Update on Colbert's Indictment of Bush, DC Press Corps
That portion of the blogosphere critical of Bush and/or media applauded (for the most part) the satire dished large. The conservative blogosphere, natch, said he bombed. But as Salon notes, mainstream media -- and five firms control 95 percent of what we see, hear or read -- have ignored or downplayed the event:
Colbert didn't get half the ink the [Washington Post] spilled on appearances by George Clooney and Morgan Fairchild and other celebrities at Bloomberg's after-party. The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller wrote almost 1,000 words on the annual dinner this year, but not one of them was 'Colbert.'Outside US borders, headlines focus on Bush's "twin act" -- nothing on Colbert.
Glitz, Glitter and Schmooz
Al Eisele writes a mea culpa in his essay on why the White House Correspondents dinner should just "go the way of Linotype" because it proves to the "rest of the world that the Washington press corps is out of touch, out of synch and out to lunch."
And FOX News brings us this telling headline:
White House Correspondents Dinner: Hobnobbing With the Stars.
After all, it was at this same event, in 2004, that gave many outside of the Beltway pause. That's when President Bush used it as a way to poke fun at the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, as Chris Durang reminds us. That audience laughed.
Colbert Made The President Angry?
Over at CBS, they take Colbert to task for inserting seriousness into a light event (emphasis added):
The annual dinner is Washington’s prom, homecoming and Oscars all rolled into one night. It’s a night for elbow-rubbing between the press and the people they cover. Whether the idea of a newspaper publisher or network anchor dining and drinking with cabinet secretaries and senators is a good one is a topic for another time but this is, for better or worse, one way high-level connections are made in the nation’s capital....Frankly, this reminds me quite of a bit of the DC insider dinner that got bloggers up in arms -- illustrating long before now that the Beltway press is out of touch with the rest of America, is too cozy with those they are supposed to investigate. Remember Trent Lott?
Being just unfunny is one thing. A much more serious offense is to make the president angry.
Mainstream media didn't bring you that story, either.
The Audience That Tittered
This year, the audience mostly tittered. Colbert got bellylaughs over his last global warming joke. The first one -- about an endless supply of black, armored SUVs blocking the entrance to the hotel -- drew nary a chuckle. The (Texas) mesquite powered car drew titters. Belly laughs were reserved for the glacier joke, delivered during a recap of the guest list:
Jesse Jackson is here. I had him on the show. Very interesting and challenging interview.
You can ask him anything, but he’s going to say what he wants at the pace that he wants.
It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor, because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is.
One of the criticisms -- with some legitimacy -- has been that Colbert was heavy-handed. I've watched the video twice -- and grimaced a few times. Heck, I grimaced at the Bill Kristol interview on Thursday. (I'm even more convinced that was a warm-up event.)
But
Billmon writes:
Colbert used satire the way it's used in more openly authoritarian societies: as a political weapon, a device for raising issues that can't be addressed directly. He dragged out all the unmentionables -- the Iraq lies, the secret prisons, the illegal spying, the neutered stupidity of the lapdog press -- and made it pretty clear that he wasn't really laughing at them, much less with them. It may have been comedy, but it also sounded like a bill of indictment, and everybody understood the charges.Who Set This Up?
When I learned on Thursday's show that Colbert was going to be speaking on Saturday, I wondered aloud: who the heck made that decision? I've yet to read anything suggesting who's responsible. Probably a career ending move, that.
Watch the video; read the transcript. It's news, ladies and gentlemen, whether the "liberal" media report it or not.
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Comments
Amazing how a story can be reported over and over and over…and the headline is always about how its not being reported.
Cookie cutter fools
Re who set it up: Mark Smith, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association (Jacques Steinberg, NYTimes).
Who said Colbert was trying to be funny? He told off the isolated President and the incestuous press corps what millions of Americans have prayed SOMEONE would say.
I’m sure Edward R. Murrow wasn’t trying to be funny, either.
They’re saying it wasn’t reported because it wasn’t in mainstream media, and if it was it was just a blurb about it. This is a big deal since major news networks need to be reporting how the majority feels, the 68% and not just the big buisness that owns them
Call me crazy, but i thought it was a pretty funny speech.
I had plenty of laughs, from the Hindenburg joke to the body slam on the DC media (the Decider decides, the press secretary reports, you type). There were a few digs that went clearly partisan (reality has a liberal bias … 68% disapproval rating means the glass is 1/3 full, but I wouldn’t drink it, because that last third is backwash), but when the President has just made a joke based on the idea that he really thinks the press correspondents are a bunch of blowhards who don’t deserve his time of day - what’s over the line?
1) Hi, Dave: not reported by MSM, as a general statement. Was true. Has changed some.
2) Thanks, Thomas.
3) Ummm … Murrow was a journalist. Colbert is a political humorist.
4) Hi, Alex — pick up The New Media Monopoly.
5) I agree it had its funny moments. I just watched it for the fourth time — still think the Glacier joke is my favorite.
6) Hi, Phil - have you seen a transcript or clip of the Twins act?
The very fact that Steve Colbert’s presentation was not reported in the general media proves the bias in loud terms!
But they found Bush’s twin ’shtick’ not tasteless? Or, how about Bush’s WMD bit, ’searching for it under the table’ ? Talk about sick!!
When do we get our country back???
I loved seeing the tight lipped sourpusses almost choking over the brilliant and ‘on the money’ presentation by Steve Colbert. George, Laura and their gang are after all only a bunch of anal-retentive yahoos. Thank you Steve.
Anyone who has ever watched Colbert on his show, should have seen it coming. His entire show is a satire! I’m just grateful for the internet and shows like Democracy Now! so was able to find out about it. It was a hysterically funny routine in spite of the less than receptive audience. Kudos to Colbert.
I still amazed that no one has use the term “Telfon President” for Pres. Bush, because nothing sticks on him nor the in the presses minds.
Sorry mispelled “Teflon President”