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Gridiron Club Roast Serves Up Salutes Along With the Satire

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From Associated Press

With a Barbara Bush impersonator warbling affection for Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, bigwigs of the Washington press corps turned Saturday’s annual Gridiron Club musical revue into a patriotic salute to the U.S. military.

President Bush and the First Lady were invited guests at the white-tie dinner where Gridiron members lampooned the Washington power elite in songs and skits that spoofed Democrats and Republicans alike.

Members of the club of 60 leading Washington journalists also hurled their satirical barbs at Vice President Dan Quayle, Japanese businessmen, White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu and savings and loan figure Charles H. Keating Jr.

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But the evening was dominated by emotional tributes celebrating the allied triumph over Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces in the Persian Gulf War.

The audience of movers and shakers included such Gulf War notables as Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Kuwaiti Ambassador Sheik Saud al Nasir al Sabah, and CNN correspondent Peter Arnett.

The traditionally lighthearted evening began when Gridiron President Godfrey Sperling Jr. of the Christian Science Monitor declared: “We meet in a moment of triumph and of gratitude to our valiant armed forces.”

The festivities ended with Gridiron members singing a special salute to U.S. military forces in the Gulf, using the plaintive “Ashokan Farewell” fiddle music of public TV’s “Civil War” series with lyrics by John Hall of Media General News Service:

“To each lad, to each lass

Sent forth with our burden

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On desert and sea to roam . . .

We sing with just one voice

Till you’re safely home.”

Sperling said this year’s dinner would have been canceled if the war had continued. The show has failed to go on only twice before in the Gridiron’s 106-year history: after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, and after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in April, 1945.

By tradition, Bush received and responded to the only toast of the evening. He was the 18th consecutive President to attend a Gridiron dinner since Benjamin Harrison showed up in 1892.

Schwarzkopf, commander of allied forces in the Gulf, was hailed repeatedly in the Gridiron’s song-and-dance routines.

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Mrs. Bush’s stage stand-in crooned her admiration for “that darling Norman” in this ditty:

“Colin Powell may think he knows

When allied soldiers come to blows,

But I’m a fan of desert clothes,

Those worn by Norman.

Norman in beige camouflage,

Norman, who has shown no flaws.

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Norman plans and never misses:

He deserves our hugs and kisses.”

A Schwarzkopf impersonator tap-danced with “Miss Kuwait,” and a Gridiron band appeared on stage singing to the tune of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”:

“Come on along, come on along,

With Stormin’ Norman’s desert band.

They’re good to go, and hit the foe.

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They’re the best band in the sand.”

The Democrats took their licks when stand-ins for defeated presidential nominees Michael S. Dukakis, Walter F. Mondale, Jimmy Carter and George S. McGovern danced as “Old-Age Remnant Party Turkeys” in the costumes of Teen-age Mutant Ninja Turtles.

“My kingdom for a candidate,” sang the stage voice of Democratic National Chairman Ron Brown, searching for a 1992 presidential contender. “Won’t somebody step up, bravely make the sacrifice?”

For the Republicans, Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s impersonator sang:

“Peace is bustin’ out all over,

And banks are bustin’ down at home.

While I’m tryin’ to help the Russians

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There’s a little ol’ re-sussion,

But it’s no big deal where loyal Bush men roam.”

Four new active Gridiron members were initiated at the dinner: Georgie Anne Geyer of Universal Press Syndicate, R. W. Apple Jr. of the New York Times, Nicholas Horrock of the Chicago Tribune and and David Wiessler of United Press International.

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