Sarah Palin and Barney Frank Walk Into a Dinner Gala

Talk about an odd couple! Former Alaska Governor and GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be joining U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, the longest serving openly LGBT member of Congress, as headliners for the Gridiron Club winter dinner. No word on whether they'll sing a version of "Endless Love" together.

The Gridiron Club's winter dinner is one of those inside-the-Beltway events where journalists cozy up to politicians for a night of self-deprecation. In year's past, Gov. Mitt Romney sang, President (then Senator) Barack Obama said he was more over-exposed than Paris Hilton, and late conservative columnist Robert Novak impersonated Dick Cheney while acting in a sketch spoofing the Scooter Libby investigation -- an investigation Novak essentially launched with a stroke of his pen.

What can you expect from Palin and Frank? Well, for Palin, it helps that the December dinner falls one month after the launch of her book, Going Rogue. Frank, too, has a book that he'll likely draw inspiration from: Barney Frank: The Story of America's Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman. Judging from the titles, I think Barney Frank is going to hit more funny bones.

For the Gridiron Dinner, it's probably a safe bet that this is the first time an LGBT politician has served as a headliner. How interesting that it happens at the same time that Sarah Palin, who prides herself on harshing the mellow of gay rights activists, joins the festivities, too. Politics really does make for strange bedfellows.

(Photo courtesy of www.house.gov)