Partisan soirees are nothing new. But only those ideologues who soldier into the First Friday fete at Union Pub will be able to show off blurry, totally staged Facebook pics of themselves twisting anti-tax bogeyman Grover Norquist’s arm (for a change) WHILE sucking down frosty brews subsidized by the Washington Times. 

The conservative happy hour — which now boasts similar booze fests in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Boulder, Denver and Columbus, Ohio — tries to throw its politics-obsessed members a bone the first weekend of every month.

But today’s shindig marks the first time that someone else has offered to pick up at least part of the tab (God bless the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Oh wait, He already has.) FF Co-Director Rich Counts says the Washington Times bankrolled an open bar for the DC Young Republicans’ Aug. 8 meeting at the Capitol Hill Club and, having enjoyed the experience so much, volunteered to open its wallet again tonight. The open bar will flow from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. (Guess circulation’s gone up?)

Norquist will be on hand for either his third (or fourth — nobody’s quite sure) guest spot. And while the indefatigable coalition builder suspects talk of taxes/grass-roots activism/the 2012 elections will invariably bubble up, Norquist attempted to downplay the wonkiness of it all. 

“It sounds like you’re going to a meeting when, really, you’re drinking with your buddies in a bar,” Norquist assures HOH.

House Republican Conference speech writer and FF Co-Director Thomas Qualtere, on the other hand, is bracing for conservative anarchy.

“Over the past year, especially for our ‘special edition’ First Fridays, we’ve filled the venue wall to wall. This one, needless to say, will come close to bursting it at the seams,” he predicts.

The FF crew will also be doling out wristbands good for one, free follow-up drink at Georgetown’s George (RSVP here) for those who wish to keep the (grand old) party rolling.