The AP has the guest list for tonight’s White House state dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II. In case anyone was wondering, Professor Kelley is not on it. :)
UPDATE: On a more serious Kelley-related note:
Back on March 5, several top Justice Department officials were summoned for an emergency meeting at the White House. On the agenda: Going over “what we are going to say” about why eight U.S. attorneys had been summarily fired.
The reason for the urgency: principal associate deputy attorney general William Moschella was testifying before the House Judiciary Committee the next day.
Deputy White House counsel William Kelley sent an e-mail over to Justice early in the afternoon, saying that he had “been tasked” with pulling the meeting together, and that “we have to get this group together with some folks here asap.”
The meeting was held at the White House later that day. And who did Kelley mean by “some folks here”? Well, among others, Karl Rove — the White House’s chief political operative, and the man who may very well have set the unprecedented dismissals in motion in the first place.
But after the coaching session, Moschella went out and told Congress that there was no significant White House involvement in the firings, as far as he knew.
Michael Isikoff writes in Newsweek: “Now some investigators are saying that Rove’s attendance at the meeting shows that the president’s chief political advisor may have been involved in an attempt to mislead Congress…”
May 7th, 2007 at 6:49:39 pm
That’s a pretty interesting and ecletic list; the invite that surprised me most from the was the Elisabeth and Tim Hasselbeck invite. A former Survivor contestant-turned “The View” host with an NFL backup-QB husband? At least he is balanced out with the invite of Peyton Manning.
Also, it’s pretty cool that the winning jockey from the Derby is on the list as well.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:44:34 pm
NDLauren, I can only suspect that they’re inviting people around whom the President looks smart.
May 7th, 2007 at 10:20:35 pm
good call, ndls2006
May 8th, 2007 at 12:16:07 am
Actually, Bill Kelly is on the list. However, after allowing everyone to believe that he will stay for the entire dinner, he will announce that he has to leave early, require that the dinner courses be served two at a time to accommodate his special needs, and then bail with the promise that he will respond to guests’ questions via e-mail despite the fact that he has no plans to actually respond to their questions or even treat them with respect. He will, no doubt, arrive at the dinner with a comically-oversized Burger King cup in his hand.
White House counsel Fred Fielding, as the person in charge of Kelly, will claim that Kelly’s lack of communication, truncated presence and general attitude of personal disgust for others is in the best interest of the dinner guests. He will also reject generous offers made by Tidmarsh, Bellia and others to fill in for Kelly at the dinner table.
May 8th, 2007 at 7:17:04 am
“I can only suspect that they’re inviting people around whom the President looks smart.”
What’s wrong with thinking the bicentennial was in 1776?
May 8th, 2007 at 10:34:36 am
HAHA! IT WASN’T A SLIP OF THE TONGUE, BUSH ACTUALLY THOUGHT THE BICENTENNIAL WAS IN 1776! HE’S SO STOOPID!
May 8th, 2007 at 11:35:41 am
Didn’t he say 1796?
May 8th, 2007 at 1:30:43 pm
So, anon, you seem to be cool with the president slipping of the tongue. Did I at least get that part right?
May 9th, 2007 at 4:33:56 pm
Anon — put “vaguely rumored” before “generous offers” and it’s sort of funny.