Tonight we kicked off our conference with a reception and a roast in honor of Fred Barnes. The room was full of personalities from Fox and a sampling of other news outlets, so it was fun watching the guests filter in. For you real news junkies, the speakers were David Brooks (NY Times), Juan Williams (NPR; Fox), Brit Hume (Fox), Bob Novak (syndicated columnist) and Jerry Leachman (Washington Redskins chaplain and Fred’s pastor). I also recognized Major Garrett and Jeff Birnbaum in the audience. I’m sure there were plenty of other people I would have recognized if I were more savvy.
Mort Kondracke and Bill Kristol had other speaking engagements so they could not be there. Apparently several of the speakers wanted to be across the street (literally) at MCI Center watching what was described as one of the biggest games in Washington Wizards history.
Each speaker paid joking tribute to Fred, usually concluding with a serious word or two about Fred. The night was full of journalistic inside jokes. The speakers had a good time joking about their various news organizations and political views. Juan Williams, “He’s Republican, I’m rational.” Bob Novak, “I was trying to figure out why they invited me, and then I realized I was the token conservative here tonight.”
Brit Hume was more animated than I have ever seen him (hard to imagine?) as he told stories dating back to when he and Fred were friends in high school and college. Several speakers also referred to the change in Fred’s life when he became a Christian. Everyone at the roast received a copy of Reagan’s Revolution, a recently released book that Fred wrote the foreword to.
The lighting and room arrangement didn’t allow me to get pictures during the dinner. So I must apologize for posting the gratuitous pictures of the pathetic college student with big name journalists. I couldn’t resist. It all happened so quickly. I just hope I was clever enough to say something like “I see you on TV all the time.” I think I was.