Leaving the Gridiron Dinner

[sheshe2]

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Remarks by the President at the Gridiron Dinner

THE PRESIDENT: Before I begin, I know some of you have noticed that I'm dressed a little differently from the other gentlemen. Because of sequester, they cut my tails. (Laughter.) My joke writers have been placed on furlough. (Laughter.) I know a lot of you reported that no one will feel any immediate impact because of the sequester. Well, you're about to find out how wrong you are. (Laughter.)

Of course, there's one thing in Washington that didn't get cut -- the length of this dinner. (Laughter.) Yet more proof that the sequester makes no sense. (Laughter.)

As you know, I last attended the Gridiron dinner two years ago. Back then, I addressed a number of topics -- a dysfunctional Congress, a looming budget crisis, complaints that I don't spend enough time with the press. It's funny, it seems like it was just yesterday. (Laughter.)

We noticed that some folks couldn't make it this evening. It's been noted that Bob Woodward sends his regrets, which Gene Sperling predicted. (Laughter.) I have to admit this whole brouhaha had me a little surprised. Who knew Gene could be so intimidating? (Laughter.) Or let me phrase it differently -- who knew anybody named Gene could be this intimidating? (Laughter.)

Go to the link for the rest of his remarks:


http://theobamadiary.com/2013/03/10/chat-away-127/

[Cha]

1. So glad Pres Obama got this out there about Bob Woodward..

I have to admit this whole brouhaha had me a little surprised. Who knew Gene could be so intimidating? (Laughter.) Or let me phrase it differently -- who knew anybody named Gene could be this intimidating?

This thread needs a pic of Gene Sperling, she.. here he is with his wife and son..


Gene Sperling, Allison Abner with Son Miles

thanks She!

[sheshe2]

2. You keep me laughing, Cha.

You truly do.

[Cha]

3. All this Gene Sperling talk has me doing research on the man..

Turns out he's a BOGger!..

What he is, say people in both parties, is a master at melding policy and politics, where others specialize in one or the other. That is despite work habits that for years spawned anecdotes of long hours and longer tables (to hold all the papers), spilled ink (details below) and late-night calls. By all accounts, marriage and two children have made him more efficient since his time in the Clinton circle, though his Treasury office was called BOG, pun intended, for Bureau of Gene.

Mr. Hubbard said Mr. Sperling often sought his views during the Clinton years, adding that “Gene was always very active in reaching out to people who didn’t agree.”

While Mr. Hubbard calls Mr. Sperling a centrist, and critics on the left agree, Mr. Sperling has always considered himself a liberal who is pragmatic about what is possible in politics, much like Mr. Obama

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/business/economy/21sperling.html?_r=0

Likewise, She

Oh, and Sperling's wife? She wrote for West Wing..

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0008823/

[sheshe2]

4. You are the Lois Lane of DU!

Lois Lane's character was created from many influences. Her physical appearance was originally based on Joanne Carter, a model hired by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Joanne Carter would later marry Siegel. The character's personality was based on Torchy Blane, a gutsy, beautiful headline-hunting reporter, portrayed by actress Glenda Farrell in a series of films from the 1930s. Siegel took her name from actress Lola Lane, who also played Torchy Blane in one of the films.[1] Lois is also based on real life journalist Nellie Bly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_Lane

And our own Nellie Bly:

Nellie Bly (May 5, 1864[1] – January 27, 1922) was the pen name of American journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. She remains notable for two feats: a record-breaking trip around the world in emulation of Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within. In addition to her writing, she was also an industrialist and charity worker. She originally intended for her pseudonym to be "Nelly Bly," but her editor wrote "Nellie" by mistake, and the error stuck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly

You would do anything to get the story straight.

Thanks for the tip about Gene and wife! BOGers!
Please proceed, Cha!

[Cha]

5. We're all Nellie Blys!

In 1880, Bly and her family moved to Pittsburgh. An aggressively misogynistic column in the Pittsburgh Dispatch prompted her to write a fiery rebuttal to the editor with the pen name "Lonely Orphan Girl." The editor was so impressed with Bly's earnestness and spirit that he asked the man who wrote the letter to join the paper. When he learned the man was Bly, he refused to give her the job, but she was a good talker and persuaded him. Female newspaper writers at that time customarily used pen names, and for Bly the editor chose "Nellie Bly", adopted from the title character in the popular song "Nelly Bly" by Stephen Foster.

As a writer, Bly focused her early work for the Dispatch on the plight of working women, writing a series of investigative articles on female factory workers. But editorial pressure pushed her to the so-called "women's pages" to cover fashion, society, and gardening, the usual role for female journalists of the day. Dissatisfied with these duties, she took the initiative and traveled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent. Still only 21, she spent nearly half a year reporting the lives and customs of the Mexican people; her dispatches were later published in book form as Six Months in Mexico. In one report, she protested the imprisonment of a local journalist for criticizing the Mexican government, then a dictatorship under Porfirio Díaz. When Mexican authorities learned of Bly's report, they threatened her with arrest, prompting her to leave the country. Safely home, she denounced Díaz as a tyrannical czar suppressing the Mexican people and controlling the press.

Thank you so much for the informative links on this history of which I knew Nothing.

BOG She