MRC Gala report

The Media Research Center's Dishonor Awards Gala was fabulous, but this won't be a full report. I didn't get home until after 3 a.m., then spent over an hour uploading and tagging photos for Facebook. I have notes, but am too tired to go through them right now.

Video of Ann Coulter:



Other notes from the event:

1. Chris Matthews won the "Quote of the Year" dishonor for an incredibly gushy appraisal of Obama.

2. Tom Tancredo and Jim Gilchrist were cheered lustily.

3. Arriving 15 minutes early, I was walking across the ballroom lobby when who should come running out of the ballroom but Ann Coulter, who recognized me and hugged me. Very cool. Later, after crashing the VIP reception, I introduced Ann to "Gettysburg" filmmaker Ron Maxwell, and they seemed to hit it off wonderfully.

4. Georgia talk-radio empress Martha Zoller was there with her lovely daughter and her lovely intern -- who is also her daughter's classmate. Martha also knows my buddy Tommy (pictured). It's always good to see Georgia folks, especially the lovely ones.

5. My hosts were the Intercollegiate Study Institute, and my tablemates included ISI's Douglas Schneider, the Collegiate Network's Joe Lindsley, James Dickson from the American Spectator, and Peter Redpath of the Federalist Society.

6. Ran into my longtime blog buddy Dan Riehl after the dinner. Dan was eager to meet his e-mail buddy, talk-radio supernova Mark Levin, but couldn't find him in the crowded ballroom. I helped locate The Great One and took a photo of Dan and Mark. (Mark is much taller than he sounds on the radio.)

7. At the after-party, Lene Johansen of the Competitive Enteprise Institute was talking to John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, trying to explain to him the origins of the Facebook group, "John Fund Stole My Beer." (A long, long story . . .)

Will attempt to update and expand later. But I must have sleep first. There's video of the gala at Eyeblast TV.

UPDATE: Thanks to Dan Riehl for the link, and for the praise, "The guy has to be the hardest working dude in DC. I've yet to meet someone here he doesn't know." Whether meeting people at banquets, receptions and conferences can be considered "work" is an interesting question, but I'll simply quote Greg "Otter" Stratton from "Animal House": "Don't think of it as work. The whole point is just to enjoy yourself."

Dan also links to Ken Shepherd's Newsbusters account of Thursday night's proceedings, and to this video about Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Michael Murphy, USN:

The story of Murphy and the other members of Seal Team 10 are told by Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell in his book, Lone Survivor.