http://susiemadrak.com/category/humor/
Jay Leno: “On Thursday, the President will follow up his speech by going
to the Arizona border, which will be historic. It will be the first time
he’s ever actually showed up with a National Guard unit.”
**
Colbert’s real sin wasn’t lese majesty, it was inserting a brief
moment of honesty into an event based upon a lie — one considered
socially necessary by the political powers that be, but still, a lie.
Like its upscale sibling, the annual Gridiron Club dinner, the White
House Correspondents dinner is a ritual designed, at least implicitly,
to showcase the underlying unity of our Beltway elites. It’s supposed to
demonstrate that no matter how ferocious their battles may appear on the
surface, political opponents can still gather in the same room and break
bread, with the corporate media acting as the properly neutral host.
It’s a relic of the good old days of centrism and bipartisan log rolling
(”the end of ideology”), visible proof that in the American system,
there may be enemies, but there are no mortal enemies. And so last night
we had Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame sitting at one table, Karl Rove at
another, and no knives were drawn.
The light entertainment at these events is also supposed to reflect
the same spirit of forced good cheer, to the point where even matters of
deadly seriousness — things that in other countries might cause
governments to fall — are treated like inside jokes, as with Shrub’s
looking-for-the-missing-WMDs-under-the-couch routine. Ha ha ha. We’re
all friends here!
The underlying message, never stated or even acknowledged, is that
there are no disputes that can’t be resolved within the cozy confines of
our “democratic” (oligarchic) system. Friends don’t send friends to jail
— or smash their presses or abolish their political parties or line them
up against the wall and shoot them.
The problem is that the tissue of this particular lie has been
eroding ever since the Clinton impeachment, if not before, and is now
worn exceedingly thin. It’s becoming harder and harder to conceal the
ruthlessness of the struggle for power, or ignore the consequences of
losing it.
There were people at last night’s dinner who really could end up in
jail — depending on Patrick Fitzgerald’s theory of the case and/or the
results of the next two elections. Things have been done over the past
five years that can’t be undone; crimes committed that can’t be
uncommitted. If Colbert faced a tough crowd last night, it was probably
because so many of them understand that the Cheneyites and the Rovians
really are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenberg, and that if
the airship goes down in flames their own window seats are going to get
pretty toasty. Jobs are at stake. Careers could be at stake. For all we
know lives could be at stake.
It’s an ugly moment, and expecting people like that to laugh at
their own misfortunes isn’t very realistic. I’ll give Colbert major
props for his political courage, but none for knowing how to please an
audience. If he’d really been working the room, he would have thrown in
a few step-n-fetch it Arabs, a snotty Brit and some white trash clowns —
like the stock characters in American Dreamz. It wouldn’t have been
nearly as funny, but it might have helped the kool kids forget their
sorrows, at least briefly.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002425363
Colbert Lampoons Bush at White House Correspondents Dinner -- President
Not Amused?
By E&P Staff
Published: April 29, 2006 11:40 PM ET updated Sunday
WASHINGTON A blistering comedy “tribute” to President Bush by Comedy
Central’s faux talk-show host Stephen Colbert at the White House
Correspondent Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling
at its close.
Earlier, the president had delivered his talk to the 2,700 attendees,
including many celebrities and top officials, with the help of a Bush
impersonator.
Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk-show character, who
ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged Bush to ignore his low
approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a
well-known liberal bias.”
He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White
House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This
administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “If anything, they are
re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”
Colbert told Bush he could end the problem of protests by retired
generals by refusing to let them retire. He compared Bush to Rocky
Balboa in the “Rocky” movies, always getting punched in the face — “and
Apollo Creed is everything else in the world.”
Turning to the war, he declared, "I believe that the government that
governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards
we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."
He noted former Ambassador Joseph Wilson in the crowd, just three tables
away from Karl Rove, and that he had brought " Valerie Plame." Then,
worried that he had named her, he corrected himself, as Bush aides might
do, "Uh, I mean ... he brought Joseph Wilson's wife." He might have
"dodged the bullet," he said, as prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wasn't
there.
Colbert also made biting cracks about missing WMDs, “photo ops” on
aircraft carriers and at hurricane disasters, melting glaciers and Vice
President Cheney shooting people in the face. He advised the crowd, "if
anybody needs anything at their tables, speak slowly and clearly into
your table numbers and somebody from the N.S.A. will be right over with
a cocktail."
Observing that Bush sticks to his principles, he said, "When the
president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday
-- no matter what happened Tuesday."
Also lampooning the press, Colbert complained that he was “surrounded by
the liberal media who are destroying this country, except for Fox News.
Fox believes in presenting both sides of the story — the president’s
side and the vice president’s side." In another slap at the news
channel, he said: "I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational
argument. I call it the No Fact Zone. Fox News, I own the copyright on
that term."
He also reflected on the alleged good old days for the president, when
the media was still swallowing the WMD story.
Addressing the reporters, he said, "Let's review the rules. Here's how
it works. The president makes decisions, he’s the decider. The press
secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type
those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell
check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your
wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know,
the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand
up to the administration. You know -- fiction."
He claimed that the Secret Service name for Bush's new press secretary
is "Snow Job."
Colbert closed his routine with a video fantasy where he gets to be
White House Press Secretary, complete with a special “Gannon” button on
his podium. By the end, he had to run from Helen Thomas and her
questions about why the U.S. really invaded Iraq and killed all those
people.
As Colbert walked from the podium, when it was over, the president and
First Lady gave him quick nods, unsmiling. The president shook his hand
and tapped his elbow, and left immediately.
Those seated near Bush told E&P's Joe Strupp, who was elsewhere in the
room, that Bush had quickly turned from an amused guest to an obviously
offended target as Colbert’s comments brought up his low approval
ratings and problems in Iraq.
Several veterans of past dinners, who requested anonymity, said the
presentation was more directed at attacking the president than in the
past. Several said previous hosts, like Jay Leno, equally slammed both
the White House and the press corps.
“This was anti-Bush,” said one attendee. “Usually they go back and forth
between us and him.” Another noted that Bush quickly turned unhappy.
“You could see he stopped smiling about halfway through Colbert,” he
reported.
After the gathering, Snow, while nursing a Heineken outside the Chicago
Tribune reception, declined to comment on Colbert. “I’m not doing
entertainment reviews,” he said. “I thought the president was great,
though.”
Strupp, in the crowd during the Colbert routine, had observed that quite
a few sitting near him looked a little uncomfortable at times, perhaps
feeling the material was a little too biting -- or too much speaking
"truthiness" (a word Colbert popularized) to power.
Asked by E&P after it was over if he thought he'd been too harsh,
Colbert said, "Not at all." Was he trying to make a point politically or
just get laughs? "Just for laughs," he said. He said he did not pull any
material for being too strong, just for time reasons. (He later said the
president told him "good job" when he walked off.)
Helen Thomas told Strupp her segment with Colbert was "just for fun."
In its report on the affair, USA Today asserted that some in the crowd
cracked up over Colbert but others were "bewildered." Wolf Blitzer of
CNN said he thought Colbert was funny and "a little on the edge."
Earlier, the president had addressed the crowd with a Bush impersonator
alongside, with the faux-Bush speaking precisely and the real Bush
deliberately mispronouncing words, such as the inevitable "nuclear." At
the close, Bush called the imposter "a fine talent. In fact, he did all
my debates with Senator Kerry." The routine went over well with this
particular crowd -- better than did Colbert's, in fact, for whatever
reason.
Among attendees at the black tie event: Morgan Fairchild, quarterback
Ben Roethlisberger, Justice Antonin Scalia, George Clooney, and Jeff
"Skunk" Baxter of the Doobie Brothers -- in a kilt.
*Click here for a full transcript of Colbert's speech.
*For more coverage, see E&P editor Greg Mitchell's recent column
comparing Colbert's speech to Bush's 2004 WMD skit, Joe Strupp's
follow-up on the controversy, and the reams upon reams of letters we've
received about this article.
E&P Staff (letters@editorandpublisher.com)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-daou/ignoring-colbert-a-small_b_20092.html
Ignoring Colbert: A Small Taste of the Media's Power to Choose the News
04.30.2006
Peter Daou
The White House Correspondents' Association Dinner was televised on
C-Span Saturday evening. Featured entertainer Stephen Colbert delivered
a biting rebuke of George W. Bush and the lily-livered press corps. He
did it to Bush's face, unflinching and unbowed by the audience's muted,
humorless response. Democratic Underground members commented in real
time (here, here, and here).
TMV posted a wrap-up.
On Colbert's gutsy delivery, watertiger writes, "Stephen Colbert
displayed more guts in ten minute of performance at the White House
Correspondents Dinner than the entire Bush family. He, along with the
ever-feisty Helen Thomas, deftly exposed the "truthiness" to the world
(or at least those who were watching) that Bush AND the D.C. press corps
are indeed a naked emperor and his gutless courtiers."
Mash at dKos says, "Standing at the podium only a few feet from
President Bush, Colbert launched an all out assault on the policies of
this Administration. It was remarkable, though painful at times, to
watch. It may also have been the first time that anyone has been this
blunt with this President. By the end of Colbert's routine, Bush was
visibly uncomfortable. Colbert ended with a video featuring Helen Thomas
repeatedly asking why we invaded Iraq. That is a question President Bush
has yet to answer to the American public. I am not sure what kind of
review Stephen Colbert's performance will get in the press. One thing is
however certain -- his performance was important and will reverberate."
It appears Mash's misgivings about press coverage are well-placed. The
AP's first stab at it and pieces from Reuters and the Chicago Tribune
tell us everything we need to know: Colbert's performance is sidestepped
and marginalized while Bush is treated as light-hearted, humble, and
funny. Expect nothing less from the cowardly American media. The story
could just as well have been Bush and Laura's discomfort and the crowd's
semi-hostile reaction to Colbert's razor-sharp barbs. In fact, I would
guess that from the perspective of newsworthiness and public interest,
Bush-the-playful-president is far less compelling than a comedy sketch
gone awry, a pissed-off prez, and a shell-shocked audience.
This is the power of the media to choose the news, to decide when and
how to shield Bush from negative publicity. Sins of omission can be just
as bad as sins of commission. And speaking of a sycophantic media
establishment bending over backwards to accommodate this White House and
to regurgitate pro-GOP and anti-Dem spin, I urge readers to pick up a
copy of Eric Boehlert's new book, Lapdogs. It's a powerful indictment of
the media's timidity during the Bush presidency. Boehlert rips away the
facade of a "liberal media" and exposes the invertebrates masquerading
as journalists who have allowed and enabled the Bush administration's
many transgressions to go unchecked, under-reported, or unquestioned.
A final thought: Bush's clownish banter with reporters -- which is on
constant display during press conferences -- stands in such stark
contrast to his administration's destructive policies and to the gravity
of the bloodbath in Iraq that it is deeply unsettling to watch. This may
be impolitic, but wouldn't refraining from frat-style horseplay be
appropriate for this man? Or at the least, can't reporters suppress
their raucous laughter every time he blurts out another jibe... the way
they did when Colbert put them in their place?
**
http://www.democrats.com/node/8917
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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