Ah, Yes, The Inaugural Ball
Once again, we are at the moment where thousands of out-of-towners are about to arrive in Washington for a Cinderella Evening, with their suitcases full of expensive dresses and killer shoes. Which will give way to the most time-honored of morning-after rituals: complaining about how awful (hot, crowded, no food, long lines at the bar) that once-in-a-lifetime evening turned out to be. (Few people want to experience it a second time.)
Monica Hesse has a hilarious look in today's Washington Post about the long decline of the Inaugural Ball from 120-piece orchestras and lobster salad (Grover Cleveland, 1893) to ham-and-swiss minibiscuits on sale for $5.50 and a cash bar featuring box wine for $4 (Bill Clinton, 1997). And Roxanne Roberts has some tips for the uninitiated. (The most important one: Flat shoes.)
Word is, the Obamas will be "attending" (that is, making an appearance at) 10 of them. But, presumably, they won't have to be hassling with the coat check like everyone else. Here's how "unforgettable" Inauguration Night feels for the guests of honor.
So if you weren't among those who scored a ticket to any of them, tell yourself that it really is better to see it on TV. If you are, consider yourself forewarned.
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[...] most excellent way to carry out this is by putting content-rich useful articles on your website Ah, Yes, The Inaugural Ball - swampland.blogs.time.com 01/04/2009 Once again, we are at the moment where hundreds of thousands [...]
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So, are you going to one KT?
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Nope. Never have. Not even once. I've heard too many morning-after reports.
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My best inauguration moment: Jay Carney and I scored seats (I can tell you how, if you are interested, but it's not helpful this year) about five rows back right in front of the podium for Bill Clinton's swearing-in in 1997. Jessye Norman was singing right over my head. I was imagining that this must be what it sounds like when you arrive in heaven. And then, right behind me, this woman whips out her cell phone, and starts calling everyone she knows and telling them at the top of her lungs: "You'll never GUESS WHERE I AM..." -
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Jay probably can score us tickets this year. He can just ask his boss for them.
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Jay should raffle off some tickets here on Swampland. Yeah. -
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...and now that the Burris/Blago story is getting really interesting (it turns out that Reid called Blago (http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2009/01/party-of-racism-which-one.html) and told him not to consider black aspirants for the Senate job, and recommended two white ones -- including a big loser in a House race in 2006 that Rahm gave millions to (Tammy Duckworth). AND, perhaps more crucially, Reid also recommended Illinois's attorney general, who has promised to go to court to defend its Secretary of State if he refuses to sign off on the Burris appointment. Can you say "conflict of interest"?
and suddenly KT's wall-to-wall coverage of the Blago-Burris story stops for some "inaugural ball" fluff!
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Reid on MTP has already started back tracking from his firm principled stance. By the time this is done, Norm Coleman should have a bigger office and chairmanship of a committee. Heck of a job Harry.
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Pluk: Your timeline is a little screwed up here, isn't it? Reid's calls were BEFORE the AG promised to defend the Secretary of State--and in fact, before Blago was even arrested. Your account suggests that he did it afterward. Also, my understanding of yesterday's reports suggests that Reid didn't says not to recommend "black aspirants," but rather, that he suggested not to recommend Jesse Jackson, Emil Jones or Danny Davis. (The way you wrote this suggests that Reid told Blago not to pick anyone who is black.)
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I do not have any confirmation of the reports. However, it did not surprise me to hear that Reid made this call when the seat came open. I also suspect he made similar calls with recommendations for other seats. (And he has publicly supported Caroline Kennedy.)
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Sorry. Preview would be my friend:
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The report is that he recommended--on Dec. 3--that Blago not appoint Davis, Jackson and Jones. And that he did so based on his own view of their electability. The report also suggests that Menendez made a similar call.
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Again, there may be something here. But I don't have any independent reporting to suggest that there is. -
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David asked him if there was room for negotiation. He said he was an old trial lawyer and that there is always room for negotiation.
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Ha. Reid suggests Quinn might appoint Burris after impeachment. I think he also brought Blockbuster Video receipts showing what a big Denzel Washington fan he is.
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KT -
I know what you mean. At the last inaugural ball, I showed up wearing the same dress as my wife. She was livid.
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Nate Silver has an interesting post up about why the democrats would benefit from seating both.
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One of the quirks of the unresolved senate race in Minnesota and Illinois is that it really does the Democrats no good to have just one of Al Franken and Roland Burris seated -- they only gain ground if and when both get sworn in.
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http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ -
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LBJ must be getting ready to jump out of his grave to throttle Reid. Jawboning, this is not.
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gunny
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Don't leave out that Gregory asked him point blank if there was a chance Burris would be seated after all and Reid effectively said yes. Like I said the other day, much ado about nothing.
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Oh and he denied every saying he opposed seating Triple J and the rest and gave a list of his "fight for black folks" street cred. He says Blago is making it all up. Evidently Politico has an article all about it today that predictably paints him the way we all said people would after that report came out. -
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I am very uncomfortable with the assumption of guilt at play in the Blagojevich case. A prosecutor points and says "Bad Man!" and without even an indictment we are supposed to be comfortable with the Majority Leader of the Senate unabashedly proclaiming his guilt? There are other prosecutors and other men. I find all of this to scarily undemocratic and wonder when the backlash is coming.
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SG: well, presumably, there's a tape somewhere that is going to settle what really happened...
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Here's the Politico story:
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17020.html -
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Harry Reid will seat Coleman and reject Burris in order to be bipartisan.
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It's like he can not handle success. -
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K-Teezie
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Yeah Gregory brought up that point and Harry Reid kinda "humna humna humna your right" in his answer. -
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hot off the presses
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/28493049#28493049 -
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Wait, for some reason they cut off his final answer about Burris. Curioser and curioser.
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"Harry Reid will seat Coleman and reject Burris in order to be bipartisan."
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Seems like Harry was trying to say it does not matter how many seats the democrats control. Everything has to be bipartisan. Mean while Mitch McConnell has 42 seats and he's talking about doing what ever the hell he wants.
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It's all about the optics. Act like a winner and you will win. Act like a loser and you will never win. -
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FYI: I'm off for the next week, so my posting will be light. JN-S and Scherer are back, though.
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found the real deal
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- ktumulty New Blog Entry, "Anthem Blue Cross Makes The Case For Health Reform" - http://tinyurl.com/yab3hjs - 1 hour ago
- ktumulty New Blog Entry, "For That Very Special Someone on Valentine's Day" - http://tinyurl.com/yg5qd4o - 3 hours ago
- ktumulty New Blog Entry, "Welcome to Swampland, Adam Sorensen!" - http://tinyurl.com/yadyarr - 13 hours ago
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