Wonkette Party Crash: CEI Awards, Part One

The CEI logo features a globe finally freed of the poisonous, deadly “O-Zone Layer”

Last night, Wonkette headed down to the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Awards Dinner, at the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency. Enjoy these pictures from noted Internet Celebrity Liz Gorman, Intrepid Girl Reporter, after the jump. A more detailed write-up TK.

The night is dedicated celebrating the media folk who’ve done the most to fight creeping socialism, which even now, decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, grows ever more pervasive. So, naturally, P.J. O’Rourke was the recipient of the night’s highest honor.
When we checked in, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that we’d been given VIP passes. So we went to the super top secret Fred Smith reception on the top floor, where we mingled with captains of industry and P.J. himself, until we felt extremely out of our element and went downstairs to mingle with the unwashed journos we usually hang out with at these things.
Theme of the evening: “A Night at the Movies.” Because that love of profit above all things prized by “classical liberals” is shared by studio execs. Posters not pictured include “Enemy of the Nanny State,” “Kill That Bill,” and “Atlas Shreked.” Ok, we made that one up.
Honoree John Stossel curses government regulation of mustache trimmers, declines to say “Gimme a BREAK” for the dozenth time tonight.
Small government hipsters.
After dinner, guests were invited to head to one of the reception rooms for free cigars, to be smoked indoors in protest against the nanny-state. USA Out of Our Esophageal Varices!
CEI is responsible for the Pro-Tree Global Warming PSA we featured last week. Remember: Cigar smoke has tar, which is used in the roofing materials that shelter our families. They call it poison, we call it life.
We make a lot of fun of liberatrians/conservatives/free-market types/whatever the hell you call CEI’s ideology, but their party had a cigarette girl giving out free packs of cigarettes. Seriously, fuck mass transit and health care, we’re totally on board with you guys.
There was a room off the main reception hall called “Liberty Lounge,” where, presumably, you were supposed to dance. These two, one of whom might be G. Gordon Liddy, were the only ones who made use of it. No one else had the lung capacity for all that physical exertion.
Nick Gillespie refuses to let big government tell him what events he should and shouldn’t wear ties to.

As we said, stay tuned for an actual write-up of the dinner itself, the awards, the speakers, and even more exclusive photos.

READ MORE: awards, cei, cigars, conservatives, dinners, global warming, john stossel, libertarians, liz gorman, movies, nick gillespie, p.j. o’rourke, parties, party crash, smoking