CQ Roasts & Toasts Bob Merry. Mediabistro.com/fishbowldc

CQ Roasts & Toasts Bob Merry

Thursday wasn't just another day in the life of CQ CEO Bob Merry whose departure from his home of 22 years is imminent, it was party central.

Part One: Cocktail reception on the rooftop of The Hay Adams with colleagues Mike Riley, Bruce Drake, Ken Sands and Loesje Troglia.

As happens at these events, the tributes were plentiful, but the crowd favorite was from Victoria Munroe of the advertising department. "Actually, I'm very glad Bob could join us tonight. He initially said he couldn't make it because he was going to be hiking the Appalachian Trail... Before speaking tonight I had two thoughts. First, how do you toast a charismatic, popular, visionary and successful leader? And, second, I am so glad that that is not at all relevant tonight."

And, "Bob, we were hoping to get President Obama to call in and wish you well. We requested just 5 minutes of the President's time, but the White House said he couldn't do it. But Joe Biden did say he'd be glad to call in for about 3 hours," Munroe went on.

Part Two: Dinner with friends and colleagues at Teatro Goldoni hosted by publicist Janet Donovan, who is also a publicist for CQ.

That portion of the evening was "off the record," but we managed to snag this one photo from them. In attendance: Al Hunt, Jeff Stein, Craig Crawford, Mort Kondracke, Myra McPherson, David Rapp, Bruce Drake, Margaret Warner, Keith White, Jerome Cramer, and Judy Woodruff.

Posted by Christine

Bob Merry gets roasted by friends & colleagues

Bob Merry: Author * Journalist * Editor * Media Extraordinaire * Damn Fine CEO


Mort Kondrake * Bruce Drake * Al Hunt * Margaret Warner

Douglas Brinkley's Book Party at Roosevelt House

Michael Kosmides: Cigars and Champagne with Mark Garagos

First at Milano and then to my place.

Katharine Weymouth's Summer White Party

If last Saturday night's White Party hosted by Katharine Weymouth, Goli Sheikoleslami, Molly Elkin & Ivan Wasserman is any indication as to how The Washington Post Publisher is surviving the controversy surrounding her 'salon' gatherings, you'd have to give her a thumbs up.


Could have been the weather: perfect. Could have been the guests: eclectic. Could have been the house: fab. Could have been the music and dancing: fun. Whatever the reason, she showed no visible signs of stress.

Harry Jaffe, longtime follower of The Washington Post for Washingtonian, may have gotten it right when he noted in an August 2008 article: " The woman seems unflappable. I’m beginning to think that longtime journalist Sally Quinn was not far off when she said, “Katharine is one of the most authentic people I’ve ever met.”


Considering her typical day goes like this: “I’ve been up since 5:55 and going nonstop. Got the three kids up. Put drops in the eyes of Red, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Fed the kids. Made lunches for the kids. Attempted to work out. Got two to the bus stop and the youngest to day camp at Beauvoir," Jaffe may be on to something.


Top photo: Molly Elkin and Beth Solomon


Right photo: Harry Jaffe

The List, Were you on it?

If you were any where other than Jane Stanton Hitchcock's book party at Cafe Milano last Thursday night, you were at the wrong party. Her latest tomb, "Mortal Friends", is not only a mystery to die for, but an invitation to guess who's who in the thinly veiled book about Washingtonians amid high society and politicians.....not necessarily a list you don't want to be on. Her husband Jim Hoagland and she spend a lot of time walking through Montrose Park in Oak Hill Cemetery which lead her to her current book. "I can't help it you know, I wake up thinking a serial killer is loose. .. a body in Montrose Park..... I like to be twisty in my book. I like things not to be what they seem. I felt that this was a really good opportunity to get to know another side of Washington that social people really don't see." So in Moral Friends, there is a policeman who comes to my heroine and says, "I believe that there maybe a killer hiding in plain sight in society, and you seem to know about society, and in order to know the true civil world, you have to know what the lies are." "I kept going to these dinner parties and thinking, okay, would I know evil if it sat next to me?" Think Ted Bundy. "Ted Bundy, my poster boy. God, I would have dated Ted, in fact, I did date Ted. I was in Aspen around the time he was there. I had long dark hair, parted in the middle, the perfect candidate and I think that's a very important thing to realize when you look at other people. You are going to trust people who look more like you do, and that's what this book is about in many ways that the female is trying to--you know, who do you really trust and what do you really know about people? Do you know it's simply because they tell you. It is amazing how people check what it is that they're tell you." "All mystery writers are killers at heart. I remembered Churchill said, "Now the truth is so important that she must be surrounded by a bodyguard of lies." "Well in mystery writing, it's just the opposite. The lie is so important that you have to be surrounded by these truths." Can't tell you more since Jane 'borrowed' my book to autograph for Dr. Jill Biden. Playing the guessing game: Andrea Mitchell & Alan Greenspan, Janet Langhart & Bill Cohen Aniko Gaal Schott, Ann & Lloyd Hand, Ann Jordan, Arnaud de Borchgrave, Ben Bradlee, Bob Schieffer, Buffy Cafritz, Capricia Marshall, Deborah Gore Dean, Diana Negroponte, Donna & Mack McLarty, Ina Ginsburg, Jane Harmon, Jim & Kate Lehrer, John Negroponte, Judith Terra, Liz Stevens, Lucky Roosevelt, Kevin Chaffee, Michael Beschloss, Mike Peabody, Nini Ferguson, Rima Al-Sabah, Sally Bedell & Steve Smith, Sally Quinn, Susan Blumenthal, Susan Eisenhower, Walter & Didi Cutler and Winston Bao Lord.

Photo: Jane Stanton Hitchcock earlier in the day at Nathans.

Mark Ein and Michael Kosmides Host The Washington Kastles