondents Dinner? E&P has confirmed that she is slated to attend this year's gala, along with her husband Joseph Wilson and several other notable non-journalist guests, such as Alex Trebek and Ben Rothlisberger, according to organizers.

As in the past, attendees at the annual black-tie affair, to be held on April 29 this year, often look for a controversial visitor who might spark extended gossip around the open bar. When outsiders such as Donna Rice, Michael Moore, Fawn Hall or Ozzie Osborne were escorted to the gathering, they sometimes drew nearly as much attention as the president during his remarks.

Plame, the former CIA operative whose outing by columnist Robert Novak sparked a U.S. Justice Department probe that has already sent one reporter to jail and brought a White House official under indictment, may take that role this year. It is unlikely she will be seated next to Novak, but perhaps Bush may have a good view of her from the dais.

She and Wilson will be guests of ABC News.

more
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002382755




:)

[louis-t]

16. I think an appropriate gesture would be...

for her to walk up to shit-head, introduce herself, then knee him in the groin. Sure, she'd go to jail, but...

[warrens]

17. ABC News rocks!

Oh, man, Smirk is going to implode.

[SpiralHawk]

18. cool

bring it on home

[jus_the_facts]

19. Wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole....

....why attend anything these fucks put on...seems like goin' along to get along wouldn't be in her best interest at this point in time...or would it? :eyes:

[brentspeak]

20. dupe

[AnneD]

21. Oh,

to be a fly on the wall. Hope she goes up there, smiles and shakes the bastards hands. Maybe whisper a sweet phrase in their ear like "I know it was you Fredo".

[stillcool]

22. ...a little histroy...

An unverifiable leak and an activist president combined to give birth to the White House Correspondents' Association on Feb. 25, 1914.

Rumors had leaked that the Congressional Standing Committee of Correspondents would be asked to decide which reporters to invite to an unprecedented series of regularly scheduled press conferences planned by Woodrow Wilson.

Horrified by this intrusion on their turf, 11 reporters formed the WHCA, decreeing that its "primary object shall be the promotion of the interests of those reporters and correspondents assigned to cover the White House."

The leak proved unfounded. The WHCA lay dormant until 1920 when the organization held its first dinner. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge became the first of 13 presidents to attend the dinner.

Until World War II, the annual dinner was an entertainment extravaganza, featuring singing between courses, a homemade movie and an hour-long, post-dinner show with big-name performers.

In the 1990s, the association has focused primarily on coverage-related issues affecting regular White House correspondents, including access to the president and efforts to reduce the costs that news organizations face covering the president on the road

Since 1914, the White House Correspondents’ Association has operated independently of the White House and the White House credentialing process. We intend for the White House Correspondents’ Association to remain independent of that process.

Consistent with the First Amendment, the White House Correspondents’ Association stands for inclusiveness in the credentialing process so that the White House remains accessible to all journalists. We hope that individual episodes do not obscure the broader principles of a fair and evenhanded credentialing process that serves the goal of free and full exchange of information.

http://www.whca.net/history.html

[annofark]

23. Good for her

she should definitely go and represent!