Inside the Beltway

Fiercely independent

Describing the newspaper he edits as “honest, fair, bold, original, and not afraid of anybody,” Wesley Pruden, editor in chief of The Washington Times, accepted the 2003 Barbara Olson Award for Excellence and Independence in Journalism at the annual Washington Club Dinner on Wednesday night.

“We wear the mark of the politically incorrect as a badge of honor,” Mr. Pruden told the audience at the Willard Intercontinental. “That we have become the liveliest newspaper in town is an example of what dedicated men and women can accomplish. Any honor accorded to me, such as this recognition here tonight, belongs to these dedicated men and women. I only preside over what they do.”

The award, named for the outspoken Washington lawyer and author who perished when the plane she was on crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, was presented by American Alternative Foundation Chairman R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., founder and editor in chief of the American Spectator. Dinner hosts included Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, Henry Kissinger, T. Boone Pickens and Robert H. Bork.

Remarking on the changing face of journalism in America, Mr. Pruden noted when he started in the newspaper trade “nobody ever called us anything as grand as ‘journalists’ or ‘the media.’ We were just newspapermen.”

Today, he strives to continue that tradition.

“Someone once said that the Wall Street Journal is the newspaper for people who run the country, the New York Times is the newspaper for people who think they run the country, The Washington Post is the newspaper for people who think they ought to run the country, and The Washington Times is the newspaper for people who don’t think anyone should run the country. I don’t know about that, but we’ll sell a paper to anyone with a quarter.”

Doom and gloom

In one of the most monotonic speeches ever delivered in Washington, John R. Bolton, undersecretary of state for Arms Control and International Security, warned the Washington Club Dinner audience that terrorists, terrorist nations, terrorist states, rogue states, Iran, Syria, North Korea, even the island of Cuba, threaten to annihilate America with nuclear, chemical, biological and every other weapon of mass destruction known to mankind.

When he finally walked away from the podium, actor and commentator Ben Stein, the dinner’s master of ceremonies, quipped: “I’m going home to kill myself. The end of the world is happening in 15 minutes. Enjoy your meal.”

Picking a lady

I was dining at Taverna on Capitol Hill the other night and spotted Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich sitting in a dark corner almost by his lonesome self. Which reminded me that the Ohio congressman is in need of a first lady.

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