A dinner likely more fun for us than Bush

Right wing bias? Are you kidding me. That was very funny. You guys are so funny I can't believe it. Right wing bias.
You're killing me.

Thanks Stephen!
Children do not understand sarcasm;
Will Bush understand?

Mr. Bush got everything he deserved from the courageous, if pointed, satire offered by Stephen Colbert. The president and the press corps may have squirmed at the mirror held up to them, but 68% of the public are beginning to see the emperor's nakedness in spite of the blinders the president and the press corps (in large part) still wear. Bravo to Mr. Colbert. His bit may not have won on the laugh-o-meter, but it was hands down the best show of the evening.

Disrespecting the presidency?

We are not a monarchy. The president is not meant to be respected unless respect is earned. If there appears to be some inherent respect that the press corps gives to him, it is only because they crave access. By becoming sycophants, with most cynical of deference, the press hope to catch their share of this phony gravitas they create for the president.

This is why Colbert's routine was so important. Colbert pretended to truly respect Bush for his policies and his character. As he progressed, it became apparent how absurd it is to have any respect for Bush. And it exposed the failures of cocktail-party-embedded journalists.

Colbert's video was clearly intended to be something more than comedy. It was long for a very good reason: to demonstrate that the president, after several years, cannot adequately explain why we went to war in Iraq. Indeed, Bush keeps running from accountability.

The greatest punchline would have been for Colbert to actually answer the big question: why did we go to war?

I disagree; I thought Stephen Colbert's performance was hysterical mainly because the truch hurts. I would assume one's opinion would follow along the same approval polls being referenced. 2/3 probably thought it was the best part of the "show" and 1/3 thinks it's not right to question authority. We've learned nothing from the holocaust if we are still afraid to question those in power.

As for the president and the "human dimension" - let him go home and watch his hilarious "searching for WMDs" video that he previously aired at the WHPC. Let him call a few families and visit a few amputee wards. And all you can do is worry about retribution to the WHPC for Colbert's speech? Don't forget to put some work in on that novel that Colbert mentioned.

I dislike comedians such as Colbert. They can only create humor at the expense of others. There is no comeback. His jokes at this particular gathering were inappropriate and excessive.

It's nice to see that someone actually acknowledges that Colbert was there. It would have been nice to also point out that Colbert poked fun (well, maybe a stronger term than poked fun is needed) at the White House press corps, contributing to the 'uneasiness' in the audience.

Just like your article, predictable and mostly unfunny; however, not suprising coming for your lame newspaper.

You should've quit before you ever started!

I guess Colberts comments hit a little to close to home for you Frank. Taking the presidents talking points, namely "staying the course" and using it against him. Who'd of thunk it?
Maybe this one night of pennance will make up for every other pre screened town hall meeting that the white house is so fond of. Maybe, but thats about as likely as the republicans maintaining their majority in both houses of congress in the mid term election.
Alan

Your compassion for the president is touching. Once again the national press corps has been seduced by a president who deserves, not sympathy, but a wee bit of critical thought. As usual, it's concern is mostly whether or not it is well thought of by the President - not whether or not it is giving the public even a whiff of honest reporting. Go Stephen Colbert. Shame on the national press lackeys.

Jim Harvey

Mr. James wrote: "Colbert's toughness on Bush made people squirm because it raised that age-old question that goes back to the republic's start. How do you criticize the president without disrespecting the presidency?"

I think most of the media has already asked and answered that question. Bush is given a pass in so many ways that were never given to Clinton, or to Gore or Kerry as candidates.

Colbert had the guts to call out the president rather than make excuses, ignore, or buddy up to the White House.

No wonder there was uncomfortable silence. It was YOU, Mr. James, and the rest of the Washington press corps that were the targets, just as much as Bush.

Oh, you are SUCH a dork! If you ever could find a sense of humor, you would have recognized how incredibly funny Colbert's routine was. Beyond that, though, if you had any shred of intellect, you would recognize how ACCURATE the scathing criticism was.

Reporter, indeed...

I thought Colbert was terrific. He was incredibly funny. Sure it's dark humor and there is part of me that would like to ignore the depressing loss of glaciers and global warming. But making jokes at least makes the reality of this president bearable. Kudos to Colbert for speaking the truth and letting us laugh at the same time.

The entire problem with you, clearly part of the coddling sycophant media, is that you're more concerned about decorum than the substance of what Stephen Colbert said.

It was simply brilliant.

Yes, it was a guerilla attack, done on supposedly safe ground. But the media has nicely made up for the slight by giving a near-total media blackout of Colbert's performance.

In times such as these, we should point out that the emperor wears no clothes and not whether Laura Bush can stomach hearing the virulent opposition to her misguided husband's policies.

Shame on you.

Unfunny? I saw the clips and you can't be talking about the same Colbert prformance that I saw...

www.thankyoustephencolbert.org

It was interesting watching the White House Correspondent's annual dinner. It was obvious that President Bush is not use to facing the reality of his actions. His reactions and his wife's reaction upon leaving was worth the whole ninety minutes.

No one can convince me that this man listens to anyone but sees only what he wants, not what the people want. I felt the same "uneasiness" tenions at home that you described - but I believe in the long run it will make both parties more responsive to the type of candidates they hoist upon the electorate. May we never again see someone of Bush's calibre.

I agree with the previous poster who said a president has to actually earn respect, and, at this point in time, it's a difficult task to hold any respect for George W. Bush.

I didn't see the tape but I read Colbert's transcipt and it had me in stitches. It probably was a little inappropriate for the dinner in that it didn't take as many shots at the press corps, which could probably be considered as equally susceptible to mockery.

What's shocking is how little coverage there was of Colbert's routine.

The US press is so attuned to taking their usual supine position with respect to this vicous and dangerous White House that we abroad finally no longer expect the truth to be reported. When the time comes, you all should be be hauled into the dock of the international criminal court along with Bush, Cheney and their neo-conservative, corporate cabal.

Thank God for the Internets. Hated evrywhere and respected nowhere, America (as once admired) is come to a sad end.

Your red-carpet analysis was about as interesting (and relevant) as Oscar coverage. I'm glad I saw the CSPAN broadcast and didn't have to rely on this stodgy account. In six years I have never seen this president answer a follow-up question, let alone have to sit and listen to another's opinion. How sad that it had to come in the form of a satirist. Hard on the president? Were you there for Imus' roasting of Clinton? I suppose you see sex jokes as appropriate for the office, but heaven forbid the man who has presided over thousands of deaths should have to face any accusations of his incompetence.

This reporter is like a house cat.

Cats are fun to play with, cute, cuddly etc. Unfortunately, cats are relatively useless and require daily litter clean-ups.

Frank James(and this "report") is relatively useless and his box needs scooping.

SJK
Milwaukee, WI

Colbert is the only news in this whole event, wrth reporting, and you just lost another reader. The blogs are on fire with this story, perhaps the papers would do better to wake up to reality as well as the chimperor.

You do get some credit because you mentioned Colbert was there, unlike most other media. BTW gwb's routine was not funny, and you could try to drop the "...gwb is a regular guy...." or the "...likeable idiot...." facade you media types keep pushing on us.

We are not fooled anymore, he is a arrogant rich guy who refuses to face reality-he doesn't read newspapers, the White House and Air Force One ALWAYS has fox news on, and he has even admitted he has to "catapult the propoganda". And he refuses to be held accountable for any of his numerous mistakes, and why should he? You won't ever hold him accountable, and of course your coporate parents would probably fire you if you tried.

He is in a bubble that no one is allowed to pop, that is until Steven Colbert came along and did. gwb was told the truth for possibly the first time in 6 years, and all you care about is "disrespecting the presidency".

How about this; Hold gwb accountable for the quagmire in Iraq, or you disrespect 2400 US troops who have already died for gwb's lies.

An interesting take on the evening. Colbert was light on the President, hard on the media. If anything could have been called out for being inappropriately harsh it would be attacking the press corps at their own dinner party. It's probably forgivable given how funny his monologue was, though.
It would take a very specific set of blinders to have seen this as a personal attack on W. and not as an elegant slight on the very red-party-centric media (Conservative is a word that conjures images of responsible spending, holding to our values such as the Constitution, and being slow and careful in our approach to relations.. red-party is more suitable to the GOP as it is today) and a discourse on policy. Learn to seperate the policy from the person and the war from the warrior. We salute the rank, not the man. And policy is always open to disagreement and discourse of all kinds, else we are truly abandoning the Republic.

What is disappointing is not the things that were said by Mr. Colbert in satire, but that I've heard them said almost verbatim by people that actually meant it.

I've been cruising around the net, looking for one compliment from the mainstream press for Stephen Colbert's fantastic performance the other night. I haven't found one yet--I guess the fact that a comedian is doing the job the journalists should be doing is too much for them to face.

BTW, if you want to thank a true American patriot, go here:

http://thankyoustephencolbert.org/wordpress/archives/3

cobert was ineptly tragic, like an unread fool let loose in the Library of Congress, he was vain to an extreme and no match for geopolitical realities. what was he trying to impress us with? did he have a thought putting this routine together, at least a feeling? the stupidity of it was appallingly innane, not even passionate enough to be bitter. i have never seen him and heard him be so unfunny, so ineptly unfunny.

Colbert wasn't funny. He shouldn't have the right to speak about our great president. Our president deserves our respect. He earned our respect by ... um ... well, that impersonator guy was sure funny. He looks just like Bush. He deserves our respect as well.

Frank, you did a fine job. You are to be commended for providing a balanced report of an event that apparently too many self-absorbed, whining posters feel is a topic upon which to engage in their favorite form of therapy - Bush-bashing.

The sad part about Colbert's speech is that it was not supposed to be funny. However, as mentioned in an earlier post, making a satire out of it made the tragedy more bearable.

Thank you Stephen.

Stephen Colbert demonstrated, perhaps, more courage at the correspondents' dinner than any American in decades.

I was sure that a well-coordinated smear campaign would begin against him immediately. Instead I find nothing in the media, except this article here. I guess the official response is to ignore his performance.

This makes sense. To draw attention to it would only bring more people to view the video or read the transcripts. This is the last thing Bush and his people want, since there was so much truth in Colbert's speech. And good satire is a powerful thing. Thomas Paine, eat your heart out.

tristan

"It's back to the big issues bedeviling Washington—war, immigration and whether the president will somehow find a way to punish the White House press corps for Colbert's wisecracks."

HA! He should be thanking the press for taking the brunt of the criticism. Don't think we, the citizens of America, don't know the media aren't doing their jobs, too. It speaks very loudly that the only media Colbert is getting is in the blogosphere. If he really bombed or did something inappropriate, the main stream press would be all over him. Why are they so quiet now?

Satire is rarely kind regardless of who is the target. In any case, everyone should relax...it will take Bush several days to lookup the the "big" words Colbert used.

"Here's a comedian dissing a man non-stop in front of the subject's wife."

Thank you so much for protectin' us lady-folk. We need to know our husbands as the strong providers they are. Of course, our husbands are always right and we shouldn't be subjected to seeing them shamed. Keep that kind of stuff in the work places and country clubs where we aren't allowed.

Disrespecting the presidency? Bush's actions over the entire time he's been in office have done far, far more to disrespect the office of the President, not to mention the American people, than any criticism that could be leveled his way.

Colbert is God...

They were both funny. Colbert was just not as funny as the impersonator. Flat out, he should have been the opening act, rather than the headliner.
However, Colbert will be seen as funny only by liberals. That's a good number of the DC press corps, admittedly, but folks on the right will just see him as a whiner. I thought he was funny, but he poked fun at someone else. Bush poked fun at himself. More class in the latter.

By reading these coments I see the Bush haters have been upstaged by Bush once more.I love it.Just as I did in 2004.

Yes, it is sad when a fake news journalist from comedy central is more relevant and is forced to do the job of "real" journalists. Word to Frank James - stop worrying if Bush had his feelings hurt and do your job - report on something - you might learn a thing or two from Colbert.

I think that a forum where a president can mock his own reasons for an unjust war, as Bush did at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2004, is a perfectly appropriate place for a real comedian to call him out on the carpet. If the attendees felt uncomfortable witnessing it, well now they know how I felt watching the video of Bush looking under his couch cushions for the "dang WMD's" that were supposedly the justification for the deaths of over 2400 American soldiers.

It's a sad state of affairs when the most accurate news comes from HBO and Comedy Central. Whose fault is that?

Truth to power (especially misused power)...'nuff said.

What disrepect? Colbert talk was far more relevant than what Imus did to Clinton several years ago.

Like all republicans, you think it is perfectly fine to talk about a politician's personal life, but to question his policies? That is disrespectful? You should go work for a tabloid or something.

To Frank James:
At first I thought that I was reading an article out of People magazine rather than a description of the WH Correspondent's dinner.
BTW, I watched Colbert's video and he was funny, witty and right on target.
I actually have more respect for Fox News as a news-gathering organization than I do for the WH press corps (excluding Fox). Fox is, at the very least, honest about its own dishonesty and RNC bias. You people slavishly follow every spin by the GWB White House and try to pass it off as "hard" news.
Come to think of it, that was a bigger joke than Colbert's routine -- the so-called "newspeople" in the audience passing themselves off as journalists.
Seriously, though, the inability/unwillingness of the WH press corps to do their jobs with honesty and integrity has led to an illegal war and the death of thousands. How do they look in the mirror each morning?

This is a blatant publicity stunt by Stehpen Colbert to garner ratings for his show. I regular watch and enjoy the Colbert Report but this was over the line.
There is a time and place for everything although Bush bashing seems to be acceptable for left-wing liberals anywhere or anytime, even at funerals (LSK). The fact that some people view this as acceptable sickens me.
This is transparent partison politics and has nothing to do with respect for the President, it is a matter of basic common decency for which these people seem not to posses. I said the same thing when the Clinton witch hunt was going on.

Frank thank you for mentioning the Colbert controversy.

The truth is that only fake news anchors ask real questions and this historical accident casts much light on the pathetic state of our "free press".

Frank James although you give a nod, you are as lackluster and guilty as the white house press corpse.

The freedom of the press is for the people.
The people are saying thank you Mr Colbert
www.thankyoustephencolbert.org

You may be on the right side of history today, but you will be counted as one of the president's media buffers in the history of tomorrow.

I have a new hero and his name is Stephen Colbert. What he did took courage and intelligence, and recognition of a higher authority than George Bush. If we could all rise to that level and call it as it is what a world this would be.

"To Frank James:
At first I thought that I was reading an article out of People magazine rather than a description of the WH Correspondent's dinner."

I felt exactly the same way.

Mr. James, are you a member of the press or an entertainment and lifestyle correspondent? Please put the Kook-Aid down and step away!

I am glad that you are so concerned about the feelings of the President and assume you are equally concerned about the feelings of the young men and women who he sends off to die for reasons he has yet to explain.

The state of the American press is such that the people of this country are left with comedians and amateur bloggers to stand up to power. Mr. Colbert and others are doing your job--they should be getting your paycheck, too.

When is this country going to come together. No republicans...no democrates...just plain old AMERICANS. I saw the film clips of the dinner and I think it's great the president can laugh at himself as well. I think Mr. Bush has done a great job and could have done better if he didn't have all the ungratefull opposition in the White House. All the one's who'll be running for president and feel they have to make themselves out as better than Mr. Bush. We know who you are and we will never vote for a back-stabing, two faced offical like you. I can't wait till the media turns on you like they did for Mr. Bush. Let's see what words they can twist, let's look deep in your past and see what skelitons you have, all the hidden truths finally revealed too late. Let's see if you're half the president Mr. Bush is with all the crap being thrown at you from all sides. And the American people bad mouthing the president. What would you do if a dirty bomb exploided in a heavy metro area? I suppose that would have been Mr. Bush's fault too. Open you eye's people...look at the big picture. Stop being lead around by self-centered polititions, lop-sided media sources, and celibities who have nothing better to do than throw their weight in with the opposition because they want something else. And everyone can do a better job, until they get in the White House, then one failure after another will being excuse after excuse. Oh, and the bozo who made the movie to make Mr. Bush look like a joke...you are thee worse director I have ever seen. I sure hope people didn't pay you to make that piece of crap. I wish we could give Mr. Bush four more years, with out all the crap going on and let him see what he can realy do for this country.

Darrell S.

Colbert and Helen Thomas. The only two who have the nerve to stand up to the Bush Administration. And I understand your reluctance. It's called accessibilty. Get tough on the prez and suddenly your left out of the circle. And you have to do some explaining to your boss. I bet you and your sycophantic brethren when you put your heads on the pillow to sleep say to yourselves, "Damn, I just wish I could report the truth. But then Tiffany and Brad are still in college and the nest egg for retirement are years away." Kind of pathetic that one has to compromise their principles.

Frank, you are so wrong! Stephen Colbert is God! You are so out of touch that it hurts! That annual press dinner is a bizarre farce, and Colbert gave it meaning for the first time. Maybe the uneasiness you sensed was the last, hidden stirrings of that D.C. press crowds' moribund souls, momentarily quickened by the presence of real satiric genius and by real courage and by real conviction of principle. Too bad you don't recognize these qualities, or at least have a sense of what American is openly mocking - Dry Drunk Incompetent Bush, and the subservient lapdog Congress/sycophantic press corps.

Darrell S... time for your meds again...

Aw, did the mean comedian hurt the Pwesident's feewings?

I'm not sure what's so "Courageous" about a satirical commedian (Colbert), getting in front of a room of mostly left wing minded journalists, venting at a president who they know cannot do anything to defend himself. What sort of "retribution" was he so courageously facing??? If this is considered courage by the left, then it's sad to even imagine what they consider cowardice. Oh, I know, using the courts to pass laws instead of putting them up to a democratic vote. Oh yes, using bumper sticker logic on blogs instead of actually engaging in a systematic discussion of the facts instead of being blinded by emotions! First the left has destroyed the meaning of the word love, now they are going to destroy the word Courage! Next, they will want to redefine family... Oh wait...

Stephen Colbert is America's court jester, speaking truth to King George. I pray he will not loose his head.

Yawn...Letterman, Leno, heck, Mark Shields are all tougher on Bush than Colbert was, and far funnier, to boot. Perhaps the fact that Colbert was in the presence of the Prez when he spoke makes his act more 'Courageous' to some. For me, I chuckled a few times, but, mostly, I was bored. His best moment was when he mangled the 'water glass half empty' joke and had to re-start it....that is pretty sad. Actually, I did laugh at the Joe Wilson bit.

Does anyone think that Bush doesn't know that: His approval rating is in the toilet; People are questioning the decision to go into Iraq; Dick Cheney shot someone?

This was not an "Emperor's New Clothes Moment"....W knows what he is or isn't wearing. Colbert's truest comments were on W thinking on Wednesday what he thought on Monday. It is his greatest strength and his most vexing weakness. Time alone will tell whether the course he has plotted is correct.

rcn

Darrell, nice spelling... you sure are making a great example of your side!

Colbert did an outstanding job; one which needed to be done. He used all words of praise, while clearly demonstrating the very sad state of affairs of the Bush presidency, as well as a large part of our press. As for any question of not showing respect for the presidency, that's nonsense. Taking apart a president who has so trashed our values with deceptions and arrogance for our laws is in fact showing real respect for what our presidency is supposed to be. It took a great deal of courage, far more than has yet been demonstrated by the press, for Colbert to stand before Bush and speak with such accuracy.

Mr. James,

Colbert's performance was a great moment in American satire and a prime example of the courage it takes to speak truth to power. Instead of ignoring the fact that a comedian, not a journalist, was the first to hold the President accountable to his face, why don't you "journalists" try to answer his criticisms of the press head on? You know, defend yourselves by giving us some examples of the intrepid Washington reporters that had the courage to stand up to the administration during the lead up to the invasion of Iraq without fear of being labelled unpatriotic by O'Reilly. (Links to such articles during that period would be much appreciated.)

Thank you,
Justin

Gee, what's it been? Six years. And it takes a comic
to speak truth to power. And what does the press
do? They do what they always do when dealing with
Bush--they bury the lead. Shame on the press.

Colbert's appearance and video were the funniest things I've ever seen him do. And to-the-point. He's really a patriot! And no, before this, I wasn't much of a fan. I liked him better as a Daily Show correspondent, to be honest. But I have a whole new respect and hope for Stephen Colbert. Viva Colbert!

Stephen Colbert is the voice of the people
Finally even for a fragment
our voice was heard.

In a world of choreographed press conferences, fake town hall meetings, and interviews that are rehearsed and polished to absurdity, I cannot believe that the truth accidently slipped into a televised Bush appearance like it did on Saturday.

Bravo Stephen Colbert, you’re a true American hero.

For a positive, well-written review of Steven Colbert's WHPC dinner performance, please visit http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/05/01/colbert/
You may have to watch a short ad to read the whole article, but well worth it. Thank you Salon, thank you SC.

If Laura Bush isn't already embarassed by her husband's behavior, nothing Stephen Colbert could have said could have embarassed her.
I don't recall seeing the Tribune concerned about what comedians, pundits, Republicans, and the Tribune were saying about Bill Clinton during his presidency.

And I imagine the Tribune didn't have any Democrats anywhere near the power of Clarence Thomas at its table.

Hats off to Colbert. Somebody with guts for a change.

I dedicate this humorous rewrite of 'Strange Brew' to him by Cream. (Disraeli Gears, 1967)
My apologies to Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and E. Clapton. Enjoy!

Bush brew, kills what’s inside of you

He’s the Prez of us in electric red
If he has his way we may all end up dead
Boo-Hoo,,, now what ya gonna do
Bush Brew, Y2K did it to you

On a vote in the middle of a raging sea
He whipped Al’s a%&, that’s the way it must be
Although,,, Gore really won the score
Bush brew, stir up the right wing stew

Bush and Cheney even Tom DeLay,
They will teach us all how the big boys play
Dems lose,,, reduced to clowns and booze
Bush brew, he didn’t give Kerry a clue

Mephistophoeles aka Karl Rove
On his advise into Iraq we dove
Hey wow,,, Redux: Apocalypse Now
It hurts, his name must really be Kurtz

Bush brew, kills what’s inside of you

Colbert stunk it up because he wasn't funny - he was hateful. This dinner is to relax the hatred. All of these comments are from people who seeth with hatred. You all lost, you're losers, deal with it, eat it, drink it, bath in it, it is your life, you are losers and Bush won - he's the president. And, he was graceful and funny. Your guy Colbert was just like you - full of hate.

I admire Colbert's guts. I kept thinking that I probably could not have thrown such scathing criticism straight in president's face. Having grown up in Soviet Union, I had this sinking feeling in the gut that nothing good would come to Colbert after that performance. The president is not an enemy one would want to have. But then I remembered--this is America! Anyway, whether you agree with Colbert or not, he showed courage. Or was it foolhardy on his part?

Some jokes were quite funny...

How funny it is that the libs get so much satisfaction out of a 3rd rate comedians lame performance. No wonder the libs are so bitter. Lighten up lefties!

I don't understand the fuss about Colbert's speech. He is obviously on the side of the president and "truthiness" and the reliance on "gut" feelings. Isn't that what we've gotten from this good Christian man these past 5 years?

It takes a true patriot to stand by his president regardless of the facts and dwindling polls.

Anyone who thinks differently has been brainwashed by the "liberal" media. Including the liberal media.

Dear Frank James...What color is the sky on your planet? Anyone who saw the "Stephen Colbert presentation at the White House correspondent's dinner" I saw and didn't double-over and blow a drink of their choice out their nose, either had their sense of humor surgically removed, and/or had the comments hit WAAAAAY too close to home. In your case, Frank, I fear both.

Colbert ripped Jesse Jackson, Scalia, McCain, the generals, Wilson, and the DC press harder than Bush. Actually, the Bush stuff was rather Friar's roast-like. I thought it was going to be harder. The people who should be screaming is the DC press. Bush evidently didn't think it was that bad. He told Colbert "Good job". Maybe because he was ripping the DC press.

Being roasted and criticized is part of the job of president. There is no dichotomy over criticizing a president and disrespecting the presidency. The ability to criticize presidents keeps the US strong, and is the reason we won the COld War. What I want to know is when did the Republicans become such whining wankers. Wasn't it liberals who can't take a joke and have no sense of humor?

I'm an independant. I know this- extremists are always oversensitive. Colbert was funny.

Perhaps if this President wasn't both clueless and sheltered we wouldn't need a satirist to mock him in such a setting.

The media may have initially tried to ignore Colbert. But when the next banquet comes around they'll be quoting him left and right.

I've come to this conclusion, which is an affirmation of what I've known all along: conservatives have no sense of humor.

The truthiness hurts...

Never before in the "reign" of this president has anyone called forth such attention to Bush's failure (spying, torture, controlled science, control of the media, illegal war, religiosity, and much more)in the presence of the president himself.

I have visited the Chicago Tribune building. I was moved to tears when I read the inscriptions carved into the stone walls of the lobby--each underscoring the importance of a free press and the absolute need for speaking truth to power. How ironic that the only guy in the room speaking truth to power is a comedian. I think it is time for the journalists, editors, and the boys in your boardroom to visit your own lobby and be reminded of why you are here.

COLBERT WAS NOT TRYING TO BE FUNNY.
HE WAS SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER.
POWER DID NOT LIKE IT.
IT SELDOM DOES.

Mr. James writes:
"it raised that age-old question that goes back to the republic's start. How do you criticize the president without disrespecting the presidency?"

I believe that age-old question actually was answered by a President some time ago:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” Theodore Roosevelt
(Please forward to the rest of the mainstream media.)

By the way, I wonder if Mr. James was troubled by that "age-old question" during the Clinton administration?

Isn't the point of being a comedian, to be funny? If Mr. Colbert wishes to be considered a comedian, he should try to be, well, a little funny. If he wishes to become another political pundit, he should deliver more performances like he did at this dinner.

You missed the point enirely, just like all of your compatriots. Stephen's performance in speaking truth to power that night made me more proud to be an American than I have in quite some time.

Like dissident antipoliticians in the formerly communist Czechoslovakia, who used satire and absurdity to highlight the fact that in a post-modern consumer society the “line of complicity runs through each of us,” the new American generation distrusts political grandstanding and even traditional forms of organized politics.

Hence, the popularity of the so called "No Brow" satires like South Park, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show. Growing up with the quintessential Boomer technology, the television set, has made us literate consumers of electronic stories.

Despite whining from every denomination of social commentators about today's generation's apparent apathy. The political blackout is all pervasive, and flows from the intoxicating polemics of the previous generations’ culture war that eclipse most public discourse about the shifting boundaries of our social geography and economic life. “Ideology is a specious way of relating to the world,” writes Vaclav Havel former antipolitician later turned President of the democratic Czech Republic.

On the left, critics bemoan the commodification of art and corporate America’s co-option of the symbols from the former bohemian and newer alternative counterculture. “Hip is how business understands itself,” writes Tom Frank suggesting that the emerging culture is just another aspect of capitalism.

On the right, detractors echo analogous themes on the moral decay and devolution of society. David Brooks describes the members of today’s generation as “The Organization Kid,” part of the “Future Workaholics of America, obsessively career conscious and deferent to any authority that will get them ahead.

This new generation, argues Brooks, lacks defining concepts of “character and virtue,” for they have been reared in “a country that has lost, in its frenetic seeking after happiness and success, the language of sin and character-building.” “When I asked about moral questions,” writes Brooks, they “often flee such talk and start discussing legislative questions...These young people are not part of an insurrection against inherited order. They are not even part of the conservative reaction against the insurrection.” writes Brooks, “[i]t's not that they reject one side of that culture war, or embrace the other. They've just moved on.”

Indeed, they have. Boomers are wired to view creativity as a choice between “selling out” or “sticking it to the man”; and the quest for the great society is a dogmatic battle between the mediocrity of relativism and the virtue of absolutes. To use former bohemian terminology, today’s generation do not have those hang-ups.

The result is a generational gap, largely unnoticed by boomers and their progeny alike. “They have relatively little generational consciousness,” writes Brooks, “because this generation is for the most part not fighting to emancipate itself from the past.”

This suggestion is provocative considering that while “the baby boom included the largest U.S. birth cohort to date, the game generation will ultimately outdo the baby boom in size, in scope, and presumably in influence,” notes John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade in their study of the game generation’s influence on organizational values in business. In fact, “the total size of the game generation is already greater than the baby boom ever was,” and the whole generation of gamers, “including X and Y and letters to be named later-simply approach the world differently than their predecessors.”

The playwright Heiner Mueller remarked that the potency of theater in his native East Germany was based on the absence of other ways of getting messages across to people. "As a result," Mueller says, "theater here has taken over the function of other media in the West." That is until now. While the never ending surface chatter on the left and the right erodes the currency of words, it inflates the space between the lines.

www.alexaobrien.com/hermespost.com/

This previous post deserves repeating:
"That annual press dinner is a bizarre farce, and Colbert gave it meaning for the first time. Maybe the uneasiness you sensed was the last, hidden stirrings of that D.C. press crowds' moribund souls, momentarily quickened by the presence of real satiric genius and by real courage and by real conviction of principle".
Well said.

Addressing the uncomfortable spectre of death, lies and comatose journalism would naturally leave that audience cold. Colbert isn't all that funny, I agree. Just uncommonly truthful in troubled times.
I may have to start watching his show.

Your article is only courageous insofar as it serves as an index for how timid your colleagues are. Your tone is kind of sickening as you search to be fair and balanced. Colbert knocked you and your pals so far back on your cans. Now if you could only get up off of them, find a voice, let it out. But rage à la Fox rules the day and no other tone will do. Certainly not wit. Certainly not yours, whatever tone you were endeavoring to evoke, in this already-forgotten bit of typing. Keep typing, pal.

The Media should get out of there glass box and see the truth that Colbert revealed. Comedians after all, say what is funny. And what the American people are laughing at is not Bush's alter ego. They are laughing at the absolutly abysmal state of todays Media. You are all so concerned with the bottom line, of not upsetting anyone, and getting that coveted "Access", that you have forgotten your responsibilty to report one what things are. Not what the government tells you.

Thinking of "respect for the presidency" vs.
the person currently holding the keys to the office - remember that business early in W's presidency about how the enlisted men were voluntarily saluting him as an indication of their personal respect for the man? It was quite the story for awhile.
So - has anyone seen any photos of enlisted men saluting our Dear Leader while he gets in and out of his helicopters, etc. just lately?

Colbert was doing his usual bit. Anyone who has seen his show would not be a bit surprised by his routine. I am a conservative, but if we conservatives are becoming so sensitive about a comedian poking fun, then we have problems. People endlessly spoofed and mocked Ronald Reagan, and he was always the loudest one laughing. This should be our model.

No one is more reviled, attacked, discredited, hated than someone who manages to shout out the truth in public today.

The poor President, subjected to low blows, insults and sarcastic remarks.

Welcome to Bill Clinton's world.

There will never be an appropriate time or place for Bush to hear the truth. His schedule is set up that way on purpose.

The Washington press corps being made "uncomfortable": hah, it's about time. They need the scrutiny as much as the Bush administration and the rest of the government and DC doings they ostensibly cover. Journalists need to earn their money or be sent packing; being made to feel "uneasy" by Stephen Colbert at a weekend dinner will pass with the dawning of a new "work" week, and their bloated paychecks will continue to roll in, unfortunately.

"cobert was ineptly tragic, like an unread fool let loose in the Library of Congress, he was vain to an extreme and no match for geopolitical realities. what was he trying to impress us with? did he have a thought putting this routine together, at least a feeling? the stupidity of it was appallingly innane, not even passionate enough to be bitter. i have never seen him and heard him be so unfunny, so ineptly unfunny.

Posted by: nagy | May 1, 2006 4:12:34 PM"

Wow! Must have been a REALLY GOOD impression of Bush!

Don't understand this guy's schtick one bit. He's just a bit less funny than Jon Stewart.

The best White House Correspondents' Association's dinner ever! Colbert is a genius!

It will be interesting to see what the other posters say when Colbert speaks "truthiness" to power and satirizes a Democrat president. Of course, that will only happen when the Democrats put forth a more centrist, less "class warfare" candidate whose primary interest is American primacy and sovereignty, not international popularity. I will enjoy Colbert as much then as now.

As for the "approval ratings," ask yourself: how much would YOU care about your popularity if you knew that, say, you were retiring or running off to the islands? You would do what you thought was right, and not worry about your boss, co-workers, employees, etc., would you? I thought so. Just like a second-term President should!

I have plenty of respect for the presidency, just not for the man holding the position. Perhaps the President needs to have some respect for the people he's supposedly leading.

If the truth hurts, so be it. Colbert's presentation was very funny indeed.

"But I also had the sense that Colbert's toughness on Bush made people squirm because it raised that age-old question that goes back to the republic's start. How do you criticize the president without disrespecting the presidency?"

...unless he's a Democrat, you mean?

Why should Colbert worry about disrespecting the Presidency when Bush has no respect for it,...the country or the people of the United States. Bush is not the solution to any problem,...he is the problem.

What is most amazing to me is not this writer's blind spot toward the truth, (that Colbert was better than fantastic, right on point, and rightfully unapologetic) but the ignorant people who will support this president and bash Colbert based on some pathetic allegiance to decorum and the need to protect someone who does not deserve protection. 'Comedy at the expense of others' is what most comedy is based on, and when the subject of this particular routine (George W Nincompoop, as my 4 year old calls him) deserves what is being said about him, we all should understand how great Steve Colbert was, and how truly irrelevant the Bush supporters are.

Um, it seems that you (Frank) are outnumbered based on the above posts. Frankly, all of the people I've shown the video clips to thought it was hilarious and brilliant.

Thousands of people are thanking Colbert on a web site that had to be set up just for this purpose. People are so grateful that they are running out of adjectives to describe their admiration for Colbert's performance. Read some of the posts.
As a reporter do you wonder why this has hit such a nerve? After years of invitation only "town hall meetings" & "public rallies" where the administration functions like a totalitarian regime that does not allow those in power to be questioned (or even wear the wrong T shirt), people are relieved to actually watch someone speak up to the president without being hauled away by secret service agents. To watch Colbert directly challenge those in present control of our government, gives people hope that our republic is not completely lost.
There is a major story here and a real journalist would understand the significance. Courage in the face of power, do you have it?

Colbert was funny and very, very refreshing to watch. He hit his mark in that the MSM is silent.

I still think Bush missed the point.

The fact that the writer is sympathizing with Bush for being "embarassed" in front of his wife instead of sympathizing with the thousands who are dead from our actions in Iraq shows just how far afield the mainstream media has gone. The fact that Mr. Colbert offered the most brave and smart piece of political satire since "Eat Your Baby" should be noted and applauded.

To quote Mr. Hand from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"

Mr. James - are you on DOPE???

Odd. As I review the notes listed (and many other recent editorials), I can't help but observe that Redliners blast the media for trashing the president's policies and supposedly downplaying any good coming out of Washington these days, yet Blueliners are just as quick to criticize any media member who might appear to be defending the White House, et al.

Alas; no middle ground for a serious journalist these days. But thanks for giving everyone a good piece of 'rug' to chew on.

p.s. I sure wish I'd witnessed that dinner. I find Stephen Colbert hysterically funny sometimes, yet occasionally going over the top and accelerating.
He reminds me of someone I used to work with - but that guy was actually serious... and, I suspect, in need of some sort of counseling.

The constant drumbeat demanding 'respect, dignity, and fair treatment' from the right wing for Bush is becoming tiresome.

They have never shown these common courtesies to any of their opponents, nor have they earned any themselves.

That stale foul stench of flatulence you smell wafting on the political breeze is the legacy of Newt Gingrich, the modern inventor of the politics of personal destruction.

He worked long and hard to get us to this point.

After everything that this administration has done to our weary planet in the past five years, your concern is that a comedian addressing the President should show him respect? Now *that's* funny.

All I have to say is thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Stephen Colbert. You spoke the truthiness that the majority of this country has been yearning to hear.

This is the same President that, at another WH Correspondent's Dinner ('04 I believe), thought it was funny to make a skit out of 'looking for missing WMD's' - "let's see, now, where are they?

What, Mr. President, you make fun of your mission that's killed and maimed 20,000 soldiers but can't take the heat, now?

I'm just sorry that Mr. Colbert didn't fly a "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner as he left the room.

At last year's dinner, Laura Bush joked that, on their "ranch," her husband tried to milk the horses.

The male horses.

If the First Lady wants to make jokes involving bestiality I guess that's her perogative, but even an old jade like me was shocked by her tastelessness.

Stephen Colbert, on the other hand, made no personal attacks, or smutty smears ala Imus. In fact he was much more cutting to John McCain and Antonin Scalia, and more scathing towards the press corps, than to George Bush.

Oh, and he made me laugh till I was breathless. C'mon, Mr. James - you didn't even laugh at the Gannon button?

Hi. I never read anything by you before. Boy, you sure are a horses ass. Does someone pay you to write this crap? What a suck up you are to the president. Pathetic! Gosh, I hope Mr. Bush wasn't sad about all the mean things Colbert pointed out!

It was most refreshing to be able to speak the "truthiness" and not be yanked out by police guards, as is the case at any Bush "rally".
My hat is off to Steve Colbert, and, as much as I liked him before, now I love him!
We must bring openness back to our society or we are, indeed, doomed to our country becoming a dismal quagmire, respected and looked up to by no one or no other country.
I say Steve Colbert was admirable, and DARE the news media to speak up, as well!

Of course they didn't think Colbert's bit was funny -- it wasn't! And it wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be painful and honest. As they say, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Stephen Colbert has the courage that George Bush and his cronies do not. We should be LAUDING his courage to question the President and hold the media accountable. This is what FREEDOM is all about!

The evening isn't about the President. It's about the media. And I think Colbert held the media for their failure to hold the President accountable, the Chicago Tribune included.

Sounds like the President isn't the only one who got their feelings hurt.

Good.

By the way, here was the Tribune's outrage when Don Imus did the same thing to the Clintons?

Media bias? You better believe it.

I am English, and have lived in Japan for thirty years. I admire many things American, but I do not admire the present American administration, which is dangerous, dishonest and inept. (I have small time for the present British administration, either.) I suggest that your inability to appreciate Colbert's performance has more to do with his splendid indictment of the moral cowardice of the American media, of which you are obviously a proud and not very perceptive part.

I thought Stephen Colbert did an excellent job. I don't understand the people who say he was not only funny at the dinner, but is not funny in general. Why does he keep getting work if he isn't funny? I guess it would mean that you are in the minority regarding your opinion on Colbert.

I hope Colbert inspired you weasels to grow a spine. He wouldn't have a job if you did yours!!!!!

The media and the politicans of this country all work for the same corporation. We live in a Matrix.

Disrespecting the president?! You're kidding me, right?

I lifted this fabulous quote from the "Redneck Liberal" blog, and I hope he appreciates this attribution as much as I appreciate his astuteness.

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public
servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is
warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in
rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole.
Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell
the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to
blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other
attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there
must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President,
right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any
one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or
unpleasant, about him than about any one else."
- Theodore Roosevelt

I agree with Teddy - the man's not a god, and deserves more than continual adulation from the "majority".

However, I do believe that Colbert, much as I love him, picked the wrong venue for his brilliant satire that evening. The Correspondents' dinner is where they can drink, mix, and mingle with their glittery celeb guests and not where they want to listen to indigestion-inducing zingers, true or no.

But Mary!

Don't you see TeamBush has is set up so their is NEVER an appropriate venue to question, criticize or just plain shout out the truth to Bush?

That's why it took a huge load of guts on Colberts part to do it.

He wasn't shouting across the lawn, he was up close and personal.

Mr James writes," How do you criticize the president without disrespecting the presidency?". The more appropriate question could be, "How can I appear to still remain smuggly superior even though I just got my butt kicked?"

"First the left has destroyed the meaning of the word love, now they are going to destroy the word Courage!"

Give us something. The Bush administration has already radically altered peace, freedom and democracy.

"First the left has destroyed the meaning of the word love, now they are going to destroy the word Courage!"

Give us something. The Bush administration has already radically altered peace, freedom and democracy.

Clear Skies, No Child Left Behind, USA Patriot Act, Operation Iraqi Freedom

Awesome.

"For those who haven't yet seen what was a weird and unforgettable performance by the president and the impersonator, and who have broadband connections, it's available on C-Span.org or youtube.com. It's worth viewing."

I'm sorry Frank, but what exactly was weird and unforgettable about the performance? There was a guy who resembled Bush performing with him? Crazy. That instead of pronouncing nuclear as nucular he incorrectly(?) mispronounced it as nucural?

That lame, predictable routine that you and the others in the audience felt obliged to laugh at, years from now will survive in memory in the realm of trivia buffs. What weak comedy bit did the disgraced former president perform before Colbert tore him a new one and blasted the sycophantic press for coddling him.

Mr. James, You and your column claim to be "Beyond the headlines, beyond newsprint"... but this story clearly shows that you are no different than any other glorified stenographer that passes himself off as a"journalist".

As Colbert so accurately pointed out, "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. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home."

Shame on you Mr. James

Dictators never laugh when it comes to themselves. Censorship about the video is quite
effective. I could not find it anywhere on Internet, because of dubious copyright infringement issues when it was not simply removed without further notice. Really too scary to even speak out with my real name.

I think you and your kindred lackeys in the press corps found it so unfunny because YOU were the joke. Honestly, if you'd all laughed like you did at that lame hee-haw routine before him, THEN he would have bombed. You can only understand satire if you already see the truth -- and hacks like you are clearly uncomfortable with being told to your faces that the emperor has no clothes, and you've been writing endless 'style' pieces on his amazing wardrobe.

*A CONSERVATIVE'S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING COLBERT'S PERFORMANCE*

1. Compared to Bush's "looking for WMDs" routine previously, how exactly could this be considered remotely "over the line"? It can't.

2. Simply saying "bush bashing!" doesn't make a point. In a democracy, presidents need to be criticized and held accountable. That's not bashing, that's patriotism.

3. The "left wing press" is a myth. These people are in the pocket of whoever is in power. You want to know why they didn't laugh at the performance? Because Colbert was satirizing their cowardice and complicity.

4. By the way, that is the main reason it was funny. The whole performance was a sendup of the press and pundit class, and an excellent one at that.

"war, immigration and whether the president will somehow find a way to punish the White House press corps for Colbert's wisecracks". Mr. James, perhaps you and the WHPC you fear so much for could borrow a helping of the courage Stephen Colbert has demonstrated. But I do applaud the Tribune for at least reporting on Colbert's roast, unlike say the New York Times.

Most of all, I applaud Mr. Colbert for his act of true patriotism. The Emperor never had any clothes. It's unfortunate it took two presidential terms for Americans to finally realize it.

Housing prices that have spiralled out of the reach of most Americans, rising gas prices (while oil companies reap quarterly profits the likes of which even Microsoft has never seen), foreign policy arrogance that has led to incalculable damage to US credibility, loss of US leadership in most key industries (what does the US lead in anymore, besides military might?) -- one wonders whether the Titanic Mr. Colbert mentioned should more properly refer to the US itself.

thanks