[note: this is only an excerpt]

Last spring, when even P. DIDDY was paying attention to politics, the White House Correspondents' Association's dinner attracted DREW BARRYMORE, BEN AFFLECK and even LYNDON LAROUCHE. The dinner, see, is a chance for journalists to feel cool because they have invited cool people to sit next to them. And last year the flirtation between Politics and Coolness became as intense as ever.

But there is a nagging sense this year that Coolness has grown bored and started seeing other people. This we were pondering on Saturday night as we walked into the Washington Hilton for the pre-dinner cocktails. Sure, we saw MARY TYLER MOORE, DENNIS HOPPER, ALAN GREENSPAN, DONALD RUMSFELD, KINKY FRIEDMAN, BILL MAHER, AL FRANKEN, ANTONIN SCALIA, HELEN MIRREN and BARACK OBAMA.

But when we made the rounds, we couldn't shake the feeling that, in celebrity terms, this year was T. J. Maxx to last year's Barneys. Was it just us? In a party tent set up near the pool, TREY PARKER and MATT STONE, the creators of "South Park," agreed that in Hollywood, policy was so 2004.

"People have shifted from politics to cheese," Mr. Parker said. "Cheese is huge right now because all the wineries have gone under."

[ source: NYTIMES ]