Editors Note: This post has been retracted.
I got a last minute invite from 80 Proof’s law firm to attend the Media Institute Friends & Benefactors Awards Banquet. The black tie function, showcasing broadcasting achievements and celebrating National Freedom of Speech Week, honored, um, someone formerly representing an Administration that doesn’t even allow people with different views to attend his events. Yes, that’s right, former W press secretary – Tony Snow was the recipient of the Freedom of Speech award. Sure, of course I feel bad talking smack about someone dying of cancer, but Snow railed on how reporters are the most reliable liberal voting block, political correctness is an affront to freedom of speech and Christians are deemed a “menace” in America. Whatever.
Okay, but all this to say…I TOUCHED DANA PRIEST.
During cocktail hour, 80 Proof and I stood around a high-top, drinking wine, and eating any hors d’ourves — shrimp tempura, foie gras on crackers, mushroom and gruyere tarts — that came our way. And then she came into sight. The Pulitzer prize winning journalist, who uncovered Bush’s secret torture prisons in Europe, exposed inhumane conditions for soldiers at Walter Reed, and my bitter rival in Media Bistro’s Fishbowl DC’s “Hottest Media Types – Female, Off Air,” lurked only 5 feet away.
I knew immediately that I had to go talk to her. 80 Proof was hesitant, thinking – she might not even know she was on the finalist list for the contest. But, as the beauty contest completely changed my blogging life, I surely thought she’d at least semi-recall this important event.
Another cup of wine into the night, and as the Four Seasons staff played mini xylophones urging us into the dining room, I saw my chance. Ms. Priest just slurped down the rest of her white wine and was headed – solo – into the seating area. I pounced.
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