"If It's Sunday, It's Meet the Press."

This morning I attended a taping of Meet the Press, the beloved Sunday morning news program recently brought to new heights by longtime anchor Tim Russert, and now very ably hosted by David Gregory.

This week David Gregory interviewed . . .

Hillary Clinton
Secretary of State

Robert Gates
Secretary of Defense

Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN)
Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Unfortunately, none of them were present in the studio. Secretaries Clinton and Gates were interviewed yesterday, and Senator Lugar was interviewed via satellite from Lafayette, IN.

There were, however, members of the press corps present for the Sunday Roundtable including . . .

Bob Woodward
Associate Editor, The Washington Post

Ted Koppel
Contributing Analyst, BBC

Tom Ricks
Senior Fellow, Center for a New American Security
Contributing Editor, Foreign Policy

Savannah Guthrie
White House Correspondent, NBC News

The main topic of conversation was, of course, the President's decision to begin military operations in defense of Libyan rebel groups seeking to overthrow the government of Muammar Khadafi. The sound bite of the day came from Secretary Gates who admitted that Libya's current conflict does not fit into the vital interests of the United States . . . a quote that was back-peddled slightly by Secretary Clinton, who interestingly focused on the strategic interests of our allies and the region, not on the humanitarian imperative that had previously been cited. During the roundtable, I was amazed that Ted Koppel was lucid enough to ask how Libya won the "humanitarian sweepstakes" of U.S. intervention, when so many larger humanitarian crises have plagued Africa over the past decade without garnering U.S. attention.

This was, perhaps, the most "Washington-esque" experience I have had since moving to the capital in August. It was fascinating to see behind the scenes of a show I remember watching religiously as far back as high school. I was particularly surprised to learn that after the taping is concluded, the roundtable guests share brunch with the host on the set of the show! We got to watch Bob Woodward eat waffles!

Afterwards, David Gregory kindly greeted the various guests present to watch the taping.  There were approximately 25 to 30 of us, including a group of students from American University. I was with four parishioners of Little Flower Parish who had won tickets as part of a fundraiser at the school auction. Before leaving, we had our picture taken with Mr. Gregory and chatted with him for a few minutes.

I noticed too, Mr. Gregory used an i-pad on the set - and I was pleased to see that it was working for him. Earlier in the week, when I had my own computer serviced at the Mac store in Bethesda, I happened to see him getting some help with it. It's random encounters like that one, that remind me that I actually do live in the nation's capital!