GREEN & GLOVER: Norquist vs. Whitford

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, isn’t taking being picked on by a Hollywood actor lying down.

Last week, Bradley Whitford, who played White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the long-running NBC drama “The West Wing” (1999-2006), was on Capitol Hill along with series star Martin Sheen to lobby for union-backed “card check” legislation. In a jab at the conservative activist, the actor gibed, “There will never be a Grover Norquist Day,” alluding to March 31 being labor icon Cesar Chavez’s birthday.

“Sadly, I’ve never seen the show. What channel is it on?” Mr. Norquist asked when reached for comment by your inquiring correspondents.

Mr. Norquist’s tastes apparently are more attuned to filmed entertainment of the animated variety.

“This whole thing reminds me of the film ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’” Mr. Norquist said about Mr. Whitford’s remark. “In the movie, the cartoon characters go around hitting the real-life characters and then disappearing into Never Never Land.”

Spring flings

Back in “1978 … or was it ‘79?” Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia Democrat, was just another spring breaker on his way to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with some college buddies to sample as “many of the tackiest fast-food restaurants we could find,” he told us.

Pressed for more details by your tenacious lady spies, Mr. Warner, former governor and ever the Virginia gentleman, demurred: “Everything else is nothing a sitting U.S. senator should acknowledge.”

“I won’t be able to top that one,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, New Jersey Democrat, when told of his Virginia colleague’s story. “I was always working during my spring breaks in college.”

What happens in Key West stays in Key West for Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat. He told us he has some great memories of Hemingway’s bar down there.

But if you’re the sort of person who actually remembers what you did in Key West … are you the sort of person who should bother visiting Key West?

There’s no reason the boys should have all the fun. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Michigan Democrat, and Rep. Doris Matsui, California Democrat, huddled together and told us with girlish glee about their spring flings.

Mrs. Stabenow said she piled into a convertible with friends for a trip to the many lakes in Michigan.

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