Daily Howler on Colbert - Boy, they are losing me............

[springhill]

Somehow they seem to think it was inappropriate. What would have been inappropriate is to not have used this chance he was given to do what anyone who has the chance should be doing: Exposing this criminal enterprise for what it really is. Man, what is wrong with Somersby lately? The only dem he seem to be defending (over and over again I might add) is Gore.

From the Daily Howler:

That’s right, losers! The Imus performance became a news story because the press corps felt he’d been rude to Bill Clinton. (That was also the general theme of our column.) Masters continued: “One of Imus's lone defenders was Republican commentator Mary Matalin, who said the members of the audience at the dinner ‘behaved as if they were sitting on sticks’ when they reacted with shock to the Imus onslaught.”
It wasn’t hard to look that up. But all around the liberal web, readers are increasingly treated like rubes. It was good for business to let them think that the press corps had flip-flopped this time around! Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo! It was fun to let liberal readers enjoy one more good solid cry.

For ourselves, we thought Colbert’s performance was weak and unfunny—largely because it was inappropriate. Yes, the Correspondents Dinner is a very tough gig; few performers do well there. But when you sign up to do that gig, you’re signing up as an entertainer. Colbert didn’t contract to give a speech, or to deliver a heart-felt harangue; he contracted to make people laugh. In our view, no, he wasn’t funny—and he wasn’t especially honest. (If you don’t respect an audience enough to want to entertain them, then you don’t have to take on the gig.) For these reasons, we thought Colbert’s performance was hard to watch. After that, it was time for bloggers to say this to readers: Hey, rubes!

http://www.dailyhowler.com/

[MADem]

1. Well, entertainment CAN be uncomfortable

The late Lenny Bruce taught us that.

[kittenpants]

2. "...and he wasn’t especially honest."

I wonder what the author believes was dishonest about it? It seemed pretty "reality-based" to me.

[jedicord]

21. Yeah, but then you're a liberal! n/t

[NYCGirl]

3. One sentence stands out for me —

(If you don’t respect an audience enough to want to entertain them, then you don’t have to take on the gig.)

Would this be why Seinfeld, Letterman and Stewart turned down the job?

[joeunderdog]

43. What happens when it's not enough to be "Appropriate?"

Drastic measures were/are necessary, because the WH agenda still rolls along while the press stands in silent approval. The pResident was the first one to misuse his role, not Colbert. And the fact that the A-hole isn't in jail is all the proof you need to know that Chimpy's distortion and abuse of power hasn't been properly addressed by Congress, the media or the American public. At least if Colbert misused his role and abused the microphone, it was for the good of all.

Colbert had a "Golden Opportunity" to do what was right. He had the balls to make the absolute most of it while he had the spotlight. Unlike John Kerry after Shrub stole the election, Colbert didn't take a poll to find out how the public would respond, didn't worry about his image, his job or his future, and didn't PUSS OUT. He sucked it up and let go of a haymaker because the Chimp had it comin' to him, plain and simple. He took one for the team (I'm still waiting Mr. Kerry.) And even though it ain't PC, knocking someone out is the right thing to do in some situations.

Colbert connected BIG time.
:yourock:

[BlooInBloo]

4. No different than white folks being "uncomfortable" with Richard Pryor...

When you're used to truthiness, the truth hurts.

[Extend a Hand]

5. I was greatly entertained

finally hearing someone speak the truth to power was far more entertaining than any a spiel of lame jokes....

Colbert's audience was not just comprised of the supposed big shots sitting in that dining hall...it was televised for the entire country.

[Ganja Ninja]

6. Weren't these the same group of people that laughed heartily when ...

they saw the video of Bush looking under the couch in the oval office for WMD's?

[vi5]

7. I long ago stopped reading the Howler...

His obsession with Gore just got too much. And he seems to have continually fallen into the trap of feeling he has to "balance" himself with criticisms of dems.

[librechik]

33. He says Joe Wilson lied on occasion

while presenting his case to the media--I appreciate when we get called out for accuracy, but I'm not sure I buy Somerby's premise. He has a point when he says Dems have to be more careful, but it's a bit snippy.

Anyway, the recent focus on education issues is no doubt useful to teachers, but it makes me vrosseyed with boredom, so I quit reading awhile back myself.

[EVDebs]

8. Colbert delivered a modernday "Gettysburg Address" albeit in code

and in the guise of a comedy routine. Everyone with a brain was reading between the lines and THEY GOT IT ! Those without brains didn't get it and sat on their hands. Too bad for them. The greater 'audience' Colbert was playing to was C-Span and the nation, not those twits in that room anyway--'hey rubes, you STILL don't get it' !

[glitch]

35. And quite publicly too. How embarassing for them. nt

[Bob3]

9. well so much for the Daily Howler

Between this gibberish and his strange almost deliberate obtuseness on the Plame Affair he's pretty much run off the rails as far as I can tell. .

Colbert's remarks are inappropriate only if you think the the whore fest that the correspondents dinner deserves any respect. They wanted a trained monkey to make funny jokes and make them feel good about themselves - Colbert held up a mirror to their black and corrupt souls and made them all uncomfortable. Good. It should happen more often.. They have blood on their hands, there is no truth in them - why the hell should we play nice nice with them? fuck them. To quote a line from the movie Murder by decree "If you find my tone offensive you may take it for granted that I am offended."

And hell the bloggers didn't do much - they just pasted up the performance - Crooks and Liars got about 1/2 million hits in the first day and it just took off from there. People saw the same performance (with out the weird head game blinders the howlers put on) and said yes. This is right. Bravo! The Web cried.

Final proof of it's importance:
All the right people hated it.

So Alas Adieu Daily Howler. Blessed if I know what went wrong there.

[gatorboy]

10. Isn't the excuse they give for Limbaugh broadcasting on military radio

Is that he's an 'entertainer'? I guess it just depends on one's opinion of funny...

[TexasLawyer]

11. Bring it on!

Seriously! The more people out there indignantly dissing Colbert's performance, the more people will watch it to see what the hubbub is about.

It's like banning books. That's how instant best-sellers are born!

[kenny blankenship]

12. Sometimes "inappropriateness" is the only appropriate response left

this Bush administration is one of those times. It was uncomfortable to watch, it did "bomb" with the audience present. But the in-attendance audience were 99.9% solid chrome plated assholes. Some of them are overt Fascists, the rest fellow travelers; together they are fucking up America and the whole world. Satire vicious as it can possibly be, is the LEAST of what should happen to them.

S. Colbert had a practically UNHEARD OF chance to call them all assholes to their faces and to behave towards their new "normalcy" of murderous class privilege and imperialist jingoism in a totally inappropriate manner--it would have been totally irresponsible of him not to make the most of that chance.

[springhill]

39. Wow!

You put into words exactly what I wanted to say but couldn't find the right words to say it! Thanks.

[Brotherjohn]

13. As Jon Stewart said: "Apparently he was under the impression ..."

"...that they'd hired him to do what he does every night on television"

Stephen Colbert is Stephen Colbert. Not Jay Leno, or even Jon Stewart. Those who hired him know very well what he does every night. It's the very reason why he was a name worth considering at all.

If they don't UNDERSTAND what he does every night, well, that's their own damn problem.

To those, like The Daily Howler, who say his act was "inappropriate": He did exactly what he was hired to do. Maybe they (stupidly) didn't expect it, maybe it WAS even "inappropriate" by today's standards of the kid gloves with which we treat those in power. But that doesn't address the truths he brought out in the open. It merely sidesteps every important issue Colbert brought up with his satire.

Whether a president or attendees at a press dinner are offended or were addressed in an inappropriate manner does not even register on the scale that includes lies leading us to war and crimes committed from the highest office in the land (or even allegations of such; but it's not as though there is little evidence to support such allegations).

We're WAY past the time for "appropriate" behavior.

And to respond to more of what the Howler said, I wasn't aware he was given marching orders when he took the gig. He can take the gig and he can say whatever the hell he damn well pleases. That doesn't mean they have to hire him again next year, but it also does not mean he should not have taken the gig. That's his choice, and they gave it to him. It was their "mistake", not his.

(For the record, I too stopped reading the Daily Howler a long time ago, for similar reasons to what others have posted here.)

[Ganja Ninja]

23. What did they expect, knock knock jokes? n/t

[Garbo 2004]

14. They hired Colbert to do what he does and he did it. Why the surprise?

If they wanted a Leno like performance, they should have hired Leno.

[underpants]

15. Are there printable transcripts of his speech available??

I saw the video but I need a printable transcript.

[Brotherjohn]

18. Chris Durang includes it as part of this HuffPo post from yesterday:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-durang/ignoring-colbert-part-tw_b_20130.html

[underpants]

24. Excellent thanks

:thumbsup:

[Brotherjohn]

16. The Iraq War is "inappropriate". The Bush presidency is "inappropriate".

All things being considered, I think Colbert's speech was entirely appropriate.

[Brotherjohn]

17. SELF-DELETE.

[Flavin]

19. wanna bet

Colbert will soon be on a no-fly list....
much like the author of "bush's brain".

Flavin

[Vinnie From Indy]

20. Sommerby appears to want nothing more than to pick a fight

and get noticed. I too quit reading him regularly after his Joe Wilson diatribes a while back. Knowing what we know today about the Plame Affair, Sommerby looks even sillier. His Colbert article treats his own readers as "rubes" as he is fond of saying. He claims that Colbert was not exactly truthful yet fails to show how or why. I will grant him that, at times, he was very funny in the past. The emergence of fact based mediamatters.com has diminished Bob's site and now he seems to be spoiling for a fight to get noticed again.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

30. What, was Joe Wilson also being inappropriate? Unfuckingbelievable. n/t

[Beelzebud]

22. The Daily What?

:D

Never read the site.

Maybe we should all start blogs so our opinions matter! :D

[Jara sang]

25. If Colbert had truly bombed, then why are we still talking about him?

If he had "bombed" the way the right wants you to believe nobody would remember his performance.

[Bonhomme Richard]

26. There is absolutely nothing funny about bush.

Colbert was right on the money.

[NI4NI]

37. IMO I think Stephen was intentionally

being more truthful "satiracally" than he was trying to be "funny-funny". I honestly believe that he wasn't concerned mainly about making people laugh due to the fact that he didn't miss a beat, step out of character or himm and hawe whenever some of audience clearly became uncomfortable or nervously laughted. He has my utmost respect for his daring.

[Upfront]

27. Talk

you are full of shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Missy M]

28. I stopped reading the Daily Howler when he spent all his...

time defending Bush on whether he brought up the yellow cake in Nigeria, etc. in his speeches. Somersby is just angry because Stephen Colbert is doing the job Somersby used to do. I thought Colbert was brilliant with his bit and very subtle in some ways.

[glitch]

32. Sad to say, I agree with you. I think he's trying too hard to fit into the

establishment. This is a big, big mistake if you want to be any good.

[Southsideirish]

36. I had no idea he "swung" this way. I'm taking him off my "bookmarks" now.

nt

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

29. Certain people seem to be under the impression that this is

business as usual. The republic is being molested daily by these sons of bitches and these assholes are worried about being inappropriate? Fuck that shit. We don't have journalists anymore. So if Colbert has to do his thing and humiliate them to their faces so be it.

[glitch]

31. Damn, I used to think Bob Somerby was smart. I can't believe he didn't get

this. Colbert's audience was not the room, the room was part of Colbert's act, and they performed as he expected they would perfectly.
Colbert's audience was the world, and posterity. And he played to it brilliantly.

Edit to add: anybody who thinks a performer is playing to the room in a televised event is really missing a big part of the picture.
PS, the Bush clone act was playing to the room.

[bunkerbuster1]

34. Hardly ever see the Daily Howler

but it sure looks like a bitchy, incestuous little joint these days, doesn't it?

[SmokingJacket]

38. I stopped reading DH a year or so ago.

He gets obsessive on small points, IMHO. I like the concept, but in practice, he is not enlightening.

[symbolman]

40. Here's Bush from a thread I posted

showing the film of Bush looking for WMDS, and more film with Cindy Sheehans face as Jim McGovern, ex CIA talks about Bush's BIG JOKE that killed her son..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1085389

[Zhade]

41. Howler lost me a couple years back.

Something about Wilson, and they were dead wrong on it (maybe about his wife "sending him"? don't recall), and I've never been back.

Colbert was anything but dishonest. It's fine not to like the job he did, but to say he wasn't honest is, itself, dishonest.

[Johonny]

42. inappropriate?

He did the same stick he always does? I mean that's his current act. When you hire an entertainer isn't on YOU to check out what his act is? This review would be on the mark if Colbert did an act completely out of line from his general stick. Instead he did exactly what he does monday- thursday. So the writer simply has no merit.