Love this little bit about the guy who booked Stephen Colbert for the White House Correspondents' Association:
Mark Smith, a reporter for The Associated Press who is president of the White House Correspondents' Association, acknowledges that he had not seen much of Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central before he booked him as the main entertainment for the association's annual black-tie dinner on Saturday night. But he says he knew enough about Mr. Colbert — "He not only skewers politicians, he skewers those of us in the media" — to expect that he would cause some good-natured discomfort among the 2,600 guests, many of them politicians and reporters.
And so, the White House Correspondents' Association work ethic becomes part of the story. What, due diligence? Consider what Colbert's previous employer - Jon Stewart - did in a visit one day to CNN as a possible example of what they might be booking?
It is delicious. Assumption and acceptance of "normal" behavior towards a President who is anything but behaving normally gives the Association a black eye. Wonder if Bush or the Republicans think Mark Smith did this on purpose? So, add a new level of distrust towards them as well.
Lazy work ethic. Distrust of their intentions and their statements. Inability to see reality the way 68% of the nation does. Colbert's performance continues to reveal the correspondents in a way they can't find flattering, and the rest of the nation can't find very hopeful.
I Googled the event, and I read that most of main stream media ignored this speech, which is a shame, because sometimes the most effective criticism is delivered with humor as compared to direct attacks. The New York Times reported that the crowd had a lukewarm reaction to the speech and didn't think it was funny. If I was there, I would have cheered and guffawed through the whole thing. I guess that's why I wasn't invited.
My favorite lines:
"... Wow, what an honor ... to sit here at the same table as my hero George W. Bush, ... I feel like I'm dreaming ... somebody shoot me in the face. Is he [Cheney] really not here tonight? ..."
"... we're [Bush and me] not brainiacs from the geek patrol ..."
"... unfiltered by rational argument ... the No Fact Zone ... Fox News, I hold a copyright ..."
"... government that governs best is the government that governs least ... by these standards, we've set up a fabulous government in Iraq ..."
"... everyone has the right to their own religion ... infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior ..."
"... polls ... reflect what people are thinking in reality ... reality has a well-known liberal bias ..."
"... 32% means it's still two-thirds empty ... last third is usually backwash ..." [likening the people that still support the President to backwash]
"... 68% of Americans disapprove of the job this man is doing ..." [this wasn't funny in and of itself, just good for Bush to hear this over and over]
"... he [Bush] stands on ... rubble and recently flooded city squares ... most powerfully staged photo-ops in the world ..."
"... books are all fact, no heart ... they're elitist ... I'm with the President, let history decide what did or did not happen" [no one laughed, brilliant]
[on the Rules of what White House Correspondents should do under Bush] "Over the last five years you people were so good over tax cuts, W.M.D. intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we knew. But, listen, 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." [brilliant!]
"... your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is ..."
"... [welcomes McCain back to the Republican fold] ... look me up when you speak at Bob Jones University, so glad you've seen the light ..."
"... New Orleans the Chocolate City ... Washington, D.C., the Chocolate City with a marshmallow center and a graham cracker crust of corruption ..."
"... Joe Wilson is here ... his lovely wife Valerie Plame, oh my god ... I'm sorry Mr. President, I meant to say he brought along his lovely wife, Joe Wilson's wife ..."
"... Tony Snow ... SnowJob ..."
"... I was vying for the job [Press Secretary] myself, I think I would have been a fabulous Press Secretary, I have nothing but contempt for these people. I know how to handle these clowns. ..."
"... [the [Jeff] "Gannon" button on Colbert's Press Secretary audition tape] ..."
"... [getting Helen Thomas's biting criticism into the tape and in front of Bush] ..."
"... [Colbert trips on a roller skate, this has to be a reference to Tudy (sp?) from Facts of Life?, Colbert says, "Condee," ...]