Give the Governor a Hu-Rumph!

5/4/2006

The Washington Post's Richard Cohen

In the spirit of being "fair and balanced," I am reprinting this opinion piece which appeared in The New York Daily News today. It is the Washington Post based syndicated columnist Richard Cohen's reaction to the Stephen Colbert performance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner on Saturday. He was not there and watched it on TV.

Cohen writes:

First, let me state my credentials: I am a funny guy. This is well known in certain circles, which is why even back in elementary school, I was sometimes asked by the teacher to "say something funny" - as if the deed could be done on demand. This, anyway, is my standing for stating that Stephen Colbert was not funny at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. The rest is commentary.

The commentary, though, is also what I do and it will make the point that Colbert was not just a failure as a comedian, but rude. Rude is not the same as brash. Rudeness means taking advantage of the other person's sense of decorum or tradition or civility not to strike back or, worse, rise with a huff and leave. The other night, that person was George W. Bush.

Colbert made jokes about Bush's approval rating. He made jokes about Bush's intelligence, mockingly comparing it to his own. "We're not some brainiacs on nerd patrol," he said. Boy, that's funny.

Colbert took a swipe at Bush's Iraq policy, at domestic eavesdropping, and he took a shot at the press corps for purportedly being nothing more than a steno service. He referred to the recent White House staff changes, chiding the press for supposedly repeating the cliché "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" when he would have put it differently: "This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg."

A mixed metaphor and lame as can be.

Why are you wasting my time with Colbert? I hear you ask. Because he is representative of what too often passes for political courage, not to mention wit, in this country. His defenders - and they are all over the Blogosphere - will tell you he spoke truth to power. This is a tired phrase, as we all know, but when it was fresh and meaningful it suggested repercussions, consequences - maybe even death in some countries.

But in this country, anyone can insult the President of the United States. Colbert just did it and he will not suffer any consequence. He knew that going in. He also knew that Bush would have to sit there and pretend to laugh at Colbert's lame and insulting jokes. Bush himself plays off his reputation as a dunce and for his penchant for mangling English. Self-mockery can be funny. Mockery that is insulting is not. This is why Colbert was more than rude. He was a bully.

On his own show, Colbert appeals to a self-selected audience that reminds him often of his greatness. In Washington, he was playing to a different crowd and he failed dismally. He had a chance to tell the President and much of important (and self-important) Washington things it would have been good for them to hear. But he was, like much of the Blogosphere itself, telling like-minded people what they already know and alienating all the others. In this sense, he was a man for our times.

He also wasn't funny.

So now we know how the "insiders" will react.

I would like to say that I always liked Richard Cohen and I always look forward to his articles whenever they appear. He is intelligent and reasonable which, as anyone with eyes and ears knows, is a very rare thing these days.

At the risk of sounding like one of those "blogosphere Colbert defenders" I firmly believe that in this case, Cohen is completely WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

I find Cohen's charges of "rudeness," "alienating others" and being a "bully," as patently absurd. What has this administration been doing for the past five years? Were they having cordial détentes with the opposition or just doing whatever the fuck they wanted and anyone who opposed their agenda was fired, exposed, slandered or ridiculed with all the subtlety of a cum shot?

Besides, Colbert doesn't need any defending. His act WAS a political act of courage. One that NONE of the Press has emulated in a long time. By denigrating it, Cohen is kind of "defending"...well...Richard Cohen. He supported the war whole heartedly back then and now, like many of his silent brethren, claims to have been misled. Even so, he still pulls his punches whenever criticizing.

YOU WERE NOT MISLED...YOU FUCKED UP!!!

Either out of laziness or fear or both, you guys went into the tank. You WERE the stenographers that Colbert compared you to. You printed anything these clowns told you and completely ignored anybody or anything that contradicted the party line. Do a mea culpa already and move on because you are a good journalist. Knocking Colbert for pointing out these obvious notions is not helping out your credibility. Don't shoot the messenger.

And implying that the blogosphere is inconsequential is completely bourgeois. Who does Cohen think writes these things...JD Salinger? No, just average people expressing their opinions. I hear the term "The People" used all the time by politicians and media types with no understanding of its meaning. I think blogging is one venue where (The) People can actually have their say. Not only is that cool, but in a corporate controlled media world, it has become vital in understanding what, why and how people think.

Yes, I know there is a lot of horse shit out there. (In fact, I can picture someone reading THIS entry right now saying, "Boy, you got that right!") But hiding between the bitter Cubs Fan Diary and the tedious ramblings of an alienated 14 year old girl who has a crush on some cast member of "Lost," are fresh ideas, valid points of view and eloquent dissertations that, at least, has the possibility of expanding one's mind. So please, do not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

And isn't THAT attitude the problem with this whole administration anyway? Isn't it painfully obvious that Bush and the boys take no advice that is not their own and dismiss all others as if they do not know what they are talking about? Why isn't Cohen hammering THAT disastrous reality instead of giving Colbert etiquette lessons and comedy critiques?

Cohen would have sounded more relevant if he said, "Let them eat cake."

New Face At The Post?

I still like Richard Cohen and will definitely read his next column, but I was very disappointed after reading this opinion. So much so that I cried for an hour.

Okay, I didn't really.
But you know what I mean.

Larry