NYT: After Press Dinner, Blogosphere Is Alive With the Sound of Colbert...

[truthpusher]

May 3, 2006
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After Press Dinner, the Blogosphere Is Alive With the Sound of Colbert Chatter
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By JACQUES STEINBERG
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(snip)

In an online survey begun yesterday, the snarky Web site Gawker sought to boil down the matter to its essence by asking readers to vote on whether they thought Mr. Colbert's performance, broadcast live on C-Span and since then widely available on the Internet, was "one of the most patriotic acts I've witnessed of any individual" or "not really that funny."

Meanwhile, on its Web site, the trade journal Editor & Publisher posted more than a dozen letters from readers under a headline that reflected the broad range of electronic opinion: "Colbert Offensive, Colbert Mediocre, Colbert a Hero, Colbert Vicious, Colbert Brave." Mr. Colbert's employer, Comedy Central, said it had received nearly 2,000 e-mail messages by Monday morning — a response, it said, rivaled only by the contentious appearance nearly two years ago of Jon Stewart, Mr. Colbert's comedy patron, on the now-defunct CNN shout-fest "Crossfire."

Others chided the so-called mainstream media, including The New York Times, which ignored Mr. Colbert's remarks while writing about the opening act, a self-deprecating bit Mr. Bush did with a Bush impersonator.

Some, though, saw nothing more sinister in the silence of news organizations than a decision to ignore a routine that, to them, just was not funny.

(snip)

"It's very, very tricky," Mr. Franken, a Democrat who played the dinner twice during the Clinton years but was not there on Saturday, said in an interview. "I thought that what Stephen did was very admirable."

Mary Matalin, a Republican who has served the Bush White House as assistant to the president and counselor to the vice president, had a different take.

"This was predictable, Bush-bashing kind of humor," Ms. Matalin, who was there, said in an interview. Of Mr. Colbert, she said, "Because he is who he is, and everyone likes him, I think this room thought he was going to be more sophisticated and creative."

(snip)

link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/arts/03colb.html

[skiddlybop]

1. Hmmm, sophisticated and creative

like Duhhhbya LAUGHING about not finding WMDs under his desk?

The media whores all laughed at that one too.

Who was more tasteless? Who was evil?

[Born Free]

17. As the right would would say, it's only meant to be funny...

Remember all the stuff about Clinton?

People need to get over it , it was only comedy, if you didn't find it funny, too bad

Where are the big guns lin Leno? Why are they not joining in as they were quick to do with Clinton? It's all meant to bring a smile to Americans face, not some big political issue


on edit: Clinton had a hard time keeping his zipper up and that was funny, wheras bush has a hard time dealing with reality, that is funny too, having a president that can't deal with reality ....lol

[MetaTrope]

38. Nobody can match Bush's sophisticated humor

[Hissyspit]

2. Colbert - the first SINGLE person to call Bush on all his bullshit to his

face, in a public forum, AND the press as well.

All the shit in this article, including Mary Matalin, is just background noise. What Colbert did will go down in history as brave and important.

[Catrina]

3. Yes, the press is becoming so irrelevant. They could have helped change

history, simply by telling the truth, but that's not their job. Their job is to 'catapult the propaganda' and they did that very well.

So many people don't trust them anymore ~ no wonder their readership is down, and their viewers are turning away ~

Their only function seems to be to pretend we have a free press. I saw a report that said that the US press, on a list rating free press in countries. We are now #44!! Down from #13 in 2001. So it's getting worse. I am no longer disappointed in them because I expect nothing from them. I just don't watch or read what they have to say anymore. And in spite of them, the people are learning the truth.

Colbert was great ~ :applause:

[BadgerKid]

31. The Internets/blogs = the new media

Eff the media. They have failed the public. Time for me to locate that Donate button!

[tavalon]

36. because we are now the media

We are now the fourth estate and they are bypassed as the insignificant ones, Left in the dust.

[stanwyck]

48. And we are who Colbert was talking to

that night. He knows the Bushies are so totally in their shell they consider any naysayers irrelevant. Last night on TDS, Madeline Albright talked of how Bush pulled former Sec. of State and Sec. of Defense together to discuss Iraq. There was no real discussion. It was theatre. Albright wasn't sure if Bush even paid attention to what she had to say (he asked no questions/made no comments)...Secretary of State Madeline Albright. And Bush isn't engaged.
Meanwhile, the MSM is so worried about ratings and not pissing off the Bushies (and being denied access) that they're only talking about missing white girls.
Colbert knew what he was doing. He was talking to us. And he was hoping we'd do something. Anything.
He's Tom Paine, stirring up the rabblerousers.
Asking us to take on the king.

[Arugula Latte]

59. Yep -- The U.S. media has been hit by a truck and they don't know it yet

Hey, Mainstream Media: You are lying on the road, unconscious.You have no idea you will wake up soon and find your entire world has changed. We have moved on, you brown-nosing obsequious sycophants. FUCK YOU. We can get information -- TRUTH, not warmed-over corporate propaganda -- from all over the world at any minute of the day. You lied to us, over and over. You let a failed frat boy steal an election -- hell, you HELPED him steal an election, not once, but twice. You didn't hold him accountable when he screwed over everyone but the very, very rich. You were the cheerleaders on the run-up to the Iraq slaughter/invasion and lied to us while we got the real scoop from the international media -- you know, the people who know how to act as real journalists -- not just administration stenographers. So, let me say again, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, MSNBC, and the rest of you (Fox is not even worth mentioning), your time is over. The Net will prevail. FUCK YOU.

[The Roux Comes First]

10. Bingo!

[lovuian]

4. WOOHOOO Colbert!!!

:woohoo:

[PennyK]

5. At least the Times finally talked about it!

And after a little further checking, I see that they're printing two letters to the editor on the subject, one strongly supporting Colbert (sounds so much like the one I wrote I thought it was mine 'til I saw the signature), and onr shooting down a wartime president taking time out to work on a comedy routine.

[onehandle]

6. Mary Matalin. Shrew. nt

[Sperk]

7. A few quotes from www.thankyoustephencolbert.com would have

been nice.

[politrix]

8. I LOVE This:

"by telling the truth, but that's not their job. Their job is to 'catapult the propaganda'...


I'm stealing that.

[saigon68]

15. They never show SHIT LIKE THIS

Protesters from the organization 'Clergy and Laity Concerned About Iraq,' take part in a protest demanding the shutdown of the U.S. operated prison at Guantanamo, Cuba, in front of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, in New York, May 1, 2006. On May 3, Amnesty International said torture and inhumane treatment are 'widespread' in U.S.-run detention centers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba and elsewhere despite Washington's denials. (Chip East/Reuters)

[The Roux Comes First]

9. It's a wonder Matalin can even mouth "sophisticated"

never mind creative. If there was ever a definition of sleazy, moribund, and just plain lame she'd be it.

[grasswire]

11. I think of her...

...as the manatee of Washington politics.

[Divernan]

25. Don't you go dissin' the sweet, lovable, friendly manatees !

I just know you can come up with a better animal analogy - like maybe a bull shark!

[DemonFighterLives]

16. Exactly!

:rofl:

Welcome to DU!
She thinks she is a member of the aristocracy- hell with her. She would never tell the emperor that his clother were not on.

[slay]

12. Stephen told the truth - Republicans don't understand the concept

That's why they didn't "get it". :)

[drm604]

28. That's right. They don't like reality.

Reality has a known liberal bias.

[fooj]

13. Matalin...LOOK--there goes your "sprinting duck"...

Chase him.

[0007]

22. How James Carville can stand to be around that old douche

bag is beyond my wildest imagination.

[goforit]

44. Well, Carvell is incognito. He does support Cheney and plays the part.

Carvell fools them all including the majority of DUrs.

Watch him always with one eye open.

[kaygore]

47. I agree. He sold out if he was ever really in

[fearthem]

50. She wears the pants in the family; he's not to be trusted to rep us!

[Dr Fate]

54. She wears more than the pants. She wears to corset & strap on too.

Not that there is anything wrong w/ that.

[0rganism]

14. Colbert gave them the truth and they thought it was hell

Predictable, indeed.

[dalloway]

18. yes, funny how the times made the speech out to be all criticism

of * but nary a mention of the vicious linkes attacking the media lap-dog qualities.

[Demeter]

19. The Truth About Bush ISN'T Funny

but the truth needed to be said. I thank Colbert for doing so, and in a witty, sharp-edged and very public manner.

[Olney Blue]

20. Mary, get back on the Hindenburg and shut up.

[Cha]

39. Yeah, matlin's not too happy

she's one of the Hindenburg's crew..it can't be fun knowing you're goin' blow.

[sendero]

21. "Not Really That Funny"...

.. that's what it's come down to.

I'm a huge comedy fan, and I have a confession, I don't think Colbert IS all that funny. Funny, yes, side-splitting, not to me. So what? It's easy to make funny out of a blowjob, it's impossible to make really funny out of a misbegotten war, an incompetent leader, and having your country being run off into the ditch.

Comparing "is it patriotic?" and "was it a laff riot?" is a typical media non-sequitur designed to divert our attention from the crucial importance of what Colbert accomplished - for a few fleeting minutes he forced to co-conspirators in the destruction of our country to LISTEN.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. Mary, Mary quite contrary....

...tell us about those WHIG meetings you attended where Plame's name was discussed. Have you testified to Fitz's Grand Jury yet, and if not, what will you say?

[latebloomer]

24. Well, finally!

The blogs are making so much noise that the MSM are forced to note it.

[The Wizard]

26. Colbert kicked

The media and the Administration square in the nuts and they're reacting. Going through the motions and punching a clock are not what makes good journalism and effective leadership. The media has been giving the Administration blowjobs since 9-11. They get paid to do it. Hence, the term presstitute is fitting. What will they tell their children: They aided and abetted democracy's demise for money? They regret being lazy uncaring bastards? Sorry about that huge debt? Those who won't stand for something will fall for anything, and like Rome, America is falling because the media has failed in its mission to keep the public well informed. War is not a video game. Truth is a family value. Looting the treasury is un-American.
I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. :mad:

[90-percent]

27. Historical

Stephen's patriotic performance will take it's place in great moments in history, along side;

"Sir, have you no sense of decency"

"I am not a crook"

and, uh, other quotes I can't think of.

It's a milestone and it's up to us internetters to "catapult the truth" by keeping this alive on the net for years to come. This will free up MSM to spend more time punching their time clock's and going through the motions of their "job".

-85% Jimmy

[NJCher]

30. Bravo, Wizard!

And welcome to DU.




Cher

[Bushies gotta go]

29. The truth hurts

Stephen spoke the truth and that hurts. Why some fail to understand it was not meant to be "funny" is beyond me. Colbert uses biting comedy, designed to get a chuckle, not a guffaw. The koolaid drinkers missed the point.

[Skittles]

68. aw, it hurt those lyig, thieving incompetent bastards VERY BADLY

I LOVED IT

[shenmue]

32. I think he was funny...

but I do not think he was the Second Coming, for pete's sake. How many more threads do we have to see worshipping this man? Come on.

[Dr Fate]

55. Show us an elected DEM who kicks that kind of ass in Bush/media's face...

...and I promise we will all start threads about him/her.

Colbert is SO popular because he is filling a void left by the elected Democrats who should have been saying this -(to their faces-and on TV- not on a website) for the past 6 years.

[TankLV]

63. As many as WE want! Maybe a thousand more, OK w/you?

Or are we aggrivating your republican sensibilities?

If you don't like it, don't look.

[shrike]

33. Kiss my rosy red bum, Mary

:puke:

[nj2tx]

34. Is it me, or is Mary Matalin

starting to look an awful lot like that puppet Madame? (Am I showing my age?)

[gauguin57]

35. Here's Madame, with her pal, the late, great (hilarious!) Waylon Flowers

[nj2tx]

37. Doesn't that look just like her?

I know it sounds mean, but I can't look at her without thing of Madame!

[SoCalDem]

53. Bay Buchanan too

Those republican women seem to have the EXTRA chin than the men are missing.. Most of the repube "spocksmen" have no chins and very thin lips.. maybe republicanism is genetic :)..The Bush family was very into eugenics at one time.. maybe they DID breed their own "super-race"... some of the characteristics are uncanny:

strong-jawed women
blonde BIG hair..or mannish short hair for the women
thin-lipped men
thinning, plastered-down hair for the men or
very bad toupees (think Lott & Duke)
an affinity for navy suits with red ties (men)
red dresses for the wimmin-folk (google images: republican women red)
beady closely-set eyes

[katty]

57. she does...and predictable humor? think not-they we're all

pretty shocked that Colbert actually has balls-unlike the elites.

[bajamary]

40. Bravo Stephen

Bravo Stephen, who had the guts to stand feet away from W and declare the Emperor has no clothes.

Oh my, his taxes are going to be audited this year.

Colbert is a brilliant satirist. Certainly satire is a commodity unknown to the neocons.

Thank you Stephen !!

[Us vs Them]

41. Once again the blogs scoop the press

I love how they start reporting on this FOUR DAYS after it made headlines on the internet. These fuckers are nothing but skewed social commentary at this point.

[bluescribbler]

42. Is it just me?

It seems to me that the first of his quips to get a tepid response from the live audience was, "I call it the 'No Fact Zone.' Fox News, I hold a copyright on that term." It fits with what i've been reading here. The audience didn't mind so much when Colbert was skewering the pResident. It was when he turned his big guns on the media lapdogs that they got uncomfortable. The truth hurts. :nopity:

[Olney Blue]

61. Hi scribbler- welcome to DU- yeah, No Fact Zone nailed em!

[Autonomy]

43. whoops

just reread more carefully. Nothing to see here.

Stephen is great. Matalin sucks. That's all.

[Zen Democrat]

45. What's with these people who think the president has to be respected?

I would respect any president who was properly and cleanly elected and who upheld the Constitution.

This assclown we've got in there now was not elected, not cleanly reelected, is tearing the Constitution to shreds in an unprecendented power grab, is a defender of secret police, torture, corruption ... bottom line, if you can respect that, you've need to re-read the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

[pokercat999]

69. Which makes me think if, I'm saying IF

you made a threat against *ush and were arrested by the SS or FBI, wouldn't a great legal defense be that you could not be prosecuted because he was not really the Prez? I'd love to be on that jury.

[Acadia Blue]

46. Mary Matalin is an aristocrat loving, feudalism loving, working class ha

ting witch from hell. Her folks came here and made lots of money so EVERYONE else can pull themselves up by their boot straps. We would all be better off if she went back to the place her grandparents came from. How Carville is married to that ugly mean petty witch is beyond me.

[SoCalDem]

49. They should have included some of THESE replies..

They should have included some of these replies..
I haven't laughed so much in ages.. Read the drivel FIRST, and then browse the replies.. Most "get it" and with wit like we are used to at DU, but sorely missing in most venues..like the corporate media?


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-gardels/bush-disarms-comedy-centr_b_20165.html

Bush Disarms Comedy Central's Colbert (321 comments )

Bush Outironicizes Colbert

For those of us in the smart political set who are right about Bush being wrong in Iraq and elsewhere, it was hard to swallow. At the White House Correspondent's Association dinner Saturday night in Washington the President embarrassingly outironicized Stephen Colbert. If, as Kierkegaard long ago understood, the capacity for ironic self-reflection is a sign of deep intelligence, what did it mean?

I surprised myself by saying to Mort Zuckerman that "a man who is that funny can't be all bad." And his timing was better than Jerry Seinfeld's.

Bush's standup comedy routine with impersonator Steve Bridges at side-by-side podiums (someone sitting outside the Washington Hilton all night even told me TWO presidential limos arrived) has now been widely reported, with jokes like "the press humiliates me by not editing what I say" and parodying his "nukular" instead of "nuclear" pronunciation, joking about his pitiful 36% approval rating and saying Laura was "muy caliente."

Bush may not be able to beat the Iraqi insurgents or Osama bin Laden, but he surely put Steve Colbert's performance afterward to shame. Has he disarmed Comedy Central by being funnier than they are? I certainly thought so.

The other notable drama of the evening was seeing all those former secretaries of state and stentorian talking heads tripping over each other to have a thirty second chat with George Clooney. Despite the first big public emergence of Valerie Plame, the CIA agent most probably outed by Karl Rove, who was also there, all eyes of the serious journalist set were on Clooney. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chariman Peter Pace, resplendant in his medals and tails, went almost unnoticed. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, beautiful and poised even when she silently suffers Lou Dobb's tirades on camera, had to admit that the Darfur genocide would now get a bigger airing on her channel since Clooney was on the case.

Even Lally Weymouth, the socialite scion of the Washington Post/Newsweek empire, stood patiently in line with lesser mortals for a chance to chat with George. He was badgered to bless two disabled kids in wheelchairs, as if he were the Pope, before his beefy security guard whisked him out the back door with his father.

A president more hilarious than his comedic critics and a starstruck White House press corps. Washington would be a very entertaining place if the consequences weren't so serious.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1077053&mesg_id=1077053

[OCDDAVID]

51. The truth hurts...

Colbert was dead on... Bush would be a hilarious whipping boy if the things he was doing didn't have such serious consequences. As far as Colbert's bit not being funny... I don't think it was supposed to be funny so much as a scathing irony strewn indictment of what a failure the Bush and his administration has been.

AltEvil
http://IHateRedState.com

[robbedvoter]

65. Ha!ha! "Watermellon reviews gallager's performance, finds it distasteful"

Perfect!

[Dr Fate]

52. Not funny "to them"- how true...But "we" are the viewers.

Let "us" see and and "we" will deicide if it is funny or not.

Guess what- we did find it funny- VERY FUNNY!!- despite your "sinister" black-out.

I'm glad we shamed you into finally taking some time out to talk about this- now get back to your real job-fabricating the next war.

[geniph]

56. I wonder if Matalin thought Laura's horse masturbation jokes

were "sophisticated" and "creative"? Personally, I thought they were disgusting and inappropriate, but I guess to a Bushbot, anything done by a Bushbot is ab fab.

[goforit]

62. Yep, Little Laura has a potty mouth. This ain't the first time either.

[JerseygirlCT]

58. If Matalin didn't like him, it only confirms that he was spot on nt

[shanti]

60. the blogs are alive...

with the sound of colbert.....hee hee :rofl: sorry, i just couldn't help it!

[American liberal]

64. Has anyone noted that a freeper was quoted, but no DUers were?

How biased is that?!

[robbedvoter]

66. Breaking: MSM discovers they're irrelevant - can't control perception

If nothing else, and that made the Colbert performance historical. More and more hissy fits about the blogs.

[Voltaire99]

67. Not a stand-up routine, anyway; it was a verbal auto-da-fe

And be sure that the bejeweled darlings glaring at Colbert got the point--perfectly. They hate him for it. Of course no one ran back to their papers and stations to heap praise on him.

Anyway, funny isn't the point: Colbert's smarter than he is funny. His genius is to inhabit this parody of our power elite, and thereby unmask and help to dismantle them. At the dinner, he completely subverted the proceedings and sent the swine home with upset tummies. Good show, sir!

Mostly I relished the chutzpah, the big middle finger pointed at power. He has more balls than the press and the Democratic Party put together.

For 15 minutes, he showed Americans how you are to treat politicians and their lackeys. Let's hope it rubs off.

[smb]

70. Yep

I'm sure King Claudius didn't think the play Hamlet arranged was very entertaining, either.