How CBS News Booked PSY for the White House Correspondents Dinner

I expect Charlie Rose to be dancing Gangnam Style tonight at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. That's because, at least as of late last night, his designated dinner partner is the pop music sensation PSY. Charlie was not concerned, except about one thing: "I'm happy to sit by him but I've told CBS I plan to leave the dinner early." Charlie will head over to the Vanity Fair party at the French Ambassador's Kalorama residence. I think he should just invite PSY along, (he's already on the VF list) and the two of them can gallop Gangnam Style up Connecticut Avenue. That might rob the President or Conan O'Brien of making a PSY joke, though.

Last night at the Bradley dinner, where news spread of PSY's 11th hour addition to the  CBS News dinner guest list, the questions were how did they get him and was he traveling to Washington from Korea? They got him courtesy of Jennifer Maguire, wife of CBS News Washington bureau chief Chris Isham. Maguire is an executive with the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. On Friday, the Festival honored Psy for his transcultural success by presenting him with the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award. 

It was at the awards event at New York University where Maguire suggested to PSY that he come to Washington for the big media dinner. Done and done. All he asked was for a hotel room where he could smoke cigarettes. Done and done. 

My prediction is he'll be the celebrity sensation of the weekend, as Ozzy Osbourne was a few years ago, and the Jonas Brothers a while back, and Lindsay Lohan last year. 

Last night at the Bradley dinner, upon hearing the news, otherwise gray-humored members of the DC elite exclaimed, "I want to get my picture taken with him."

Notably, CBS sent me this message that lists their other WHCA dinner guests: U.S. Marine General John Allen, former Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan; Chef José Andrés, Gen. John F. Campbell, the Army's vice chief of staff; Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas); Jared Cohen, the director of Google Ideas and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations;Actor Daniel Dae Kim from the CBS hit, “Hawaii Five-0;” Emmy and Golden Globe winner Claire Danes from the Showtime hit, “Homeland;” Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; Reginald L. Love, former special assistant and personal aide to President Obama; Lisa Monaco, White House Counterterrorism and Homeland Security Advisor; Retired Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Samantha Power, Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at the National Security Council; Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs; Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals’ third baseman.  The line under Zimm is my doing. That's who I'd want for a dinner partner, with PSY on my other side.