Colbert and the Corps.
5/1/2006
Satirist Supreme
If you have not seen Stephen Colbert's totally ballsy speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday, April 29, 2006, I implore you to click this link.
Or if you are like me and are at work and the boss does not allow access to streaming video, then you can read
Courtesy of The Daily Kos.
Take your time, but not too long, because I am sure something this good will be pulled from circulation real quick.
My own comments on the material are irrelevant because Colbert's shots speak for themself but I would like to reprint what I saw in The New York Daily News this morning. The "Lowdown" section, which is their "Page Six" facsimile, was dedicated to the dinner. After several paragraphs of who was there and what weird combos were created (For example the rapper Ludacris and Judge Scalia shaking hands) this is what they had to say about this scathing monologue:
As for the after-dinner entertainment, the conventional wisdom was that Bush killed with his self-mocking routine - "The President was fantastic," gushed staunch Dem. Patricia Duff - while the hired talent, Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert, bombed badly. "It was an insider crowd as you'll ever have, and he didn't do the insider jokes," said BET founder Bob Johnson.
Did The President "kill" and Colbert "bomb badly"?
I did not see The President's routine so I will take their word for it and judging by the video I just watched Colbert was not well received. "Uncomfortable" is probably the best way to describe the dignitary crowd's reaction to the severely pointed barbs that were being hurled at them. So I have no complaint about "the accuracy" of this reporting.
But is this solid journalism?
No, it is not.
Now I know this is from the Daily News but something tells me that this will be the angle that most of the more respected mainstream media will take in their coverage of this event. That is if they cover it at all.
I only found out about it because my friend sent me the above link.
So their headline will read:
COLBERT BOMBS
MY Headline would read:
WITH GREAT WIT AND STYLE, STEPHEN COLBERT POINTS OUT CERTAIN SITUATIONS AND EVENTS INVOLVING THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION AND THE DIRECTION THEY ARE TAKING US, THAT MILLIONS…LITERALLY MILLIONS…OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN PISSED OFF ABOUT FOR AT LEAST FOUR YEARS BUT NEVER HAD ANYONE…NOT ONE SINGLE VOICE… IN THE "LIBERAL MEDIA" TO AMPLIFY THEIR OUTRAGE
I believe that's the REAL story here and the fact that Colbert didn't waver from his material, even when it was becoming obvious that the lion's den was not particularly happy about it, made the situation even more compelling.
Call me weird but I believe that true journalists are more than just stenographers.
I think that was Colbert's point the whole time.
Larry
posted by Larry B | 7:33 PM
5 Comments:
Hi Larry,
As a Canadian I generally only complain about the current inept and corrupt American regime when in the company of my compatriots--Canadian 'politeness' and all, ya know (and besides, it looks like we're brewing up one of our own these days).
Just dropping a note to say that, having stumbled here randomly, I enjoyed your blog and look forward to visiting again.
Cheers,
Kyklops
Didn't they make the same comments about Jon Stewart hosting the Academy Awards? He wasn't well received and he didn't do the insider jokes?
Maybe it's time they change the "insiders", rather than the hired entertainment.
The Record
I appreciate your point about the coverage of the event not being solid journalism.
"It was an insider crowd as you'll ever have, and he didn't do the insider jokes," said BET founder Bob Johnson.
That seems to be one of the prevailing statements about Colbert's performance. They just don't get it. Does Mr. Johnson mean he should have made jokes about the trials of being a reporter? Should they be light hearted jokes that were safe and offended no one?
Well, he didn't go there to make light-hearted jokes or to make jokes to offend-his point was "wake the fuck up!"
And a don't agree with others who say, this was not the place for that type of humor. They say this annual event is supposed to be a safe, neutral place, especially with the President sitting right there. I say it was exactly the right venue.
When you think the country has turned to shit, every place is the right venue. I guess the White House Correspondents Dinner is not in a free speech zone.
The words of BET founder Bob Johnson are a testament to the notion that the Fourth Estate is indeed a wing of our government - one that is as corpulent, self serving and tragically irrelevant to our democracy as its three predecessors. They all deserve to be scraped into the slop buckets with the uneaten chicken a la king and mashed potatoes from that night and dumped into the Potomac.
Thelonius
Excellent points all around!
The interesting thing about Colbert's routine, and what made me feel so good watching it, was that its primary target was the press itself. Yes, the President was humiliated, specifically because he was actually there sitting on the Dais, but the jokes/criticisms aimed his way (Iraq is a mess, Poll numbers are down, etc.) are, as Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "self evident." The fact that these points of view, or as I refer to them, facts, are even remotely considered "controversial" is a decent indicator of where America stands on the delusion scale.
Which brings us to the question of why the United States is deluded?
A major reason is those guys who were at that dinner on Saturday: The White House Press Corps. At best they are lazy people whose only motive is self-preservation. At worst, as Thelonius pointed out, they are "in on it" and are becoming an impediment of representative Democracy. Simply put, they have "been in the tank" for the last five years.
I remember one time seeing a PBS Charlie Rose interview with Michael Moore. It was right around the time Fahrenheit 911 opened. Rose was grilling Moore about some of the allegations the movie was making about the current administration. Most of the "concerns" were the things that were being bandied about at the time to which Moore had a more than adequate response for. After answering a bunch of these questions, Moore went on the offensive and asked Rose several of his charges. The dialogue went something like this: (Paraphrase)
Rose: Well, the administration could have easily answered that by…
Moore: But the question was NEVER asked!!! Listen. Politicians are going to lie to us. Politicians are going to try to steal. This is nothing new. It is the press' job to try to keep them honest. The Press is our first line of defense! They totally dropped the ball on this. Look. If they were HALF as hard on the Administration as they are on me…a filmmaker…now. Half as thorough. Half as inquisitive a couple of years ago…Maybe… kids wouldn't be getting killed right now in Iraq.
I know many people consider Michael Moore the "Boogey Man," but I don't. Once again his observation was 100 percent correct because the results of the press' consistent dereliction of duties has been the American Public's acceptance of:
Domestic spying
Untold thousands of deaths both military and civilian.
Untold thousands of human lives, both military and civilian, forever shattered due to physical and psychological maiming
$3.50 Gallons of Gas
$5.00 Pounds of low grade Beef
Reconstruction style carpetbagging, both here and abroad
Concentration Camps
State sanctioned torture
Racial profiling
Alliances dating back to the birth of this nation shattered
Unchecked Environmental Genocide
Truly Over the Top conflict of interest legislation
…with barely a whiff of protest.
I would have put "Puritanical Censorship" on that list but Stephen Colbert is making some noise on that front.
POC is right, Colbert was yelling "WAKE THE FUCK UP," but not really to that group of individuals that is constantly being referred to as "The People," a term so overused and elusive that it really has no meaning anymore. I think the people who watch his show ("The Colbert Report" - Comedy Central - 11:30 PM EST) and his more entertaining mentor, John Stewart ("The Daily Show" - Comedy Central -11:00 PM EST) have already heard the alarm clock so to speak…and he knows that.
I think Colbert was intelligently shaming "the insiders" who sat there uncomfortably silent because, I believe, they knew he was right. And it is that reaction that the media outlets are categorizing as "bombing." I would call THAT categorization as "spin."
But that's all right. At one time or another, I am sure that we have all embellished stories about our previous exploits that make ourselves look better than we actually were at the time. Sometimes, we can't help it. It is the human condition. The important thing is what they actually do about it. If the answer is "nothing," than I agree with The Record…It IS time to change the insiders.
Oh Hell, Even if they change into clones of Edward R Murrow, we should change them anyway. Someone has to be held accountable for this shit.
Regardless, the reaction and aftermath of this event is undeniable proof that the whole liberal media myth is, just that, a myth.
And Kyklops…Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I am glad that this blogging stuff can reach across borders and oceans so people can freely exchange ideas. If you like what you read (Even if you don't!!!) keep checking back, I post (semi) regularly.
And I know we have been under siege here, but the United States is…still…a great country and I have no doubt that we will once again embrace the progressive values that we once cherished. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but someday in the future. I always believed that but, for some reason, I feel that stronger now than I did on Friday.
That was the other reason why I was so proud of that Colbert speech.
Thanks everybody for the comments!
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