Colbert "was a bully," Richard Cohen whines

[highplainsdem]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/03/AR2006050302202.html

So Not Funny

By Richard Cohen
Thursday, May 4, 2006; Page A25

First, let me state my credentials: I am a funny guy. This is well known in certain circles, which is why, even back in elementary school, I was sometimes asked by the teacher to "say something funny" -- as if the deed could be done on demand. This, anyway, is my standing for stating that Stephen Colbert was not funny at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. All the rest is commentary.

The commentary, though, is also what I do, and it will make the point that Colbert was not just a failure as a comedian but rude. Rude is not the same as brash. It is not the same as brassy. It is not the same as gutsy or thinking outside the box. Rudeness means taking advantage of the other person's sense of decorum or tradition or civility that keeps that other person from striking back or, worse, rising in a huff and leaving. The other night, that person was George W. Bush.

-snip-

Why are you wasting my time with Colbert, I hear you ask. Because he is representative of what too often passes for political courage, not to mention wit, in this country. His defenders -- and they are all over the blogosphere -- will tell you he spoke truth to power. This is a tired phrase, as we all know, but when it was fresh and meaningful it suggested repercussions, consequences -- maybe even death in some countries. When you spoke truth to power you took the distinct chance that power would smite you, toss you into a dungeon or -- if you're at work -- take away your office.

But in this country, anyone can insult the president of the United States. Colbert just did it, and he will not suffer any consequence at all. He knew that going in. He also knew that Bush would have to sit there and pretend to laugh at Colbert's lame and insulting jokes. Bush himself plays off his reputation as a dunce and his penchant for mangling English. Self-mockery can be funny. Mockery that is insulting is not. The sort of stuff that would get you punched in a bar can be said on a dais with impunity. This is why Colbert was more than rude. He was a bully.

-snip-

They can't go on pretending Colbert didn't say anything newsworthy, so now they attack...

Editing to add that the "ignore if posible, then attack" pattern was pointed out by SeattleRob in the topic I'd posted about the unintentionally hilarious attack on Colbert by a rightwing rabbi (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1092281 ). I didn't expect to find another example this perfect this soon...

[MarianJack]

1. Plaid Adder AddressedThis...

...PERFECTLY!

[rocktivity]

8. No link to Plaid Adder's perfection?

Bad MarianJack! BAD!

:spank:
rocknation

[highplainsdem]

21. Here are the links (her journal and that topic):

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Plaid%20Adder

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1074322


Brilliant writing.

[MarianJack]

37. YES!

MUY :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: s to me!

I blame 2 things, #2 is my assunption that her post was still on the front page and #1 is my own dearth of computer skills

Sorry :shrug: !

[rocktivity]

2. It takes a bully to know one--and fight one.

Maybe that's why Colbert's performance was such a success.

:headbang:
rocknation

[blonndee]

15. Ooh I like that! n/t

[Robb]

3. Rule #1: Anyone who starts with "I'm a funny guy"

...ain't. ;)

[KyuzoGator]

5. Great minds think alike...nt

[tlsmith1963]

27. I Was Thinking the Same Thing

I also think that Cohen's a bit into himself.

Tammy

[KyuzoGator]

4. When I read "I am a funny guy..." I envision Lt. Hawk...

...from Good Morning, Vietnam.

Anyone who has to work at convincing you how funny they are...aren't.

[blonndee]

6. Wah wah wah. MFers could dish it out on Clinton

but now it's "so not funny." Yeah, it's not funny because it's true, dumbass. THAT's why they're not laughing.

[walldude]

12. Yup notice nobody is saying he was lying, just that he

wasn't funny. I didn't think it was all that hilarious either, a scathing, brilliant political analysis but not over hilarious. Unless you count the look on the shrubs face... hehe

[incapsulated]

7. What does he mean, he's a "funny guy"...

Is he calling himself a clown? :D

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Richard Cohen is an asshat of long standing.

He trashed "Fahrenheit 9/11," too. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19320-2004Jun30.html

[Robb]

14. That's the thing, I think

Colbert was pissing on him, as a member of the press, too. :)

[GoneOffShore]

10. How can this lunkhead call Colbert a bully?

Here's what I sent to Mr. Cohen

George Bush was/is/has been a bully for the entirety of his life. Very few people have stood up to him. And yet, when a guy who is a comedian, not a newsman, points out the things about Bush that make him and his administration the biggest bullies for the last 30 years, he is called to task for his rudeness. I don't get it.

Perhaps Steven Colbert's barbs hit a little too close to your own comfortable place and that's why you disapprove of his remarks. Let us go back a year to the Whitehouse Correspondents Dinner and look at that video where Bush is running around the Oval Office looking for those "pesky Weapons of Mass Destruction." Did you call that performance inappropriate? Or were you content to watch and laugh?

I suspect that you, as someone inside the Beltway, is just a bit to worried about the sinecure of your cushy job at the Washington Post to care about being a real challenge and questioning this administration.

The real reason you are upset at Steven Colbert is that you are one of the pseudo journalists he called out at that dinner. Because you have not stood up to this administration. You have not asked them the hard questions.

[Cha]

30. That's great..thanks for

writing that letter to the bully police.

[valerief]

11. Richard Who? n/t

[havocmom]

13. In past administrations, the President was the most powerful man around

bush is a chick shit who can't grid his loins and do anything for himself. He behaves badly then won't face the consequences. He hides behind others and throws tantrums. Boo hoo to him and all the idiots who stick up for the spoiled brat.

The emperor is bare assed and buck naked. Colbert said so and the sycophants are appalled. yawn

When will all these apologists make amends to the Americans who have lost loved ones in a pointless war? When will they make NOLA all better? What will they do to help working people afford the gas to make it to work next week?

Too fucking busy coddling a spoiled, worthless wastrel to be decent human beings.

[Mr_Spock]

16. Waaah! Waah!

oh, boohoo - more whining... must have been really good!

[roguevalley]

17. first mistake, telling people how funny you are. you are a dipshit and

a butt kisser, Mr. Cohen.

[UTUSN]

18. Oh, and Shrub-CHEENEE are NOT bullies? n/t

[charlie]

19. Get a rope, Cohen

It's way past time we lynched that rude Don Rickles asshole.

Hire a guy whose comedic persona is a rightwing git who exults in every crass fuckup by Republicans and HOOOLY SHIT... he exults in every crass fuckup by Republicans in front of the president!! Who could've imagined he would've done that?

Cohen, you're beyond dumb. And a simpering suckup.

[UTUSN]

20. My e-mail to him

Oh, and Shrub-CHEENEE are NOT bullies????!!!

Plus, COLBERT might not have been funny, but perhaps-----------just PERHAPS-------we need LESS comedy and more TRUTH-telling. Shrub WAS funny, but he has been LAUGHING and LAUGHING while sending hundreds of thousands to their deaths.

So, no, it wasn't funny for COLBERT to say to you media types that you are busy writing those FICTIONS about BRAVE REPORTERS (while you kiss up to Power). No, it's NOT funny.

[NYC Liberal]

22. Good. The murderer and war criminal Bush deserved it.

[autorank]

23. MediaWhoreOnline Richard Cohen, Faux Liberal. WaPo Tool

I love talking about the Post from time to time. You see, I've got two choices, Rev. Moon's
wacky rag, the WaTimes, and the WaPost. The Post is pathetic and vile. They are all that
is bad about journalism and corporate America. Way back in the 80's they crushed their
printers union. That was the tip off. Since new management, Graham's son, the paper makes
no apology for it's neocon, right wing whoring.

Now this. Cohen is the faux token faux liberal. His columns are just plain bad. They're
never interesting and nobody really reads him. He's just window dressing. He's a real POS.
When Carl Rowan resigned, he really ripped Cohen, implied his positions were racist, and Cohen
was stunned. Why? Because people are smart enough to figure it out?

Colbert a bully huh...Colbert started a riot to win 2000; Colbert stole from the poor and gave to
the rich in the * tax cuts; Colbert lied about WMD; Colbert ordered the worlds best army to crush
a weak army representing a country that had not attacked us; Colbert denies poor people medical care;
Colbert supports wack job anti abortion protesters who harass women, etc. etc.

See, the Post is so stupid it just takes 60 seconds or less to debunk one of their "regulars."

They must go!

[Vinnie From Indy]

24. Who reads Cohen anymore? He is once again revealing his loyalty to BushCo.

Tell everyone you know!

[tlsmith1963]

25. Sorry, Mr. Cohen, But...

Bush shields himself so much from the public that hardly anyone gets a chance to criticize him to his face. Since Colbert was able to do it, many of us think it's wonderful. I'd like to criticize Bush to his face, but it will probably never happen. Colbert just did what I have wanted to do for so long.

Tammy

[BeFree]

26. Since when...

...did telling the truth become an insult?

Since the press quit printing the truth?

The whole episode should be called: The Colbert Retort.

[Crunchy Frog]

28. Last year, Laura joked about Idiot masturbating a horse,

The year before that, Idiot joked about not finding WMDs in Iraq, and this guy's offended on behalf of Idiot's "sense of decorum"????!!!!

Some advice for Richard Cohen:
"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!"

Edit to add my email to Richard Cohen.

Sounds like you're a little jealous of Stephen Colbert. Could it be because he has balls and you don't?

You talk of Bush's "sense of decorum" being offended. Where was that sense of decorum last year, when his wife joked about him masturbating horses? Or the year before, when he joked about the missing WMDs in Iraq? Where was his sense of decorum when he played guitar and ate cake while New Orleans drowned, or when he lied us into a war that's costed 300 billion dollars and the lives of 2400 of our soldiers?

I have a suggestion for you Richard Cohen. Why don't you 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!

Sincerely,

[FrenchieCat]

44. Oooh.....good letter!

That last line was so the truth, it isn't even funny.

[Crunchy Frog]

48. Coming from you, that complement means more than you can imagine.

[Cha]

29. Whose ass is richard-not funny-

cohen trying to kiss?

[Orangepeel]

31. so bush is so weak he can be bullied by a comedian?

:rofl:

To paraphrase John Stewart, Colbert's lead in is a guy whose lead in is puppets making crank calls.

And this is the guy who can eat bush's lunch?

Political capital my ass.

[EstimatedProphet]

32. Hey Cohen! You're a fuckwit!

This IS a country where anyone can insult the President. Anyone can make jokes about him. That's supposed to be part of the job, because he is the chief civil servant. The problem is that you assholes in the press haven't been insulting him when he has so clearly deserved it-you've been sucking up to him, and fawning over him like his an emperor.

Do your fucking job and tell the truth about how we have a president that invades countries to make himself and his friends richer-at the expense of American lives-and then chokes the life out of the American public by gouging gas prices.

[Strawman]

33. Perhaps in a world where "the decider" provided an alternative forum

for the press, Congress, or the public to hold him accountable on some semi-regular basis, Cohen might have a point. But the Decider has decided he doesn't have to do that shit and he's not accountable.

Someone needed to walk into that bubble and knee that cocksucer right square in the ballsack. Bra-fucking-vo Colbert!

This was a gem...

"His defenders -- and they are all over the blogosphere -- will tell you he spoke truth to power. This is a tired phrase, as we all know, but when it was fresh and meaningful it suggested repercussions, consequences -- maybe even death in some countries."

"Speaking truth to power is a tired phrase." That about says it all. In the warped paradigm of news values, this phrase apparantely has nothing to do with speaking, or even speaking the truth. It's a picture in a Life Magazine anthology, circa 1968. There's no news value in just speaking the truth to a powerful person who is never held accountable. There isn't a good picture attached to a guy standing behind a podium telling the uncomfortable truth right to another guy's face. You can't get those pictures anymore in America, so it's a "tired phrase," old news that's been retired for new photos and buzzwords.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

34. I have never seen Richard Cohen's comedy show

What channel is it on?

Or maybe he is a character actor? Would I have seen him in "Old School," maybe? Does he get the roles that Kevin Pollack turns down? Are there any roles that Kevin Pollack turns down?

Or maybe he does standup? Does he play in the sticks? Does he kill in the Catskills?

I really like funny guys, so if anyone can point me to one of Richard Cohen's performances I would like to see it.

[genieroze]

35. Hey Dick, want some cheese with your whine?

[Hand]

36. Message to Cohen: The emperor has no clothes... and neither do you. nt

[SeveneightyWhoa]

38. Amazing how these media whore RISE to the occasion to defend Bush.

As if the media hasn't been abused and degraded enough by the Bushies. They really feel its necessary to actively DEFEND the bastard from a true patriot? How insane.

[norml]

39. What a Lickspittle!

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[Zorra]

40. Rude? Bu*h is a fucking fascist war criminal that deserves life in

prison for his crimes.

Colbert simply pointed out the obvious truth,

[Marr]

41. Nobody whines as well as a bully.

And conservatives are almost always wannabee bullies. Call them on their shit and they whine and cry like nobody's business. Sounds like Mr. Cohen can't take the truth. Awww.

[alittlelark]

42. He was SOOO FUNNY... Uh, the OP talked about him - what was his name?

The one who said we wasted our time on Colbert. Whatever... I heard he was Really, Really FUNNY.... I'm ROTFLMAO because I can't remember his name....

[Hardrada]

43. Mr Richard Ego Cohen can kiss DU's collective butt.

He has long been notorious for purportedly writing about certain topics and them mainly talking about himself. More scrupulous journalists have amused themselves counting how many times he uses the first person pronoun "I" in his articles. I think he hit 35 or 37 in one piece. A worthless writer and the papers I read have not favored us with his opinions for years.

[Eric J in MN]

45. I wrote about this on a blog.

Shorter Richard Cohen: Don’t speak truth to power. It’s rude. Especially in America. Do it in some dictatorship where you’ll be killed for it, but don’t do it here.

continues at:
http://www.speakspeak.org/speak-blog/2006/05/03/welcome-to-the-topsy-turvy-world-of-richard-cohen/

[blitzen]

46. This must be the most utterly horseshit thing I've ever read...

I knew Cohen was an idiot--of the iconoclastic, contrarian, pseudo-left variety--but this piece totally confirms it.

Hey, Cohen: You have NO credentials!

[samsingh]

47. isn't cowen being the bully now?

[Rocknrule]

49. He didn't give His Holiness verbal fellato like the rest of the media!

WAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cry me an effing river
:nopity:

[Imagevision]

50. Colbert didn't insult Bush merely stated a fact!