With a gargantuan model of Congress as the backdrop, the message of the NRCC's elaborate President's Dinner last night was clear: keep Congress. Lasers, bottomless wine, and Gretchen Wilson music (yes, she even played "Redneck Woman") treated over 5,000 onlookers before and after two quick, feisty speeches from congressional leaders Hastert and Frist and the $27 million man, President Bush.
Looking tanned (10 minutes in the sun in Baghdad works wonders), President Bush gesticulated passionately from the stage when addressing troop withdrawals and his tax cuts. Bush suggested the Kerry-Murtha-Feingold alliance is waving "the white flag of surrender in this war on terror." Although Bush did not garner raucous ovations like President's Dinners of the past (and only 30 applauses rather than 70 in 2004), he received a surprisingly warm response to his not- so-popular-among-party-faithful guest worker program.