The big social event of the year in Washington, D.C., is last weekend\u2019s White House Correspondents\u2019 Association Dinner, which is known as the \u201cprom\u201d for the journalism\/Hollywood\/political complex.\u00a0 Dana Milbank of the Washington Post<\/em> feels guilty about what it has become:<\/p>\n The fun begins, appropriately enough, at the offices of the American Gas Association, where White House reporters are feted by the lobbyists of the Quinn Gillespie firm. More lobbyist-sponsored entertainment comes from the Motion Picture Association. Along the way, journalists wind up serving as pimps: We recruit Hollywood stars to entertain the politicians, and we recruit powerful political figures to entertain the stars. Corporate bosses bring in advertisers to gawk at the display, and journalists lucky enough to score invitations fancy themselves celebrities.<\/p>\n Cee Lo Green sings for us. Seth Meyers tells us jokes. Lindsay Lohan\u2019s ex, Samantha Ronson, is our DJ. All the cool kids \u2014 Sean Penn, Kate Hudson, Steven Tyler, Paula Abdul, Courteney Cox, David Byrne and Bristol Palin \u2014 want to party with us. A Johnnie Walker \u201ccigar tent\u201d furnishes us with scotch and hand-rolled stogies. We are handed Fiji water, or Grey Goose vodka, to slake our thirst and Shea Terra Organics Vanilla Body Butters to soothe our pores.<\/p>\n There are now no fewer than 20 parties, plus a similar number of receptions, at the Washington Hilton before the dinner. A pre-dinner brunch, once an intimate affair in a TV producer\u2019s backyard, was moved this year to the Georgetown mansion of multimillionaire Mark Ein. Democratic and Republican consultants shell out five figures apiece to join the Cafe Milano owner as hosts. (Cafe Atlantico\u2019s owner, by contrast, is cooking for the Atlantic\u2019s party.)<\/p>\n Time Warner booked the St. Regis for the People and Time fete; Conde Nast has the W Hotel for the New Yorker and the French ambassador\u2019s residence in Kalorama for its Vanity Fair party done with Bloomberg. The MSNBC party is in the Italian Embassy, while others choose the Hay-Adams, the Ritz-Carlton or the Ronald Reagan Building. A few sponsors, generally Hollywood-oriented nonprofits, hold cocktail parties masquerading as charity benefits.<\/p>\n Hungover hobnobbers reconvene Sunday morning at Politico publisher Robert Allbritton\u2019s Georgetown manse to \u201cnosh on hand-rolled sushi and dim sum prepared by Wolfgang Puck\u2019s The Source.\u201d The news release continues: \u201cThe Allbrittons\u2019 lush garden, filled with 200-year-old poplar trees, will feature a white century-style tent adorned with blue-and-white ceramics\u201d \u2014 not to mention Ashley Judd and Janet Napolitano.<\/p>\n Is it Politico\u2019s job to get Judd and Napolitano together? Is it ABC News\u2019s role to unite \u201cGlee\u2019s\u201d Jane Lynch with White House chief of staff Bill Daley or \u201c30 Rock\u2019s\u201d Elizabeth Banks with national security adviser Tom Donilon? What\u2019s the purpose of Fox News introducing actress Patricia Arquette to Rep. Michele Bachmann, National Journal presenting \u201cThe Vampire Diaries\u2019\u2009\u201d Nina Dobrev to Obama strategist David Axelrod, NPR introducing REM\u2019s Michael Stipe to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, or The Post connecting Trump and House Speaker John Boehner?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t fault any one host for throwing a party or any journalist for attending. Many of them are friends. There\u2019s nothing inherently wrong with savoring Johnnie Walker Blue with the politicians we cover.<\/p>\n But the cumulative effect is icky. With the proliferation of A-list parties and the infusion of corporate and lobbyist cash, Washington journalists give Americans the impression we have shed our professional detachment and are aspiring to be like the celebrities and power players we cover.<\/p>\n