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WEDNESDAY

George editors Elizabeth Mitchell and Rich Blow will host a big headscratcher this Wednesday: “Why Politicians Fear the Media.” My guess is that it’s because reporters very occasionally expose just how full of shit most of them are, but maybe Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, former Newt mouthpiece Tony Blankley, and CNN White House correspondent Claire Shipman know something I don’t. Given the evening’s glitzy sponsor, maybe a more relevant question regards why politicians have nothing to fear from George. In two years, George has yet to go beyond its coverage of politics as a mannerly, celebrity-driven enterprise that just happens to cast uglier people than most sitcoms. George may be the most successful magazine launched in recent history, but it’s one more reason the public sees journalists and politicians as one teeming ball of spin that never departs from a narrow bandwidth of “acceptable” political discourse—acceptable as defined by the two respective elites. The spin begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Newseum, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. $20. For reservations call (202) 357-3030. (David Carr)