I didn't catch Stephen Colbert's lampooning of Bush at the White House Correspondents' dinner on C-SPAN, so I was thrilled to see that Crooks and Liars has the video available for download. This was brilliantly funny stuff. Editor and Publisher has some funny excerpts from the monologue. I'll print a bunch of those excerpts below the fold:
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."...
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."...
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.
Hilarious. Watch the video. Or read the transcript.
By the way, he did have Scalia cracking up when he started making Sicilian hand gestures at him and called him his paisan.
Update: Bush himself had some funny material as well, along with an impersonator. You can see that video here.
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I saw the video when C-Span rebroadcast it yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. Bush was not amused. I was, though. And the Hindenburg comment was priceless.
What's really odd about Colbert's speech is the almost total non-reaction from the press. For the most part, his skewering speech only gets a brief mention, tacked onto the end of details about Bush's funny double act.
There is no doubt that Colbert's turn made a lot of people in the room, press and politicians alike, very uncomfortable. It was either wickedly funny or highly offensive, depending on your political ideology. Yet the press are treating it the same way an elementary school newsletter would treat little Timmy's embarrassing performance in their school's talent concert.
The question is, are they embarrassed that the President was so royally lampooned in their presence at theor own function, or are they embarrassed that in a single speech Stephen Colbert managed to show more backbone than the entire press corps has in the past five years?
The question is, are they embarrassed that the President was so royally lampooned in their presence at theor own function, or are they embarrassed that in a single speech Stephen Colbert managed to show more backbone than the entire press corps has in the past five years?
I really think the latter - when I watched the video (which is a scream!) it seemed like most of the uncomfortable silences came after jokes about the media's lack of substance and investigative reporting on this administration.
If you want to thank Mr. Colbert (and remember, it's pronounced "col-bare", not "col-bert"), someone has set up a site: http://thankyoustephencolbert.org.
That was probably some of the most awkward fifteen minutes of video I've seen in a while. Colbert had to have known how that material was going to go over, and he went and did it anyway. That takes balls.
It was all great stuff. I think it was great that he got Scalia to crack up as well.
And yeah, Bush and his wife were clearly a little pissed-off, but that just makes it funnier.
Honestly, what did these people think when they hired Colbert? Did they actually think that he believed that satirical nonsense he preaches on his show?
I have to say, the entire thing makes me uncomfortable. I don't think it's wise for the President to be so chummy with the people who are ostensibly supposed to be reporting on him. The fact that the members of the press are so uncomfortable when someone uses powerful sarcasm and satire about the President tells me that they're far more in his pocket than is healthy.
Goodness knows SOMEONE has to wake those clowns up and tell them they're not doing their job.
It seems strange that the reporters laughed a lot louder a couple of years ago at the video which showed GW looking for WMD under the sofa cushions, doesn't it, Jeff?
The fact that the members of the press are so uncomfortable when someone uses powerful sarcasm and satire about the President tells me that they're far more in his pocket than is healthy.
Just to point out, Colbert's comments were also sarcasm and satire directed to the Washington press corps. And it is far from clear that they appreciated that. Although, he was, of course, right on the mark.
Are they embarrassed that in a single speech Stephen Colbert managed to show more backbone than the entire press corps has in the past five years?
Definitely. Colbert probably knew he wasn't going to get many laughs. He stuck the knife into audience and just kept twisting. No wonder they weren't laughing . . . and no wonder they're pretending the Bush double was the main act.
And what does it say about the state of our media that the only person who can say these things has to take on the guise of a comedian? I'm not into hero-worship, but Stephen Colbert just jumped to the top of my pedestal.
Last night, Keith Olbermann had Dana Milbank on talking about the Colbert monologue. Milbank was at the correspondents' dinner. Olbermann asked him if Colbert had crossed the line and his response was, "No, the problem was that he just wasn't that funny." Bzzzt. Sorry, Dana, but you need a sense of humor transplant. That performance was very, very funny - it was just at your expense.
The attendees failed to realize that they were not the intended audience for his act. We were. The attendees were merely the props.
We already knew that any criticism of Colbert "crossing the line" was misplaced, but after reviewing the transcript I must say Colbert doesn't go anywhere near the line.
For the record:
-easy remark about Cheney's marksmanship.
-acknowledgement that the NSA eavesdrops on people
-noting Iraq's poorly functioning government
-observing bad approval poll numbers
-suggesting that Bush is foolishly consistent
-ripping the press corps
-"rearranging deck chairs on the Hindenburg"
-mocking Helen Thomas' hounding of Scott McClellan
Most of Colbert's routine is centered on his "idiot" character -- references to his distrust of books, for example. The fact that he's portraying an ardent Bush-lover as an idiot could be construed as insulting. Beyond that, the only real attack on Bush is the knock about his foolish consistency. Everything else is undeniable (if uncomfortable for the administration, like the approval rating), or stuff that Bush himself jokes about.
P.S. Soldats is partly correct. Colbert had to perform *in character* so that his character could say on Monday, "Look what I did on Saturday!" If Colbert had done some other act (like what? Ambiguously Gay Duo? Chuck Noblet? Phil Ken Sebben?) his Report character couldn't have commented on it.
He had to stay true to his brand.