Gannon: ‘If I had been a liberal, I’d be a hero!’

It was Sex Scandal Day at Nathans of Georgetown on Thursday, as Jeff Gannon and Harlan Ullman joined owner Carol Joynt for the lunchtime Q&A Cafe discussion series.

Ullman, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Atlantic Council who famously coined the phrase “shock and awe,” was recently named by “D.C. Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey as “one of the regular customers” of her prostitution ring. But Ullman says it’s rubbish.

“The allegations are outrageous and do not dignify a response,” Ullman told the Nathans crowd. “My wife and I view this as most bizarre. ... It’s like being in a bad Franz Kafka novel.” When asked by Joynt whether he’d ever met Palfrey, Ullman said “absolutely not,” adding “I have no idea why lightning happened to strike me.”

Gannon (legal name: James Dale Guckert), you’ll recall, rose to notoriety when, during a news conference, he asked President Bush what many thought was a softball question. With the media’s spotlight on him, it was subsequently revealed that Gannon, who was working for the conservative Web site Talon News, was featured on a gay escort service’s Web site.

“My personal life, which has been widely reported and distorted, has nothing to do with my professional life as a journalist,” said Gannon, who acknowledged his wild and crazy past. “When I moved to D.C., I linked in with a pretty wild crowd,” he said, “but I put all that behind when I decided to become a journalist.”

Gannon maintained that he got a raw deal during his 15 minutes of fame.

“There’s not a single reason why I should not be allowed in the White House as a journalist. ... If I had been a liberal, I’d be a hero!”

Gannon revealed that he’s recently attracted his own legion of, er, “admirers.”

“There’s a woman who runs around the country saying that I’m her son who was kidnapped from Iowa back in 1982. ... I’ve been accused of being involved in the murder of Hunter Thompson. ... I have a woman who stalks me, that tells me that she’s channeling my Jack Russell terrier that died two years ago,” he said.

Sanjaya to attend Correspondents dinner

Move over Petra. Step aside Jane Fonda. Make room, Morgan Fairchild. Although all of the major news organizations spent weeks bragging about their big name celebrity guests, People magazine has pulled a great coup by grabbing someone who's sure to turn more heads than anyone else this weekend: Sanjaya Malakar, the "American Idol" contestant whose hilarious run on the reality show finally came to an end this week.

People magazine secured the hair-challenged 17-year-old to be their guest during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday (but he won't be at the magazine's party tonight at IndeBleu).

Sanjaya earned his 15 minutes of fame by managing to go far on the tough "Idol" show despite an obvious lack of talent (he was bolstered by campaigns led by radio shock jock Howard Stern and such Web sites as www.votefortheworst.com.

In recent years, People magazine has managed to secure the most recently voted off American Idol contestant for the big WHCA weekend. Last year, that was Ace Young and in 2005, People hosted Constantine Maroulis.

And say what you want about WHCA dinner headliner Rich Little: We'd give anything to see him do an impersonation of Sanjaya...

Young lobbyists promise $2,300 each for Mitt

The D.C. chapter of Young Professionals for Mitt Romney (YP4MITT) — now boasting 98 members on its steering committee — kicks off its 2008 efforts with an organizational meeting Tuesday at the offices of Patton Boggs.

“[Former Massachusetts] Governor Romney’s oldest son Tagg will be our special guest,” promises an e-mail sent by one of the organizers and obtained by Yeas & Nays. Ben Ginsberg, outside legal counsel for the campaign, will brief the crowd, and the “campaign staff will make presentations on various aspects of the campaign.”

An attached document informs the lobbyists and other government-relations types that they’re committing to raise $2,300 apiece by “selling tickets to YP4MITT fundraising events, an individual contribution or other permissible federal fundraising activities.”

Just for good measure, the campaign will assign each a “Fundraiser ID, which is a unique number that helps the campaign track how much you raise for Governor Romney.”

But Big Brother fears aside: “As the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections taught us, young professionals can effectively combine their financial resources and energy to significantly impact election results. … In fact, Young Professionals for George W. Bush (YP4W) raised over $300,000 for then-Governor George W. Bush.”

Musgrave, Allard add to their wardrobes

Colorado residents on Thursday delivered a pink suit to Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., stating that the empty suit represents her absence at a recent district meeting to discuss the Iraq war.

According to Jane Feustel, of Colorado Progressive Action, Musgrave was singled out because of her “particularly atrocious” voting record.

Feustel promised Colorado residents present at the city hall meeting in Fort Collins that she would find a way to deliver their comments to their representative.

Feustel and others pinned 50 of their comments, on pink paper of course, to the suit. (Musgrave is known for her pink fashions.)

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., also received a suit — a black one — with an additional 50 messages pinned to it. Colorado Progressive Action shelled out a total of $13 to purchase both suits from the secondhand store Savers in Colorado.

Speakeasy

“Dr. Phil can talk this way, but not a potential president.”

– Global warming skeptic Steven F. Hayward, speaking about Al Gore at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday night

“You have to understand, back then it wasn’t unusual for a woman to smoke during pregnancy. It was only later that we learned about the effects on the child’s mental development.”

– The first sentence in Tom Ruprecht’s tongue-in-cheek “George W. Bush: An Unauthorized Oral History”