THE OPINIONATERS. They were everywhere -- the Washington celebrities, I mean. Tucker Carlson was on stage during a panel discussion on �America in the World� at The Week�s Opinion Awards dinner on Tuesday night at the Four Seasons. So were Tom Friedman and Jim Lehrer. Teresa Heinz Kerry asked a question from a table in the back of the room. So did audience members Tina Brown, Margaret Carlson, Chris Matthews, and George Stephanopoulos. An icon of old-school journalism -- Ben Bradlee -- gave the �Welcome Remarks,� making a rambling, but utterly charming, speech about the value of newspapers (you can take them into the bathroom). Meanwhile, a representative of the New School, Opinion Award-winner Joshua Fruhlinger of Wonkette, was refreshingly un-self-important, asking traditional-media executives in the audience to read blogs and, if possible, to hire bloggers (who are, as he puts it, totally ready to �sell out�). The other award winners were Michael Kinsley, Akron Beacon Journal cartoonist Chip Bok and blogger Michael J. Totten. Aside from moderator Sir Harold Evans�s rant about a poll tax in Georgia that simply confused the audience (�which Georgia?� people kept asking), the event was lively, informative and -- given that it was a Washington-Heavy-Hitter event -- surprisingly fun. --Tara McKelvey
