Stupidest Award Ceremony Alive

What I want to know is: did the summarily-fired-on-Monday Porter Goss show up this afternoon to pick up his award and accompanying expressions of confidence in him from the Republican congressional leadership?

The Raw Story | GOP House Speaker taps Cheney, Goss for Congressional Distinguished Service Awards: On Wednesday afternoon in the U.S. Capitol, Distinguished Service Awards will be bestowed upon Vice President Dick Cheney and former CIA Director Porter Goss, two former House members selected by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), RAW STORY has found. "The Congressional Distinguished Service Award was established to honor former Members of the House who have performed their duties on behalf of their constituents and the American people with such extraordinary distinction and selfless dedication as to merit special recognition," reads an invitation to the ceremony obtained by RAW STORY.

Porter Goss served as a Florida Congressman from 1989 until September of 2004, when he was tapped by President Bush to take over the CIA directorship. Cheney was formerly a member of the House for Wyoming.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) nominated Jesuit Catholic priest, law professor, and former Massachusetts Congressman Father Robert Drinan and Ambassador Lindy Claiborne Boggs, who represented Louisiana for 18 years in the House and served as an ambassador to the Vatican.

The 2006 Distinguished Service Award Ceremony will take place on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol.

According to a press release issued by Pelosi three years ago, the Congressional Distinguished Service Award was established in 2002 and is periodically awarded. For the first ceremony, in 2003, Pelosi selected Lous Stokes (D-OH) and Don Edwards (D-CA), while Hastert nominated John Rhodes (R-AZ) and Robert H. Michel (R-IL) (link).

RAW STORY was unable to ascertain whether Cheney or Goss, who mysteriously and suddenly resigned as CIA director last Friday, will be attending the ceremony to accept their awards in person. It's also unknown when Hastert tapped Cheney and Goss for the honors...