"Does he even know who the f*** I am?" the petulant young woman asked
her companions when a security guard briefly denied her entrance to the
event because she had just two tickets for three people.
She was Meghan McCain, the chubby, not especially bright daughter of
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz). The event was the White House
Correspondents' Association Dinner May 9.
"The security guard sent her to talk to someone to sort out the
situation, but Meghan got bratty and nastily told him 'We'll just stand
here then,'" the New York Daily News reported.
"Those tickets were harder to get than gold dust and Meghan blatantly
only had two and thought she didn't have to follow the same rules as
everyone else," the News' gossip columnists quoted their source as
saying.
Why would a woman of no discernable accomplishment think other people
ought to know who she is, or care?
Mostly, of course, because Meghan is a spoiled brat. Her father became
a hero because he believed in service to his country. She thinks that
for no other reason than that she is a blood relation, she ought to be
served.
But many of those at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner
have contributed to Ms. McCain's grossly exaggerated sense of self
worth. Meghan has been a frequent guest on cable news shows because she
can be counted on to say critical things about Republicans who've
actually accomplished something. Meghan thinks these journalists
respect her, when in fact they think of her the way a carpenter thinks
of a hammer, or a saw. A useful tool.
The entertainment at the dinner was provided chiefly by Wanda Sykes, a
black lesbian "comedian." Her routine, and the audience's response to
it, says much about Washington's glitterati.
Typically at these dinners, the incumbent president is lampooned. But
Ms. Sykes directed her fire at conservatives. Radio talk show host Rush
Limbaugh is a "traitor." He would have been the 20th hijacker on 9/11,
but was too strung out on Oxycontin to make the flight. She hoped Mr.
Limbaugh would die of kidney failure.
Most in attendance — including President Obama — evidently thought
this was funny. But two British journalists were appalled.
"That's way, way beyond reasoned debate or comedy and Obama's reaction
to it was astonishing," said Toby Harnden of the London Telegraph.
"Imagine if a comedian 'joked' that Obama was a terrorist who was guilty
of treason and should be tortured and allowed to die. There would
justifiably be an outcry."
Mary Ellen Synon of the Daily Mail noted that Mr. Limbaugh is nearly
deaf as a result of ear infections. He "has overcome physical
afflictions the like of which few journalists in that room have known,
struggling to go on with his work. But the president and his court
jester Sykes thought it was a hoot to wish him organ failure."
Though Mr. Obama smiled throughout Ms. Sykes' routine, he or his aides
evidently have thought better of it. "I think there are a lot of topics
better left for serious reflection than for comedy," White House press
secretary Robert Gibbs said. "I think there's no doubt 9/11 is part of
that."
The flap over Ms. Sykes' vile remarks diverted attention from the cheap
shots the president took in his. He remarked on the whiteness of House
Republican leader John Boehner, and the blackness of Republican National
Chairman Michael Steele. Former Vice President Dick Cheney is working
on his memoirs, tentatively titled: "How to Shoot Friends and
Interrogate People," Mr. Obama said.
"We know that Obama has an incredibly thin skin," said Web logger Scott
Johnson (Power Line). "We can conclude that Vice President Cheney has
gotten under it."
But his audience ate it up. The truest words the president said that
night were: "Most of you have covered me. All of you voted for me."
"What a bunch of toadies," Ms. Synon said. "I'd say the White House
correspondents dinner told us everything we need to know about
Washington journalists."
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