White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

When Scandal and White House Correspondents' Presidents Collide at The 20th Annual Garden Brunch

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President Fitzgerald Grant (better known as Tony Goldwyn) met White House Correspondents Association President Ed Henry today at The 20th Annual Garden Brunch. The ‘legendary’ meeting that crossed two universes went out earlier through a livestream that culminated (at the 2:37 mark) with remarks from co-hosts honoring the White House Correspondents’ Association, CURE Epilepsy and The Miss America Foundation. Taking place at the historic Beall-Washington House, where else would you expect the perfect blend of Washington media, Hollywood and tech influences like Uber’s Travis Kalanick, Revolution’s Steve Case or even a gold medalist like Gabby Douglas?

Attendees rounded through R Street into the horseshoe to be greeted with CURE iPhone covers and #STEM branded protractors to give a hint at why Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathmatics are being so vetted by the Miss America Foundation to strengthen education for young women. And it’s true, the Garden Brunch is full of “Things Beltway People Like.”

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At the brunch alone you could find Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery posing with “Homeland”‘s Morena Baccarin or Kevin Spacey shaking hands with Navid Negahban and MC Hammer.Then there were the entire cast of Netflix’s “House of Cards” while Gerard Butler of “Olympus Has Fallen” came to lift the spirits of the brunch patrons.

Greta Van Susteren and husband John Coale, whose announcement that she would not attend the WHCA dinner made headlines, was dragged over to the red carpet by Kevin Spacey. For those around it felt like a House of Cards moment when he commanded Greta to “Stand next to me.”

There were even appearences from White House officials like Valerie Jarrett, Gene Sperling, Alan Krueger Tina Tchen (and daughter Emma), FLOTUS chief of staff and her Communications Director Kristina Schake and Reggie Love. House Leader Eric Cantor came to present the CURE Heroes Award to Pat and Patty Horan, an Iraqi war veteran who suffers from seisures. Senator Joe Manchin and Representative Darrell Issa mingled in the crowd with media heavies Joanna Coles, Editor of Cosmopolitian Magazine, David Carr and Jeremy Peters of the New York Times, Chris Hughes of The New Republic, Patty Rockenwagner, from Conde Nast, Alex Korson and Louis Bergholz, of Morning Joe, Toure And during the remarks given by Brunch co-hosts Tammy Haddad and Hilary Rosen, Google’s Eric Schmidt and Internet Investor and Fundamental Physics Prize Founder Yuri Milner happened to be near stage right.

Angel Investor Ron Conway led the giving with a pledge of $5,000 to each of the causes as Mayor Ed Lee and Mayor Villaraigosa talking to Steve Case and other tech leaders including Joe Green who is leading Mark Zuckerberg’s new political efforts in Washington.

Check out some of our photos in the slideshow below:

Celebrating 20 Years: 2011 Garden Brunch

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David and Susan Axelrod (middle) and Rupert Murdoch (right)

2011 represented a remarkable year of change for the Garden Brunch. The event moved from its historic location in the Palisades of Washington, D.C. to a new location: the historic Georgetown Beall-Washington House, the residence of Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham. Co-presented by the residence’s current owner, Mark Ein, the Garden Brunch spread itself out into yet another staple of Washington’s architectural history.

Hollywood guests included Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black, “Glee” star Matthew Morrison, “Gossip Girl’s” Chase Crawford, The Social Network’s Joe Mazzello, Jeremy Piven and Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Also representing the entertainment industry were Joan Rivers, Morgan Fairchild and Rosario Dawson among others.

Attending their first Brunch, Sarah and Todd Palin made a huge impression. Seen mingling with President Obama’s political strategist David Axelrod, CURE epilepsy’s Susan Axelrod and many other Washington correspondents–both White House and political.

Olympic snowboarder phenom Shaun White was visible among the crowd, as were media moguls like Sean Parker, David Carr and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams.

The brunch happeneda week before Mother’s Day, which let co-chairs Wendi Murdoch and Susan Axelrod take the opportunity to honor all mothers by honoring The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and CURE: Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy at the reception. Take a look at the video below:

2011 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch from whcinsider on Vimeo.

Maddow’s MIA responses on Reddit AMA

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Rachel Maddow's 2nd Floor Bar

Why has Reddit forsaken MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow? Was it because the evening host wouldn’t answer the age-old question of battling a hundre duck-sized horses or a single horse-sized duck? (She was never asked a single fight question!)TPM pointed out the ire of the scorned Redditors yesterday.

Instead the anger seems to stem from Maddow answering a paltry 20 questions instead of the expected amount by most Redditors during her Ask Me Anything. The expected result of answering every single question is common among Redditors since their expectations are only met by either Barack Obama or Bill Gates. Failure to do so results in inevitable comparisons to Woody Harrleson, r/Pyongyang and whatever else is hated on the Internet.

The questions that Maddow did answer are summed up over at her blog. Nothing may ever compare to her legendary bartending skills at last year’s White House Correspondents Dinner, but Maddow should get the benefit of a doubt. Reddit is a fickle mistress. The fact she had time for 20 questions alone is impressive when considering the speed at which the little blue alien can post. Maddow did fine. After all, you could compare her to the President of the United States or the lonely life of a butcher.

White House Correspondents Weekend Parties Start To Roll Out

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Kerry Washington and Hilary Rosen

The annual land-grab for talent and venues has officially, or at least publicly, begun for the 2013 White House Correspondents Dinner Weekend. Yeas and Nays found out that on April 25 that Marie Claire will host their first party in the 99 years of the Correspondents Dinner. Indeed there’s a certain type of magic to be found during the WHCD Weekend. Where else can you find, like last year, Kerry Washington and Hilary Rosenside-by-side on a Grin-and-Grip?

The where, when and how are TBD even by party co-hosts Meredith Fineman and Jessica Hoy. Hoy, however, talks up a few more potential parties at her entry on Examiner–no relation to the Yeas and Nays’ own Washington Examiner–when it comes to break-ups and strange sponsor bedfellows:

  • Time and People will be back at the St. Regis, despite recent news that Time titles into publicly traded companies.
  • The Atlantic ditched Funny or Die for Our Time as a co-partner and chose Jessica Alba and Warren Cash as their co-hosts. Hopefully they’ll be doing it for free since The Atlantic doesn’t have the funds to pay anyone these days.
  • Bloomberg/Vanity Fair, Capitol File, Google, Allbritton and Washingtonian all are going to do something Saturday or Sunday. This news is as shocking as the Metro being broken down or Conan O’Brien being tall.

    And that’s it. Invitations are still secretly being rolled out as Washington media elites struggle to keep their guest wants out of prying eyes. We’ll wait and see what other parties or confirmed info happens to come out now that we’re just about 46 days away from the “nerd prom” that’s become popular with the Outer Beltway folks not used to the magic of the Hinckley Hilton.

    • Obama Scores With Gridiron Club Dinner

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    Obama Waves to Press

    Not only was this weekend unseasonably nice compared to the Snowquester,but President Barack Obama attended the 125th Gridiron Club and Foundation Dinner. (Technically the fifth for the combined Club and Foundation, but as if memories go back that far in Washington these days).

    Attending for the second time since 2011, President Barack Obama opened up with remarks that brought the Beltway press to be responsible for their pleas about access and Bob Woodward’s recent fear of threats. Or, as scarily brought up by The Reliable Source, “Is it possible he’s beginning to like these dinners?”

    “Before I begin, I know some of you have noticed that I’m dressed a little differently from the other gentlemen. Because of sequester, they cut my tails. My joke writers have been placed on furlough,” the president said. That’s what happens when your star speechwriter goes off to Tinseltown. Other politicans that stopped by this year include Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator Al Franken (“How do you start off being one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live and end up being the second-funniest Senator in Minnesota? How the mighty have fallen.”)

    Some of the choicer cuts with a Favreau–although we can’t imagine he didn’t have at least one pass at this–less Obama:

    On Woodward:
    “Now I know that some folks think we responded to Woodward too aggressively. But hey, when has — can anybody tell me when an administration has ever regretted picking a fight with Bob Woodward? What’s the worst that could happen?”

    On White House Correspondents Dinner Chairman Ed Henry:
    “While we’re on this subject, I want to acknowledge Ed Henry, who is here — who is the fearless leader of the Washington press corps now. And at Ed’s request, tonight I will take one question from the press. Jay, do we have a question? Surprisingly, it’s a question from Ed Henry. ‘Mr. President, will you be taking any questions tonight?’ I’m happy to answer that. No, Ed, I will not.”

    Proof That Favreau Must’ve Written Something:
    “But all these changes to my team are tough to handle, I’ve got to admit. After nine years, I finally said goodbye to my chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau. I watched him grow up. He’s almost like a son to me, he’s been with me so long. And I said to him when he first informed me of his decision, I said, ‘Favs, you can’t leave.’ And he answered with three simple words — ‘yes, I can.’ Fortunately, he did not take the prompter on his way out. That would have been a problem.”

    And just to show the President is well aware of his Internet status, he ended his speech on a nerd note:
    “So I want to thank everybody for not just a wonderful evening — and, Chuck [Lewis], I want to thank you for your outstanding presidency — but I also just want to thank you for the work that you do each and every day. And in the words of one of my favorite Star Trek characters — Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise — ‘May the force be with you.'”

    A Look Back At Conan O'Brien and the White House Correspondents Dinner

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    We’re hoping the jokes get updated when Conan O’Brien comes back to D.C. in April. The newly announced host for this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner is no stranger to Beltway politics. He first showed up here in 1995 to toast then-President Bill Clinton along with WHC Chairman and former Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau Chief/current columnist Carl Leubsdorf.

    “For God’s sake, it’s Saturday night,” O’Brien said in his earlier monologue. “Go outside! Meet a woman! There are things you can do. I want to say though I am–higher ratings tan mine–very honored to be apart of this event tonight. When I got this invitation, I was thrilled to be speaking in the same room as the most powerful man in the country. But then I heard Judge Ito canceled, but you move on!”

    You can watch the full video below from C-Span and relive Coco’s old mop top:

    Insider Round-Ups: How To Fix Fox, Stephanopoulos Stays At This Week and D.C. Loves Zero Dark Thirty

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    It’s hard to figure out what’s worth your time with all the first reads, politico blasts and tweets that race by before your third coffee of the morning. So let us provide some curation to your otherwise blur of a morning before your second conference call.

  • Ana Marie Cox thinks less work for Rove at Fox is more of a “promotion” than a network reorganization.
  • TV Newser has George Stephanopoulos at ABC’s This Week through 2013.
  • The D.C. Metro area film critics love Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty (and The Master!)
  • Buzzfeed speaks to a Cory Booker backer betting big–to hell with alliteration–for a 2016 run.
  • Politico reports:South Carolina demands the good Dr. Stephen T. Colbert.
  • NPR lays out the differences in President Obama‘s second inauguration.

    • That should get you through at least your first lunch-that-gets-turned-into-a-coffee-break.

    Fox News Cuts Out The Red Rove Meat

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    Start out your humpday right: here’s why Karl Rove (or Dick Morris) will be on Fox News anytime soon.

    Reported yesterday by New York Magazine, it sounds like Roger Ailes has decided that Fox News should lick its wounds from Election 2012 just a little longer. Not because of partisan politics or earlier mandates, but mainly as an after-effect of the now-infamous meltdown Rove had on air about Ohio’s electoral voting system and Morris’ own haphazard readings. As it stands, according to NY Mag’s Gabriel Sherman, if producers want to use either talking head must be pre-approved from higher up in the Fox food chain.

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    GQ's Least Influential Skirts The White House

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    First Family

    Can we really claim Michelle Obama is the seventh least influential person in the world? Does that mean she’s more or less influential than pop earworms like Gotye or the constant influence of Madonna on the world stage? If Mitt Romney is first is that because he lost the 2012 election or because he’s barely recognized while at a CVS?

    These are the sorts of questions that plague us as we go through all 25 choices on GQ’s list of The Least Influential People of 2012. The list’s a mix of pop culture mainstays, but the additions of the political choices seem to sting a bit much. Especially when going after the First Lady:

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