Apparently Not at the Hawk ‘n’ Dove –

The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The government is so dysfunctional here that it might well lead one to seek out strong drink.

But where to go? Are bars as divided as members of Congress these days?

The government dysfunction is especially acute on the House side of the Capitol, where a radical, right-wing group of anti-government, pro-Trump White Nationalists who claim to be born again Christians run the show and seem intent on running the United States federal government into the ground, literally. They would love nothing more than to shut the federal government down and let a preacher run the show, according to their own rhetoric.

The new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Shreveport, Louisiana somehow managed to propose and pass a bill to avert a disastrous government shutdown last week. The House immediately recessed and went home for Thanksgiving and left it up to the Senate and White House to finish the work.

Right down the street from the Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast, Washington, local residents mingle with Congressional staffers at the Hawk ’N’ Dove political bar, along with the occasional news reporter.

The bar got a mention in The Washington Post this week in a bizarre, mostly boring story about how exhausted people are just trying to keep the government open. Some members are resigning in disgust it’s so bad, or declaring they won’t run for reelection.

But according to the Post, “There is at least one place in Washington where government shutdowns are good news.”

“At the Hawk ‘n’ Dove, the staff doesn’t mind when workers from nearby federal buildings are off work due to furloughs and could be called back to the office in a moment’s notice if a new spending law passes,” the Post reports, quoting Tom Johnson, managing partner of the Hill Restaurant Group, which owns the place.

In that case Congressional staffers don’t leave town — they just go to the bar.

“A government shutdown for us, as long as it doesn’t last too long, the first two weeks, everybody is out enjoying it,” Johnson said. “It’s like people are out on vacation.”

Sometimes his staff gets tipped off that Congress isn’t headed to a deal, he said. Or after a vote, there could be a late-night rush of thirsty politicos. If management gets enough advance notice, they’ll plan a drink special.

“Off the record,” according to the bar’s website, “Hawk ’N’ Dove is basically a Washington monument. It reflects an older Washington that believed in politics, not just politicking.”

You might say it is a throwback to another time when war hawks and peace lovers could break bread and share a drink over civilized conversation, agreeing to sometimes disagree. These days a disagreement can lead to much more than that.

But according to the pitch, anyway, the Hawk ’N’ Dove “is where you can sip an Old Fashioned, hear political talk, and mingle with everyone from the black-suited, brown-shoed lobbyists, to the neighborhood folk that have been in this town since the Carter administration. Our beverages and food selections reflect our local support for this wonderful town, and if you use your imagination, you can almost hear the echo of past conversations from the most powerful people in the free world, spoken over gin and whiskey.”

RecognizIng that this is the most powerful city in the world, and an architectually amazing place in need of great watering holes, a friend and I decided to check it out this past Saturday night. The menu looked interesting enough and not too expensive.

I ordered a medium strength IPA and the Classic (Tomato glazed) Meatloaf with onion straws, beef gravy, garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Both were good.

My friend had the Cajun (Grilled) Chicken Penne with andouille sausage, onions, cajun cream sauce and a garlic roll.

It was “spicy,” he said.

My question for the lovely, super nice but green-haired bartender was about the political divide, and whether it has leaked over into the D.C. nightlife and created divided bars, some where mostly Democrats hang out, others mostly Republicans.

The official answer was that due to the diversity of the neighborhood, this bar at least still serves a diverse clientele. Perhaps at the staff level, there are still some Democrats willing to hang out and drink with Republican staffers.

But when I asked the question another way, “So, do you get more hawks or doves these days?”

She admitted that they seem to attract more hawks than doves these days, perhaps meaning more Republicans.

But I guess that depends on what war you are talking about at the moment.

While there seemed to be much agreement on Capitol Hill about the need to help fund Ukraine in defending itself against the aggressive invasion from Russia — except among some far-right Republicans who seem to join Trump as fans of Putin — the new war in the Middle East appears to be dividing people across America even more.

Support for Israel has always been a big thing in Washington among Republicans and Democrats, at least since 1948. But now the need to also provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza is roiling the debate.

While in some places it might be considered verboten to talk about politics and religion in mixed company, this is the nation’s capital, where politics is always at the center of attention.

“People don’t talk about things they’re not supposed to talk about, but it’s a bar,” Johnson said. “They talk.”

Check out the bar’s Facebook page here.

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