Weekend 'Treat'? Streisand: 'Lovely Democratic Mem'ries/Of the Way We Were'

At a Tuesday night fundraiser for Barack Obama held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire, donors heard Barbra Streisand sing, but as ABC's Jake Tapper noted in his “Political Punch” blog, “the press was not permitted (inflicted?) with permission to hear her.” So, there's no video of it, which reminded me of how back in 2002 the Fox News Channel played a brief clip from her appearance at a September 29, 2002 fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, video we played in “The I’m Not a Geopolitical Genius But I Play One on TV Award” category at the MRC's 2003 DisHonors Awards where we added Streisand's lyrics at the bottom of the screen along with a bouncing ball to help the audience follow along.

The customized stanzas from her 'Miseries' adaption of the 'Way We Were' as played on the October 2, 2002 Special Report with Brit Hume:

Scattered pictures
Of the House we left behind.
Lovely Democratic mem'ries
Of the way we were.

Unprecedented growth in the economy.
The Dow was up, the deficit was down.
As long as Democrats were the majority,
I could sleep nights,
Not weep nights.

To see this video in a larger size, watch it on the MRC's Eyeblast site.

Brit Hume introduced that clip: “You've probably heard or read that at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Los Angeles over the weekend, Barbra Streisand performed a re-worked version of her famous hit song  Memories from the movie  The Way We Were. You may have heard that it was called  Miseries and was about life under this Republican administration. You may not have believed that this actually happened. Well:”

Afterward, Hume, unable to control his laughter, barely managed to get through his standard closing line: “And that's Special Report for this time. Please come again next time, and in the meantime stay tuned for news: fair, balanced and unafraid.”

(Video re-rendered from the MRC's archive by Michelle Humphrey.)

From Tapper's September 17 posting about the stars who attended the two Obama-Biden fundraisers:

...Somewhere between 250 and 300 others signed up for the dinner, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Lee Curtis, Will Farrell -- known for, among other characters, his devastating impersonation of President George W. Bush -- as well as Jodie Foster, Toby McGuire, and Chris Rock.

Not to mention the man Sen. John McCain, D-Ariz., said was his favorite Hollywood "president," Dennis Haysbert, who played the assassinated President David Palmer on Fox's "24."...

Obama then went to the ballroom at the Regent Beverly Wilshire.

Around 800 people -- including Sarah Silverman, Ron Howard, Magic Johnson, and Pierce Brosnan -- were there, each paying $2,500 to the Obama Victory Fund.

We are told, though the press was not permitted (inflicted?) with permission to hear her, that Barbra Streisand ran through little parts of songs, though not entire numbers....