Wonkette Party Crash: A Very Chamber of Commerce Christmas
Last Thursday, we crashed one of the biggest, drunkest annual get-togethers of the exhausting holiday party scene -- the Chamber of Commerce party. Our report is after the jump, and Liz Gorman, Intrepid Girl Reporter's gallery is available here.
The party is held at the Chamber's massive offices, across the street, more or less, from the White House. There is a list, and people are turned away, but the rule of Washington Party Crashing still applies: show up late. No one at the door cares anymore and everyone is already drunk and entertaining.
It did seem, as we entered, that the entire room was full of Republican Hill staffers and Late Night Shots posters. But people were generally friendly, if extremely reluctant to tell us who they are and who they work for. Still, everyone's friends at Christmas, so the threats of violence were left implicit.
Because of that aforementioned reluctance to talk on the record, our list of boldfaced names is decidedly short. We sawThe Hill's Emily Heil, the only other gossip to show up as late as we did. We hung out with some Democratic Operatives who mingled with Republicans and goaded them into saying things outrageously offensive. Surprisingly easy!
Highlight on that front might've been the folks who, when we asked, told us they worked for "the next President of the United States." This turned out to be George Allen. This was shortly after last call, when we began telling everyone who asked that we were there withWashington Life.
We followed a couple folks to the afterparty at Bobby Van's, where the Chamber had neglected to set up a tab, to the disappointment of everyone.
Hey, remember this sighting from last week's Wonk'd?
I sawCongressman Michael McCaul(R-TX, married with five children) drinking at Bobby Van's on 12th St., NW the night of Pearl Harbor Day with a stunning blonde. The only other time I've seen the blonde is at Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's side, so I guess that's who she works for... But Chertoff was nowhere to be found. The blonde did have three smoked packs of Marlboro Lights in front of her, though, so Chertoff may have been disguised as a cigarette.
We didn't write it, but we did see it. There's some gossip for ya.
Finally, on Friday night, we received this email:
OK so here is the deal:
I have a great Tucker Carlson sighting story.
AND
Saw who I assumed was Intern Lauren taking pictures at the Chamber holiday party last night.
Would be will to trade the former for drinks with the latter. In the event that she has a boyfriend this offer is null and void.
To which we didn't respond (but could've), "Sir, you are a creep. Also, that was Liz." To be honest, there really aren't any "great Tucker Carlson sighting stories." Some dudes at the party mentioned seeing him at a Grateful Deadcover bandshow, which is sad, not "great."
All in all, a bit of a disappointment. Santa left before the girls getting their pictures with him got too raunchy, and though the booze and food held out admirably, the mood of the GOP-leaning Hill Staffers was perhaps too depressed for drunken antics.