<em>The Daily Caller</em> Party: Even a Caveman Can Attend

The cast of characters at Monday night’s Daily Caller second official keg party was nothing short of colorful. For one thing, this wild-haired intern from Reason Magazine, Armin Rosen, showed up and life as we know it will never be the same. For another, even without the original guest of honor, GOP consultant Roger Stone, the celebration of new hire Mary Katharine Ham, turned out a jammed hallway full of journalists and guests and a keg sponsored by Miller-Coors. Stone had to be in New York to coach gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino. “This is how it should be,” remarked Daily Caller V.P. of Sales Alex Treadway, raving that Ham is sure to be a publication star. The Wild Haired intern, meanwhile, was opening up. “Please don’t ruin my career,” Rosen repeatedly begged FishbowlDC throughout an evening that felt like something between a summer camp outing, a blog convention and a trip to the circus. Before fleeing the party, the intern’s boss, Matt Welch, Reason's Editor-in-Chief, asked me to babysit Wild Hair and make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. (Note to Editors: We’ll be glad to babysit your reporters, but a) really? b) it’s questionable FBDC policy, and c) we wouldn’t dream of stopping a journalist from partaking in any form of stupid activity he or she so desires.) Soon enough, the intern’s clear Doppelganger emerged: the Geico caveman. He explained the simplicity of his hair upkeep. "It's easy, I don't comb it - ever," he said. "All you have to do is get into a sublime state of not caring and you get this hair." Party banter ranged from Washington’s uptight nature and the Brett Favre sexting scandal to House GOP leaders and Twitter follower counts. “People in Washington are boring as f—k,” remarked Daily Caller’s Mike Riggs. And yet, those here could hardly be considered boring – Less Government's Seton Motley, when Wild Hair was pointed out, pulled out a shirtless picture of himself (perhaps from the 80s) with wavy blondish hair cascading to his waist. Riggs swore he wasn’t “on anything” Monday night except beer. We believed him (mostly) until he knelt down on one knee and bestowed solemn praise to another partygoer, The Exiled’s Mark Ames, while chanting, “Oh my f—king God. Oh my f—king God.” Washington City Paper’s Moe Tkacik, who came to the party with Ames, suggested that some in Washington might have Asperberger’s Syndrome. She’s a recent transplant to Washington and hire to WCP. (If you haven't seen her work, it’s a must). Others in the crowd: Daily Caller spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins, Publisher Neil Patel, Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson, the Washington Examiner’s J.P. Freire, The Hill’s Christina Wilkie and Wonkette’s Elizabeth Glover. Also from Wonkette was the newly hired Morning Editor, Riley Waggaman, who looks like something out of a Harry Potter movie with blond hair, glasses and a bright turquoise button-down. Already partied and gone were The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack and TWT’s Eli Lake. McCormack, referring to Riggs’s recent shrooming escapade, tweeted about the party, saying he "felt a little funny after eating some Halloween candy but a purple monkey just flew in the room and told me candy is not laced." Many Daily Caller reporters were on hand to kick the keg. The included Alex Pappas, Jeff Winkler, Jonathan Strong, Chris Moody, Matthew Boyle, a part-timer, and a mystery staffer from a Democratic lawmaker’s office who didn’t want to be identified. (An office rule forbids office staffers from being Google-able alongside the boss’s name.) More in the crowd: TWT’s Ben Birnbaum, CNS's Nicholas Ballasy, The Atlantic’s Chris Good and Daily Caller’s new blog consultant Klaus Marre. It’s time to check on Wild Hair… The Reason intern assessment: Still drinking beer and relatively well behaved. He says he mostly makes it to work on time and largely writes on whatever topics he pleases – they don’t impose a lot of orders. We hear he emotionally flooded Tucker Carlson in the kitchen, where he cornered him for extensive conversation. (Carlson, who attended the party with wife, Susie, was eventually rescued.) “Off the record!” Wild Hair was saying loudly by the end the evening, noting that saying “Off the record” retroactively does not count (thank you Wild Hair for the impromptu journalism lesson.) As the party dimmed, Wild Hair’s voice rose and his thoughts became deeper. “I like him because he gets me mad, deeply enraged,” he explained loudly of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, watching the flat screen set to the left-leaning network in the Daily Caller newsroom, declaring that few TV personalities make him angrier than Olbermann.

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The Daily Caller Party: Even a Caveman Can Attend

Betsy Rothstein

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Betsy Rothstein