Thursday, June 9, 2011

Paco sends his regrets

Well, now, that’s strange. I received an email invitation at work today to attend the “Human Capital conference”, sponsored by something called “Excellence in Government”. The email rather breathlessly announced that NBC Chief White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd will be the luncheon keynote speaker

I googled Excellence in Government and found out that it’s an association of federal managers. The connection to excellence of any kind would seem to be tenuous, given the membership, but the presence of Todd is baffling. He is a garden-variety liberal talking head who, when he left National Journal’s Hotline to join NBC in 2007, remarked that, “It is more than a bit humbling to think I will be calling Brian Williams, Tim Russert and Chris Matthews (!) my colleagues – all three of whom I admire and respect greatly(!!!).” He has recently been detected in the act of being willfully blind to Obama’s contributions to high gas prices, he suffers occasional, sudden attacks of bitter-clinger-itis and he sees little or no difference between the media’s treatment of W and Obama. Oh, and he’s married to Democratic operative Kristian Denny Todd – a lovely woman and wonderful human being, no doubt, but does anyone really imagine that this pairing was an ideological mismatch?

I kid, of course. Who else would a group of bureaucrats tap for an hour of comforting, big-government blather besides someone from the legacy media who’s practically a gaslight sconce in the quaint old temple of inside-the-beltway navel-gazing.

I believe I shall give this luncheon the miss-in-baulk, and trickle round to Five Guys Burgers and Fries, instead.

Update: Speaking of Five Guys, here's a little background.

11 comments:

JeffS said...

Mmmmmmmm.....Five Guys Burgers and Fries!!!!!

Anywho, I am in complete agreement about that "Excellence in Government" organization. I've been around them, and similar gatherings, before. Not to mention, way too many Federal "managers".

Your time is better spent eating delicious burgers and fries.

rinardman said...

...Chuck Todd will be the luncheon keynote speaker.

My god, how could anyone eat food, and keep it down, while being subjected to Chuck Todd!

They had better pass out barf bags to the participants.

Good choice, Paco.

*

Paco said...

rinardman: I have to admit, it was one of the easiest choices I ever had to make.

Minicapt said...

Chuck Todd lives in Virginia; what could go wrong?

Cheers

bruce said...

"First Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence"

But the meanies make people compete to advance up the civil service ladder instead of awarding remuneration based on 'need' - That mean mean competitive system is what John Ralston Saul calls 'corporatisation'.

Mr. Bingley said...

I had me a Five Guys burger with cheese and jalapenos and cajun fries just the other day. Quite tasty.

This should be served at the first State Dinner you and the Missus host at the White House, Paco!

Paco said...

You can count on it, Bingley! And I trust that you and your bride will be there.

Mr. Bingley said...

I have just the fedora to wear!

RebeccaH said...

All Chuck Todd needs is a pair of horns to complete his look. Ugh.

I like Five Guys burgers, but they're way too big, and I have this finicky objection to wading through piles of peanut shells. Same reason I don't eat at Longhorn.

Yojimbo said...

Five Guys Burgers must be an eastern seaboard thingy. All we can experience out west are five finger discounts.

JeffS said...

Yojimbo, how close is the Heart Attack Grill to you?

From the menu, it's not Five Guys, but does appear* to have one thing in common: delicious burgers and fries.

(*: I've eaten at Five Guys, not the H.A.G. --- although I'd like to!)