Live Q&As

Well, I'm in a bit of a glass house on this one, because as I was leaving the New Yorker party at the W on Friday night, I greeted my friend Austan Goolsbee in such a boisterous manner that he informed me that "you've had too much sushi."

I skipped the WHCA dinner again this year for reasons of peace and sanity.  However, I do have a nugget that is in need of urgent reporting.  A comely correspondent for Nippon TV approached Chris Cillizza at the dinner and was very interested in talking to him, which I am told was very satisfying to the Fix.  Then the correspondent said to him: "Are you Al Kamen?"

I blame Goldman Sachs.  They seem to be the perfect villain for everything this season.

See?

I think the more useful thing would be for her to start drilling a really big well in Alaska and see if that could reduce the flow of the oil spill in the Gulf.

I think it's temperament more than experience.   Of course, there's something to be said for being deliberative and compemplative.  But in the case of immigration it made the politics of it worse in the Senate.  In the case of the Gulf spill, it makes Obama look a bit wishy washy, even though there's not a whole lot he can do about the problem in the Gulf.

I think Bill and Chelsea are too busy getting ready for the wedding. 

Oh, that other father-daughter duo?   It is but a matter of time until they or others use the bombing attempt -- and the oil spill! -- to prove that Obama has made America less safe.

Well, let's see.

1) I am not a White House reporter. (Although I am certainly worthy of scorn.)

2) I wasn't ascribing "nefarious intent" to Obama when he said those words that killed immigration reform.  He may have had the highest and purest motives.  I merely said he killed immigration reform -- which he did.

The really weird part is a chunk of the material -- the Boehner tan, for example -- is recycled.

As confessed previously, I wasn't in the hall.  But surely even a lame Leno wasn't as bad as Rich Little. 

Many very funny people in the White House press corps, and some who even are funny intentionally.  But their jobs require them to conceal this blemish.

Good point, that.  But surely Halliburton has some sort of equipment the government could buy to shut off the oil?   Maybe Blackwater could install it.

They are so convinced that alternative fuels are the future that they are deliberately draining all the oil out of the Gulf of Mexico.

By the way I think we should revert to calling BP British Petroleum.    Bunch of furners spilling in our water (even if they were trying to get oil for us).

We have already established that Justice Stevens and Goldman Sachs caused the oil disaster, so I think the environmentalists are off the hook.   ?Although that is an excellent theory; by the same logic the environmentalists should all buy SUVs and run them 24/7 to hasten the ill effects of global warming.

What a kind invitation!  I would love to visit your brother in Arizona.   But first I want to see how it goes in Arizona for my wife, who is in Phoenix this week.  She is Italian and her complexion is a bit olive, so we don't know if that will land her in the pokey.   But if she gets back without incident I will make quick arrangements to visit your brother.  Does he cook?  Is there a comfortable guest room?

 I think you ought to read the column that this exchange is about.  It did indeed point out Reid's role in the debacle.   Obama's problem, as the piece goes through, is he needed to do one of two things: Tell the immigration advocates that they'd have to wait until 2011, or make a serious legislative push for it.  Instead, he made his casual remark about there being no "appetite" for immigration on the very day the Senate Democrats' proposal leaked out. 

I fear you may be right.   He stopped doing the press conferences after the Cambridge police incident, and the White House Correspondents Association finally convinced Gibbs to have Obama open up to the press a bit more -- and then he steps in it with this immigration question.   The conclusion that should be drawn is that these mistakes wouldn't happen if Obama were more accustomed to taking questions off the cuff, but I have a feeling you are correct and the reaction will be to insulate him from questions again.

As for the "slam him to the wall" bit, I don't think the slamming he would care about would be from columns like mine, but the earful he's getting privately from Senate Democrats for undermining them on immigration.

I like it!  And I've already got a place to stay in Arizona, thanks to that previous questioner offering up his brother's place.

My puppy just trampled the water lillies at my friend Glenn Simpson's house.  You think I should be deported?  Or maybe I'm safe because it was in the District of Columbia which is not really part of America.

Carbo loading.  Early and often. 

Fascinating mix of questions.  That column seems to have angered people on completely opposite sides of the issue.  I have renewed admiration for what Schumer and Graham tried to do in navigating this -- and a renewed sense of hopelessness about them succeeding.   I need a vacation.  Someplace where people don't trample gardens.

Thank you for keeping us abreast of that one.

Speaking of obituaries, it is time to pronounce this live online dead.  Thanks for chatting.