I’m with the truckers ….

… I miss the good old days when gas was cheaper and Washington and its truckers really had the peoples’ best interests at heart.

From Anne Schroeder Mullins’ “Shenanigans” coverage of the White House Correspondents Dinner in Politico:

The story about Pam Anderson is that the whole reason she attended was so she could get a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She hoped that after meeting them they’d help advocate for PETA.

Let’s just say, we sure hope the Joint Chiefs have done away with their onerous dress code.

Jeremiah Wright at the National Press Club today:

QUESTION: Chris Rock joked, “Of course Reverend Wright’s an angry 75-year-old black man. All 75-year-old black men are angry.” Is that funny? Is that true? Is it unfortunate? What do you think?

WRIGHT: I think it’s just like the media. I’m not 75.

With jokes that good, no wonder he’s getting Fruit of Islam protection.

We learn this in the Washington Post today:

The schedule is coming into focus for President Bush’s second trip to the Middle East this year: He is planning to visit Israel next month to celebrate the country’s 60th anniversary. While in Israel, Bush appears likely to visit Masada, the desert fortress overlooking the Dead Sea where nearly 1,000 Jews committed suicide in the 1st century rather than be taken alive by the Romans.

He is also planning a speech to the Israeli Knesset, and will attend a giant celebratory conference being hosted by Israeli President Shimon Peres that is expected to feature such notables as Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev and Henry Kissinger. But Barbra Streisand, the liberal singing and acting icon who had been tapped to sing the Jewish prayer “Avinu Malkeinu” (Our Father Our King), abruptly pulled out last week for “personal obligations.” Was Babs unhappy about the prospect of sharing the bill with Bush? We will never know.

Actually, that Streisand news should come as a relief to the already long-suffering people of Israel.  At least they’ll be spared Stresiand’s unique, cutting-edge, and breakthrough political commentaries and observations, such as the knee-slapping hilarity we see here…

OK, you fans of digital photography.

Looking for a great camera to crisply capture those once-in-a-lifetime moments?

Then you might want to consider the Canon Power Shot S D870.

Here’s an example of its excellence in digital photography: A picture taken by Canon-owner celeb photog Leslie Bradshaw at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner Saturday night.  That’s Miss Universe, clearly thrilled beyond words to have her picture taken with Extreme Mortman (I’m the shorter one, without heels, on your right).
Indeed, a good camera.  I don’t own one.  But if it keeps taking my picture with Miss Universe, maybe I should.

A Wolf Blitzer question on “Late Edition” yesterday:

“What do you think about this whole notion of the president right now…?”

No word on whether he planned this follow-up: How’s the weather?

From the Washington Post’s coverage of Barack Obama in Indiana yesterday:

He gave as an example his plan to broadcast on C-SPAN the meetings he would hold with industry representatives and congressional leaders to push health-care reform. “If you see a member of Congress who’s carrying water for the drug companies instead of carrying your water, you’ll be able to hold them accountable,” he said in Anderson.

Sorry to be a fly in Obama’s C-SPAN ointment, but President Obama can’t tell C-SPAN what to do.  C-SPAN is independent of the government.  Broadcasting decisions are C-SPAN’s to make.  Heck, they might even opt to cover Jeremiah Wright, instead.  It’s called free speech.

How about a partial donation to keeping Hillary Clinton’s campaign alive.  Or at least her marriage …

For the same price as visiting the Newseum — $20 — you can just as easily park across the street from the Washington Hilton, which, when the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner rolls around, is as much a wax museum to living journalists as the Newseum is a mausoleum for dead journalists.

So it’s with rare excitement and thrill for the annual dinner that we proclaim last night’s Craig Ferguson performance to be the best comedy act we’ve ever seen in front of that crowd in the International Ballroom. A standing ovation. How delicious that the best comedy was delivered by someone who’s been an American citizen for only two months. Take that, Lou Dobbs!

Ferguson singed both sides of the angle. Vice President Dick Cheney, he said, “is already moving out of his residence. It takes longer than you think to pack up an entire dungeon.” But he also made pointed observation of the far larger number of Democrats in the room than Republicans.

Even more groundbreaking — and perhaps more important for leading our country to greatness and improving the overall lot humanity– is a ground-breaking photo taken by my colleague Leslie Bradshaw (Leslie’s full real-time Twitter coverage of the dinner here) of Miss Universe.  We’ll have that photo posted here later today. But here’s a hint as to what you’ll see: No doubt the biggest thrill of this young star’s life was having her picture taken with Extreme Mortman.

Other thrills, of course, were had by Charlie Wilson (yes, that Charlie Wilson) who had the distinct privilege to be interviewed by Leslie Bradshaw and Howard Mortman. How rare is that! Listen to the interview here. But beware: full swoon ahead.
We were also impressed to see tenured TV personalities Larry King and John McLaughlin working the room, both surprisingly ambulatory in their golden years of broadcast. No doubt they downed a few shots of prune juice together. What a week it’s been for John McLaughlin: He moved from DC’s Channel 4 to Channel 9. A man of his age needs to be careful with moves like that. Don’t want to break a hip.
Meantime, in his last appearance, President Bush also went on a high note, conducting the United State Marine Corps Band. But, sadly for him, no photo with Miss USA.

… an unbelievable photo from last night’s White House Correspondents Association dinner.  You won’t want want to miss it.  Stay closely tuned to this space.

Meantime, check out an exclusive and quite revealing interview with Charlie Wilson, conducted by Extreme Mortman and NMS colleague Leslie Bradshaw.  He wore white — just like Tom Hanks.
Click here to listen.

And read all of Leslie’s on-the-scene twitters from the event here.