Free Republic

Andrés, a staunch advocate for Puerto Rico’s hurricane relief efforts, falsely speculated on Twitter Saturday night that he was denied entry to Washington D.C.’s prestigious Cafe Milano because First Daughter Ivanka Trump didn’t want him to join the elite crowd gathered inside for the 105th Alfalfa Club dinner’s exclusive after party... Andrés missed out on a lavish party and the mainstream media turned it into a news-making scandal as if it actually impacted the American people. It turns out that any Trump critic with a verified Twitter account can manufacture a story to make the administration look corrupt, immoral or...

Say what you will about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but the man can deliver a joke. Speaking at Washington’s tony Alfalfa Club dinner on Saturday night, the Republican spared few targets, the New York Times reports. McConnell poked fun at himself, new inductee Mitt Romney, and fellow members of the U.S. Senate, including a particularly incendiary Tea Party Republican from Texas. McConnell noted that Cruz — the anti-Obamacare crusader who spearheaded the 2013 government shutdown, thereby earning the enmity of many fellow Republicans — had once proclaimed that he would throw himself in front of a moving train, if...

Via Politico: . . . Another illustration of presidential hubris involved the Bush family. The White House put out a picture of a private meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 27 that included former President George H.W. Bush and his son, Jeb, the former governor of Florida. The Bushes were in town for the annual black tie dinner the next night at the Alfalfa Club, a gathering of business and political elites. The two featured speakers, both intended to be brief and humorous, were Obama and Jeb Bush. The president spoke to good reviews. He left before Bush spoke....

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is skipping an annual rite of passage for Washington's movers and shakers: the exclusive Alfalfa Club dinner on Saturday night. Obama attended last year's affair, held less than two weeks after he was sworn in to office. The White House did not explain the president's decision not to attend this year.

When House Republicans planned their annual winter retreat, they extended an invitation to Alaska Gov. Sara Palin, hoping the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee would give a morale-building speech to the more than 130 Republican members of Congress gathered this weekend in Hot Springs, Va. Retreat organizers tell ABC News that Palin politely declined, giving a perfectly understandable reason. According to the Congressional Institute, which hosted the conference, Palin said she simply could not make it to the retreat because pressing state business made it impossible for her to leave Alaska this weekend. So where is Palin this weekend? She's...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) will head to Washington this weekend, in a move certain to set tongues wagging about the former Republican vice presidential nominee's national aspirations. The Alaska governor, who ignited nationwide excitement in the GOP base when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) selected her as his running mate, will address the exclusive Alfalfa Club, an organization of prominent politicians and business leaders who hold a major dinner every January. Palin told the Anchorage Daily News she will attend the dinner because President Obama will be there. “How often will I have an opportunity to have dinner with the...

WASHINGTON - President Bush ventured out of the White House on a chilly Saturday night to a Washington hotel warmed by a roast of bigwig guests. The president and his wife, Laura, took a short motorcade ride to a hotel, just blocks from the White House, to attend to the Alfalfa Club dinner, an annual event where Washington political and business leaders gather to give humorous speeches about the goings-on in the world. Also invited were Bush's parents, former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush. The club is already a family affair — the former president's...

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush attended the annual Alfalfa Club dinner Saturday night, a lighthearted gathering of Washington's political and business elite. Typically rife with humorous speeches, including one-liners from the president, the black-tie gala at the Capital Hilton downtown is attended by the social club's 200 or so members and their guests. Besides being closed to the press, other past traditions have included anointing a president over toasts of Champagne - last year Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., receiving the honorary title. Vernon Jordan, a civil rights figure and influencial Washington lawyer, was the incoming president for this...