Cozy Relationships

Last week the media in Washington indulged in one of those clubby, elitist, members-only moments that they seem to enjoy from time to time. The Gridiron Club, a prestigious and storied journalistic organization in Washington (John Philip Sousa was the first musical director--I didn't even know he was a journalist). They put on one of their fairly regular shows last week, and they got one surprise performance: The Prez stepped up with a musical number. It flaunted his various controversies and scandals, but typical of the Gridiron Club, it was all in good fun.

Not everybody was amused, though (and I don't just mean those of us with no senses of humor who didn't even find his no WMDs in the Oval Office comedy routine from a few years back the least bit chuckle worthy). Chris Matthews was up in arms that journalists would deign to rub elbows and share a laugh with Washington's movers and shakers (as if they don't always). Media Matters has the details from after Matthews watched the video:

MATTHEWS: Well, that was quite a hoot. All that joking by the president about Brownie, the guy in charge of the New Orleans disaster, and, of course, Scooter Libby, the guy involved in a CIA cover-up. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's reporters -- the best of them -- laughing at events and political acts that warrant anything -- I mean anything -- but laughter.

There is nothing, nothing funny about Bush's reference to Brownie, that disastrous appointment followed by that catastrophic handling of the Katrina horror in New Orleans. Nothing funny about a war fought for bad intelligence and a top aide, Scooter Libby, who committed perjury and obstruction of justice to cover it up. Nothing funny about a president who commuted that sentence to keep the cover-up protected. Otherwise, I'm sure it was an enjoyable get-together between journalists and the people they're charged with covering.

Okay, it appears to me that one of two things is going on here.

1) Matthews, and probably the rest of the mainstream media, has finally realized that John McCain might not walk away with the election in the fall. Therefore, with control of the White House moving from Republican to Democratic control, they're starting to move the pendulum back toward an adversarial relationship with the president. Or,

2) Matthews's application for membership in the Gridiron Club has been turned down again.