Former Rep. John Edward Porter Gives Congress a Tongue-Lashing

Sens. Richard M. Burr, R-N.C., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., were honored at Research!America’s annual advocacy awards dinner at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, the organization’s nod to their commitment to private and public sector medical research and innovation.

But things took an interesting turn, when former Rep. John Edward Porter — now chairman of the board of Research!America — took aim at Congress, accusing both parties of “idiotic posturing that is supposed to pass as governing.”

“The United States preaches democracy to the world. Our founders gave us a strong framework for making inclusive decisions,” the Illinois Republican said. “Then we do everything possible to scam the system for partisan advantage.”

The crowd, if somewhat surprised by the scathing attack, lapped it up.

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Grindr Users Abound at CPAC 2013

Grindr, the popular social app for “gay, bi and curious” men, was well represented at opening day of the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference. The app uses GPS to let users see which other users are near by.

HOH’s morning on Grindr started pretty quietly, with just one or two fresh-faced young men in close proximity. Many of the users we saw didn’t seem too worried about their orientation or political affiliation. Several users, in fact, broadcast their conservative credentials in their handles and showed their faces in their pictures.

As the day progressed, the number of nearby users steadily ticked upwards from three profiles just before 11 a.m. to 24 profiles (including two married guys) just after 4 p.m.

“With more than 4 million guys in 192 countries around the world — and approximately 10,000 more new users downloading the app every day — you’ll always find a new date, buddy, or friend on Grindr,” brags the app’s website. “Grindr is quick, convenient, and discreet. And it’s as anonymous as you want it to be.”

Warren Rojas contributed to this blog post.

CPAC’s Cult of Personality

What everyone saw at CPAC 2013:

(Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call)

What we envision everyone was actually thinking:

Lessons from CPAC 2013

Trying to wrap our heads around the broad spectrum of opinions and ideologies writ large across the head gear, lapels and promotional materials being toted around the latest Conservative Political Action Conference proved to be a mind scrambler.

Here’s what we took away from the opening day of the philosophical free-for-all:

(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)

At least one industrious entrepreneur has taken President Barack Obama’s famously twisted words to heart.

(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)

Laugh with them. Laugh at them. It’s all the same as long as the money keeps rolling in. Full story

Closed-Door, Open-Tweet Lunch with Obama

Although President Barack Obama’s lunch today with Senate Republicans is closed-door, fear not, curious minds! We’ve got Sen. David Vitter, who’s live tweeting the confab.

Thanks, senator! Good to know that when the president comes to lunch, we don’t have to wait for any pesky read-outs from the mics later!

CPAC Should Be Renamed Westcon

(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)

Why bother?

(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)

Dude

(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)

is

(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)

EVERYWHERE!

Four Decades After Secret Bombings, Kissinger Cool With Drones

Henry Kissinger, cold warrior extraordinaire, is unimpressed with Sen. Rand Paul’s concerns about drone warfare.

The former secretary of State and national security adviser to President Richard Nixon, who helped guide Nixon through many a decision on the Vietnam War and its many bombings, watched the Kentucky Republican’s filibuster last week and dismissed Paul’s worry that the U.S. government would take out one of its own citizens on U.S. soil as ridiculous.

“Having seen many of these wars, I sympathize with President McCain,” he said.

“Sen. [John] McCain, [R-Ariz.], sir?” we asked, not sure if we misheard or he misspoke. The noise level at the West End’s Ritz-Carlton art gallery was loud.

“Yes, Sen. McCain.”

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Overheard: McCain and Mikulski

The Warholian World of CPAC

As we gird our loins to mingle with the true believers set to swarm conservative Thunderdome — aka Conservative Political Action Conference 2013 — we couldn’t help but admire the far right’s dedication to pop artist Andy Warhol’s prescribed allotment of fame.

The three-day ideological jamboree March 14-16 must keep the rhetorical trains moving, so featured speakers are hustled into the limelight for 15 minutes before being released into the wilds of book signings, film screenings, prayer breakfasts and private fundraisers.
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Hollywood Humanitarian Targets Global Gun Trade

Having squared off historical bloodshed (“Amistad”), socioeconomic injustice (“Blood Diamond”) and otherworldly evil (“Constantine”) in past projects, actor
Djimon Hounsou wants to spare our future the same.

He’ll be calling on Congress — specifically Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., and, possibly, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. — Thursday to do just that.

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House Toner Scams: Knowing Is Half the Battle

Hey, buddy, want to buy some cheap toner? Not so fast, the House inspector general says.

According to a memo sent to the congressional community from Inspector General Theresa Grafenstine, lawmakers are being targeted with increasing frequency by scammers who claim to sell toner at discounted prices — that are actually as much as 10 times the market rate.

“It is an unfortunate reality that toner vendors will attempt to take advantage of individuals who may be unaware of the existence of this scam,” Grafenstine reflected.
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Capitol Quip: Your Turn to Pick the Golden Winner

Here are the five finalists for this week’s caption contest. Now it’s your turn to vote.

Using the comments section below, vote for your favorite caption until 5 p.m. EDT Thursday.

Here are this week’s finalists:

• “The CBO already counted that gold in the 10-year forecast.”

• “I guess the leprechauns have sheltered it all offshore.”

• “The GAO is going to hear about this.”

• “Empty again? Time to raise the debt ceiling.”

• “We had a four-year campaign to find out the pot o’ gold was empty?”

The cartoon with the winning caption will appear on this blog March 18 and in that day’s print edition of Roll Call. The contest winner will receive a signed color print of his or her Capitol Quip cartoon from the cartoonist, R.J. Matson.

Kissinger to Honor Scowcroft

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is quite the social butterfly these days.

Back in January, the 89-year-old statesman honored his former boss, the late President Richard Nixon, at an event at the Mayflower Hotel celebrating the 100th birthday of the controversial president.

On Wednesday night, Kissinger will present Brent Scowcroft with the National Defense University Foundation’s first International Statesman and Business Advocate Award.

Scowcroft served as national security adviser under Presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush. He and Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser for President Jimmy Carter, have long worked together to advocate greater bipartisanship in U.S. foreign policy.

Also expected to attend the event tonight: Gen. Colin Powell, J.W. “Bill” Marriott, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., among other notables.

Sanford’s Former CoS Makes Argentina-Pope Joke, Wins Twitter

Remember former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford? The Republican one, the one who’s running for the Palmetto State’s 1st District seat? He made quite a splash when his gubernatorial staff lost him somewhere on the Appalachian Trail and he popped up again with his mistress in Argentina. 

Today, just after the brand-spanking-new Pope Francis I (nee Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio) was announced, Sanford’s former chief of staff Scott English tweeted: “See, nobody complains when the College of Cardinals goes to Argentina.”

He rounded the tweet off with a #marksanford hashtag.

We’re calling it: English won Twitter.

Rep. Mike Quigley Scores His Life

NBC talking head Chuck Todd floated a fun trial balloon on Twitter, positing that lawmakers should all have theme songs to play them onto TV appearances.

We wholeheartedly concur, and Illinois Democrat Mike Quigley was the first to self-nominate, selecting “Chelsea Dagger” by The Fratellis as his personal anthem:

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