Our Mighty Press Corps at Work

I'm sure I've mentioned before that Dan Froomkin's White House Briefing column at The Washington Post is almost always worth a browse to tell us what's going on with the Washington press corps. His Friday piece is no exception, tipping us to what seemed to be quite the party in Crawford on Thursday night.

About 50 members of the White House press corps accepted President Bush's invitation last night to come over to his house in Crawford, eat his food, drink his booze, hang around the pool and schmooze with him -- while promising not to tell anyone what he said afterward.

. . .
And in spite of all the recent press demands for senior administration officials to stay on the record more often, the press corps can't resist an offer of face time with the president, pretty much no matter what the conditions.

Nevertheless, I'm told that several reporters expressed squeamishness about last night's event, particularly as the press-pool vans drove by antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan's "Camp Casey" site. And later, a small handful watched askance as the rest fawned over Bush, following him around in packs every time he moved.

Our press corps--hard at work, as usual.