Posted on 04/27/2003 8:06:20 PM PDT by Angelwood
The DC Chapter of Free Republic held its 5th Annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner Freep on Saturday, April 26, 2003. There were 19 FReepers and Lurkers in attendance: W04Man, FreeTheHostages, BushorBust, SpacemanSpiff, Mrs. SpacemanSpiff, sauropod, hellinahandcart, Jimmy Valentine's brother, Exit148, tgslTakoma, kristinn, Doctor Raoul, BufordP, Angelwood, rachelprofiling, ned13 and friend, L_Von_Mises and GunsareOK.
We were worried about the weather since rain was in the forecast. We came prepared with lots of plastic coverings for the Garofalo Awards and we had plenty of ponchos and umbrellas to keep us fairly dry. Luckily for us, the rain held off and the temperatures were mild.
Some of us arrived on time and others were running just a little late. Our spot at Connecticut and T was cordoned off a bit because of construction around a walled garden area that had been emptied. We usually take breaks sitting on the outside wall, but it was roped off with orange barrels and yellow tape.
The construction didn't hamper us much since the sidewalk there is so wide, so we set up two easels, a card table and chair. We spread a tablecloth on the table and soon set the places for two of the Garofalo Award winners. A gold platter with 5 crows (and sprigs of parsely for that defining touch of color) was the grand prize for Janeane Garofalo and the second place winners, Eason Jordan and CNN, were awarded a silver platter with 3 crows. The place settings included the best plastic wine glasses filled with red vinegar wine (to help the stuffed crow go down) and lovely plastic silverware. Nothing but the best for our whiners...er...winners!
The signs on the easels showed the recent cartoon where Bush is serving crow to a full table with the caption, "The Usual Suspects" and a reproduction of the Garofalo Award Certificate that each recipient will receive along with his/her stuffed crow platter.
While we were setting everything up, several TV cameramen came by to film our preparations and signs. We decided to announce the winners of the Garofalo Awards while we had the attention of the cameramen.
Kristinn stood behind the table with Angelwood next to him and held up the gold platter awarded to Janeane Garofalo. He explained the Free Republic Garofalo Award process, announced Janeane Garofalo's first place win and then read her winning quote. Kristinn held up the silver platter of stuffed crow and announced the remaining nine award recipients.
The awards were awesome -- if you like crow! tgslTakoma did a great job creating the awards and she also took pictures which she will be posting late this evening or tomorrow. The list of winners in order:
Janeane Garofalo (she got a gold platter and an extra helping of 5 crows)
Eason Jordan and CNN
Peter Arnett
Scott Ritter
Michael Moore and Bill Clinton (tied)
Nancy Pelosi
David Hackworth
Tim Robbins
Helen Thomas
There was actually a tie for tenth place with Helen Thomas and Chris Matthews. The judges decided to put Chris Matthews into the Dishonorable Mentions category along with all the other non-winners because he had, at least in one small public venue (speech), stated that he was wrong.
After the awards presentation, the TV cameramen filmed the freep line and signs and we got in a few good chants: C-N-N - Blood for Ratings; Support Our Troops, Deport Peter Jennings; FoxNews Rules, CNN Drools.
The police on duty checked in with us and wanted us to move away from the corner. We always get moved, but this was much earlier than usual. Of course, we cooperated and relocated to the edge of the building and an imaginary line from the corner to a tree near the street.
There was a competing protest group that set up on the opposite corner from us on the property on which the Hilton Hotel is located. We knew that this group would not be allowed to stay in that spot for long and they were moved across Connecticut Avenue at about the same time we were moved.
The members of this group, Fair Taxes for All Coalition, had dressed in tuxedos and formals (with boas, spangles and tiaras) to hold a demonstration called: Mock Millionaires Protest Bush Tax Cuts at Correspondent Dinner.
The agenda of this group is apparent from the press release on the protest: "The Fair Taxes For All Coalition is a massive coalition of coalitions co-chaired by People For the American Way, National Women's Law Center, AFSCME, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, USAction, and the Campaign for America's Future. More than 300 national, state and local groups and coalitions -- together representing millions of Americans -- have pledged to defeat Bush Administration tax proposals that would take resources from health care, education, Social Security, and homeland security in order to give massive tax breaks to the very wealthiest Americans."
This group of people were pretty successful at garnering attention from those who were arriving to attend the dinner. They continually crossed back to the Hilton property and adjacent sidewalks to hand out their literature and stop attendees with their spiel.
The police paid us another visit and told us they were going to shut down that side of the street and they were moving us to the opposite corner. The police were apologetic, said the Secret Service wanted the area cleared and really gave us no other choice but to cooperate. Once we were ensconced on the opposite side, we saw very few of the journalists, politicians and celebrities as they arrived and our contact with them was limited, though we did get to yell at Senator John F. (Kerry) Heinz as he and his companions were recognized walking toward the Hilton Hotel.
We met a number of people passing by who enjoyed our signs and Garofalo Awards. A few stopped to take I Support Our Troops buttons and pose for pictures.
As the tuxedoed millionaires began chanting, we would drown them out by chanting, C-N-N - Blood for Ratings. Doctor Raoul's megaphone was super loud and he led most of the chants.
The millionaires had a number of members of their group stationed on the island between lanes of traffic for a large part of the evening. When BufordP and tgslTakoma took signs and one of the Garofalo awards onto the traffic island, the police finally decided to shut down this protesting for both sides. The millionaires were consigned back to their corner of the street. Mission accomplished.
Connecticut Avenue was never shut down to traffic -- cars or foot. President Bush and his entourage arrived about 7:45 with little fanfare. There were helicopters circling overhead and then they were gone and we could see the empty limos and SUVs drive into the main driveway and stop in front of the Hilton.
Margaret Carlson tried to get past us, but one of our FReepers recognized her. Alas, poor Margaret got stuck on the traffic island between lights and had to put up with our comments and chants about CNN.
Another cameraman came by to film our signs and chanting. Kristinn asked him which network he worked for and he quipped, "the one you guys hate."
A tuxedoed man who identified himself from NBC/Today Show stopped to talk to us. He asked if any NBC crew had stopped to film us and we said yes. He took our handouts listing the Garofalo Award winners and checked out the stuffed crow platters. He took lots of notes and mentioned that he was working on something regarding the WHCA dinner for the Today show. He left the impression that the Garofalo Awards and media bias protest would be mentioned.
We stayed for a short while longer before packing up our signs and carts. A few of us returned to our cars to put everything away. Then we all (13 of us) met at the bar in the Hilton Hotel to relax with some food, drinks, good company and a big screen TV tuned to C-Span so we could watch the coverage of the White House Correspondents Association Dinner and President Bush's speech.
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EXIT148's Report Posted on Another Thread
Nice weather for this Annual Freep. Not hot, not cold, nice spring feel to the air, and the reason it didn't rain is because we had a big pile of umbrellas with us!!
Kudos to tgslTakoma for preparing the 'Garofalo crow meal' spread in front of the Washngton Hilton! She set a table, complete with tablecloth, 'silver'ware, wine glasses filled with a 'suitable' bubbly, and her masterful crow specialty on her best china. It was a repast that made the barf juices jiggle! LOL! I hope the pictures do it justice!
"Helen Thomas" caught the attention of one little lady, as she passed. She was quite vocal in her condemnation of sauropod and her defense of Helen! Actually she was pretty brave as she took us all on, shouting at everything we tossed at her. She also took exception to the "Support the Troops" sign, and made it quite clear that she did not support the troops. Feisty lady, but I wonder if her head is screwed on.
In the middle of Connecticut Ave, in front of the Hilton, is a traffic island. When you are crossing, the light is too short to cross the whole street, so you stand on this island awaiting the next light. Anyone standing on this island has no escape from Freepcalls! Last year, Ralph Nader was on this island, and at first he thought our "Thank You Ralph" chant was in recognition of him as a person. He quickly realized what our point was, but had to endure it until the light changed. The same thing happened this year! There he was, on that island, again -- listening to us and hoping the da** light would change! He did flash us a V sign. 'V' as in Peace Protest?
Mary Matelin came by and spoke to a couple of Freepers for a few moments. (no James with her) However, she left the festivities early, passing by us again, saying she had a birthday party to attend. (I like her new hair-do.
In the sport' bar at the Hilton, we had a section to ourselves. At the end of the goings-on on TV, the "Garofalo Eat Crow" awards were all spread out on a couple of tables, for picture taking. It was quite a sight to see all these dead black birds on their shiny plates! It caught the attention of all the waiters/resses. The looks on their faces was really funny. They never asked what they were all about, and I can't imagine what they were thinking!
Being in that sports bar is rather bitter sweet. For two years before 9/11 we had 2 memorable chats with Barbara and Ted Olsen.
I don't know if anyone kept a list of 'personalities we saw and Freeped. Coming to mind was Mary Matelin, Margaret Carleson, Bill Press, Senator John F. Kerry, Ralph Nader, Juan Williams, and ?????So many tinted-windowed-stretch-limos went by, that we missed many notables. However, those safely behind those tinted windows could see us and our messages. There's satisfaction in that!
I can hardly wait for the pictures!
104 posted on 04/27/2003 3:21 PM PDT by Exit148
I'm not having any luck uploading photos to my webpage tonight, so I'm giving up for now. Folks'll just have to go to the Webshots album to check the pix.
G'night all.
Tg-the awards are hysterical!!! Perfect! And soooooo appropo! Also loved your account of the FReep and your pictures-terrific.
Angelwood-nice write-up. The time you have invested is so appreciated by those of us not close to such events...could not wait to get home tonight and read up on this. You did an outstanding job!
Everyone who took the time to FReep this dinner-EAGLES WAY UP ! (we'll leave the dead crows to the deserving rats-hehe)
The chapter members brainstormed for a good long while before we hit on the final plan. I always have fun working with all the creative minds around here.
Ah, they were expecting you...:-)
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