Not missing a beat, one of the onstage panelists snarks back: “Is Dick Cheney in the house?”

(The Cheney swipe may have been made by Dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Nicholas B. Lemann ’76, a former Crimson president. But I couldn’t tell, sitting in the “media only” back row and all.)

Franken might as well be referring to the American media. The theme of the event appears to be “Why are journalists such idiots?” Arianna Huffington, she of the exotically ambiguous accent, suggests that American reporters need a “spine transplant.”

“We Greeks gave you democracy and you screwed it up,” Huffington huffs.

After the movie, guests gather in the adjacent atrium for hors d’oeuvres and drinks. The bartenders don’t card—lucky me. Peggy “John’s Sister” Kerry hesitantly makes the rounds, looking confused as she speaks with prominent Democratic fundraisers and MoveOn.org execs. Apparently bewildered, Kerry sticks close to her guides, the late Sen. Daniel Moynihan’s daughter Maura Moynihan ’79 and her curly-haired son. (I chat with Maura briefly; she’s attractive, friendly, bordering on perky. It turns out she brings in lots of money for the Democratic Party, and even went to Harvard! Do you have a daughter, Ms. Moynihan?)

Former Harvard history professor Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. ’38 is also in attendance, chatting with friends in his trademark red bow tie. Also present is filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, co-director of the 1992 Clinton campaign documentary The War Room. Pennebaker made James Carville a star; I consider asking him to film me, but I think better of it.

As I near the exit, I turn to watch the semi-celebrities down their last cocktails, finish munching on cookies, and trickle out into the humid Manhattan summer night. The premiere wasn’t quite the glamorous gathering I’d been expecting, but gallivanting with the jet set is fun while it lasts.

Michael M. Grynbaum ’07, a history concentrator in Leverett House, is a news editor of The Crimson. He hearts New York.