President Elect Barack Obama Dines with the Right Wing. 
The story came to me fifty hours ago from a well-placed source. I did not put it on air; and it took two days to confirm and even then it was not comfortably certain until the press pool on
body watch of the PE leaked it to Politico for a partial report at 730 pm tonight, Tuesday 13. I had been in correspondence with colleagues and sources all day, since I had given it to several trusted pundits as soon as I got it -- for them to check out, too. We were all working the same story, and it was great fun. It is a puzzle how to get inside a transition team. It is not the same as the White House, where one log is kept of the POTUS and his face time. Also, we were dealing with a dinner party put together quickly by George Will over the telephone. Last moment, Tuesday night, no media invited other than the fact that the punditocracy elite was the dinner table. We were moving along with lots of "no comments," then a partial list, then questions to names who may very well have been invited, then silence. I was writing when my Beast editor emailed that Politico had used the pool report. It was a partial list, with only three names, but it was enough to go with out full list that also included, Paul Gigot, Larry Kudlow, Rich Lowry, Michel Barone, George Will, along with the Politico's Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthamer and David Brooks. The details of the menu, the speeches, the colloquy the questions, all will come when the others publish what they can publish. No report yet if it was "off the record," -- that old game. My fun now is to imagine those on the right who were left out and their discontent. Also to see that there is not a female name. It was to be a party of ten. I count eight plus the PE. Perhaps the other name is female. Unknown. Also fun to consider how annoyed without actually throwing a vase the Left will be when it reads the list and realizes there has not been a similar event for Paul Krugman and Katrina vanden Heuvel and Michael Tomasky, all three of whom lifted heavily to make Mr. Obama PE. The final twist of the event is that the conversation at the table had to start and stop with taxes. Cutting taxes is what will work, what always works. It is what Mr. Obama wants to do, sort-of; and it is what the Democrats do not want to do, not at all. In truth, Mrs. Pelosi (and won't she tap her fingers at this dinner stunt) aims to raise taxes by letting the cap gains tax of 15% expire and revert to marginal rates in 2010 (28-35%). This is delicious to anticipate, a food fight to be, even better than the dessert of (crow?) pie.
Ain't it wunnerful!! Thanks Mr B... it's a great tale of a city
I happened to notice Rush Limbaugh absent from his program today and was in Washington. Is it possible that the El Rushbo was the tenth to dine at the Will residence?
My tortured partisan heart beat a little faster when I read the above; and, later, heard about it on the network news this morning. Any appearance of "coming together" of opposing viewpoints must be regarded as a positive. Whereas no fundamental positions were likely significantly changed, at least each side now knows that those representing the opposition do not exhibit alien characteristics such as horns or multiple heads.
Historically, open societies in which the free flow of opinion and diversity were tolerated, have always fared much better than rigidly insular ones. Numerous examples in our history books support this. Even today, those who consistently refuse to hear what others have to say are more likely to slip the rails of sanity, thereby putting themselves and others in a bad place.
Here's hoping that Obama's idea of bipartisanship will include his opposition and that his critics, likewise, will give him enough latitudinal respect to at the very least acknowledge his inclusion within our anthropomorphic species.
Rush was in the Oval Office, W even had a birthday cake for him in the private dining room, I think only Papa Benny (Benedict XVI) received the same treatment. Very few White House guests get Happy Birthday sung to them by the POTUS.
George Will has Gravitas, some of the others may lose theirs if there is an appearance of getting along to get along.
Wisdom
Please allow me to make mention of today's passing of one of the two men I would have liked to meet during my lifetime: Patrick McGoohan. He was my inspiration back in a time of black and white television (Danger Man/Secret Agent); when there was no apparent confusion as to nuance; when good battled evil and good always came out on top. Pat is best known, perhaps, for "The Prisoner" (color), which I personally found disappointing, but many others viewed as brilliant and innovative. - We will miss you, John Drake.
Bill Kristol et al. have about as much in common with genuine conservatives as Jack Finney's "body snatchers" have with human beings.
Don't let 'em shove that big old alien seed pod under your bed, Obama!
This was a photo-op from the Partisan Elect, plain and simple. Crossing the aisles and all that.
I am starting to think he will be more centrist than his enthusiastic compatriots...
What a coincidence - I was just wondering in the last day or two what George Will's been up to. Now I know.
We're going to miss Bush-Cheney. They were solid patriots. They fought the good fight. In the end, they couldn't save the country from itself. All the vile and despicable things that have been said about these men will some day be remembered as having been uttered by demagogues whose sole intention was to build their own power base on the ashes of American exceptionalism.
To date, there is not one example of any American's rights having been violated. There's not one example of Bush or Cheney having lied. There has not been one scandal involving these men during their term in office. It's all been smoke and mirrors orchestrated by the ACLU and trumpeted by a highly partisan media.
These were honest and humble men who did their best to protect us and uphold our Constitution. A nation wallowing in ennui and self-loathing will soon wake up to realize that it has cut off its nose to spite its face. It will learn (the hard way) that plastic surgery has its limits.
To the moderator: Please disregard that last post! It's a duplicate!