I was in the same room with GB Sr when he had dinner at a National Gallery of Art function. I was the guy running the sound system. They didn’t feed me however, cheap bastards!
Don’t spend the money unless you can sit close enough to observe his table manners or overhear his conversation. Otherwise, you may as well watch it on TV.
Republican here, from the far right.
I had no use at all for Bill Clinton. But if, for SOME weird reason, he’d invited me to a formal dinner at the White House, you’re dang right I’d have gone! I’d have worn a tux, I’d have shaken his hand, and I’d have fawned over him.
For Pete’s sake, whether you like him or not, it’s the PRESIDENT OF THE FREAKING UNITED STATES! A chance to meet him at the White House is WAAAAY cool, no matter who’s in office.
Absolutely! What a gem to drop into a conversation: "Well, when I had dinner at the White House . . . "
If the president invited me to the White House, I would certainly go. A formal dinner at the White House would be a blast and there would certainly be some really good food. And it would be free!
However, you are being invited to a fundraiser. I would only go if I liked the person well enough to want to shell out that much money.
Not sure if legally they could hold a fundraiser at the White House. Didn’t Gore get into trouble for making phone calls soliciting contributions while at the White House? Doubt a dinner would be different from an ethical point of view.
Anywho, back to the OP. A fundraising dinner with the veep at a D.C. hotel? Probably not. It’s not like you’d be having an intimate dinner with the dude – there’ll be a couple hundred people there. I’ve been to a few fundraisers before and the “rah rah, WE’RE great; THEY’RE losers” thing gets old quick.
However, were I invited to dinner at the White House, I would most certainly attend. It’s an honor to be invited. Wouldn’t matter which party the President hailed from. We’re all Americans, after all.
In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I’d attend any democratically elected head of state’s dinner party. And by head of state, I’m including symbolic ones, too. Keep that in mind, Bill. (I’ve read that Prince William surfs the net…)
I’m with yojimboguy. I was (barely) in the running for Presidential Scholar in the Arts last year, and I swore that if I won, I’d get George W. Bush with a joybuzzer when I shook his hand (he hadn’t done anything in office yet), and that I’d ask him about a certain
[quote]
(http://www.religioustolerance.org/boy_army.htm) he made a while back.
Basically, I’d go to be a nuisance and/or make a statement. But I’d’ve done that to any president…I’m just that kind of person, for better or worse.
I’d bone up on current politics and get a nice debate going with Dubya and associates and try to get them to embarras themselves. In between I’d chow down on the grub.
Hell, yes! I’d go to dinner at The White House even if I didn’t like the occupant, for the same reasons astorian gave.
Reminds me of a joke:
A man spends his life in the shadow of his older brother, who went to medical school. Throughout his entire life, the man’s mother compares him to “my son the doctor” and he always comes up lacking.
The young man goes to law school, enters politics, and after many years gets elected President. His first Thanksgiving in office, he decides he’ll finally show his brother once and for all that he’s not so hot, and he calls his mom to invite her to Thanksgiving at The White House.
“But son, we were going to your brother’s for dinner!” she protests.
“Ma, it’s THE WHITE HOUSE for God’s sake! How often do you get to eat your turkey off the dishes Franklin Roosevelt used?” replies the son.
After a long go-round the mother finally agrees, and her son the President tells her that he’ll send Air Force One and a car to pick her up.
At the appointed time, Mother is standing in the front yard with her bags packed. Her neighbor walks by, and seeing the Mrs. with her bag asks where she’s going.
The woman replies, “You know my son, the doctor? I’m going to his brother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.”
Zap!
Avoid it.
These days, the White House & the people in it are Ground Zero for any possible kind of shitstorm, no matter who holds the office.
Assassinations.
Terrorism.
Bio-weapons.
Aircraft rammings.
Scandal.
Farce.
Give it a pass. The game ain’t worth the candle.
My boss was invited to dinner at the WH – a small dinner party in the private quarters, not a giant State event, not a fundraising “thank you” event. And he turned it down – because his high-school-age son had a test the next day and so his wife didn’t want him to go as it was his night to help the kid study. Everyone, except his wife, thought he was a fool.
I do not feel duty bound to attend a dinner thrown by anyone. I do like Ike’s idea about dragging his dong through the butter, though. I believe that Yogi Berra did the same trick through the mashed potatoes after a Yankees victory. Mantle, when asked if wanted any, politiely declined.
As it happens, last week I had to play the RSVP game for a botched fundraiser appointment (not at the White House). The Big Guy was gonna be there, so the list had to be in early for submission to the Secret Service, and there was nothing I could do to get my boss into the dog-and-pony show.
My boss’ reaction? “Oh, thank God!”
So there’s a little tip for those of you who wish to decline without insulting. Just be a little bit late in responding to the invitation, and you’re off the hook.
It would depend on who else would be there, but probably not. If GWB was insulted that I turned down the invite, so what? I’m sure that he would get over it… (provided he even noticed)
I would have happily attended during any administration in history except for the last one. No husband should have to watch his wife being mentally undressed by any sexual predator, even if he was the President.
I certainly don’t agree with all of Dubya’s policies but he seems like a very decent guy and I do like Laura as well. Currently, I’d be honored to attend… especially if I got to meet Rumsfeld, Cheney, Powell or Rice. They might make some mistakes but they’re all very interesting people.
Re it being rude to turn down dinner with the President or at the WH: I have not heard this - what I have read (in Miss Manners, the Queen of Correctness) is that one never turns down an invitation after accepting except if there’s a death in the family, a dire emergency, or if one if invited to dinner at the White House. Then you can feel free to back out of Cousin Winifred’s wedding with only a few feelings of guilt. (I don’t think she means an off-the-cuff invitation to the go-cart track with your neighbor Bubba; she means to a wedding or an important party - not that she thinks you should back out of run-of-the-mill invitations once you have excepted, either.)
Depends. Do I have to pretend to be nice to the guy? If so, then I will gladly attend for the opportunity to spend the entire evening chewing out the dimbulb for all of his screwups and hypocricies.
Otherwise, I’ll decline with a loud “Hell no!”
Ack, “If so” should have been “If not”… 
Of course! It’s along the lines of “saluting the uniform, not the man”. It isn’t dinner with (fill in name), no matter what you think of him, it’s a function at an institution that belongs to all of us and whose existence spans a great deal of time in the past and future as well as present.
PunditLisa is right - there was the usual indignation from the usual quarters over the lack of an “independent” counsel to investigate Gore for a few phone calls from his office. There is complete silence so far, however, about dinners right on the premises, with costs paid for by us taxpayers (I presume). That is the part I choke on.
Now, maybe if it were at a Buddhist temple instead …
Once more to clarify: I mis-read the invite, it’s not at the White House, but it is with the ‘man’, and yes, I’m quite aware that the event is a fund-raiser (which is why you won’t see us there… Neither of our egos are that badly in need of a boost.)
Funny note: Someone on the Howard Stern show got invited to the same event. I’m not sure who, but if it’s Stuttering Bob, or someone like that, I’d be very tempted to pay-up just to see what happens… 
They couldn’t pay me to go.