Sunday, April 30, 2006

Bush Got A Truthiness Lesson from Colbert

Stephen Colbert! I have been a big fan of Jon Stewart and, 9 out of 10 times, I turn the channel once it is over and The Colbert Report starts. I guess I just "did not get it".

No more. Not after last night. I GET IT! A whole lot of American's are getting it too.

Maybe it will be the comedians who save America from itself. No one else seems brave enough to say the truth when the truth needs to be said.

Colbert said everything I would want to say if I had Bush as a captive audience for 30 minutes and the cameras were rolling.

His comments are going to make their way through e-mails everywhere— and the butt of all those jokes is gonna have to come out of his protective bubble and face a harsh reality - the emperor really does not have any clothes on and he has become even more of a joke.

E&P has some choice quotes from Colbert'’s routine:

  • Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged the Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.”
  • He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “If anything, they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”
  • Colbert told Bush he could end the problem of protests by retired generals by refusing to let them retire. He compared Bush to Rocky Balboa in the “Rocky” movies, always getting punched in the face—“and Apollo Creed is everything else in the world.”
  • Turning to the war, he declared, "I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."
  • He noted former Ambassador Joseph Wilson in the crowd, just three tables away from Karl Rove, and that he had brought " Valerie Plame." Then, worried that he had named her, he corrected himself, as Bush aides might do, "Uh, I mean... he brought Joseph Wilson's wife." He might have "dodged the bullet," he said, as prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wasn't there.
  • Colbert also made biting cracks about missing WMDs, “photo ops” on aircraft carriers and at hurricane disasters, melting glaciers and Vice President Cheney shooting people in the face. He advised the crowd, "if anybody needs anything at their tables, speak slowly and clearly on into your table numbers and somebody from the N.S.A. will be right over with a cocktail. "

Those are just a few teasers, folks. He slammed, roasted, toasted, and incinerated the White House, the White House Press Corp (except Helen Thomas), the newspapers, television news, cable news, and everyone else there who helped put us where we are now. And those who, by nature of their inaction, was an accessory.

Frederick has posted on his KOS Diary the full transcript, including the transcript of the "Colbert audition tape for White House Press Secretary job" that Colbert closed with. Click on that link and go read it.

OhMyGoodness, Colbert is a brave man. I hope his taxes are paid, he drives the speed limit, and he has a clean closet because you know the WH is going to go after him.

Crooks and Liars is hosting the video. This video really is a MUST SEE - even those folks like me who are on a lowely dial-up. The transcript is wonderful but you really must see Colbert deliver this, IN FRONT OF THE PRESIDENT, who sat watching the audience to see the audiences' reaction (and you know he was taking notice of who was laughing) not liking what was being said but having to sit there and take it.

Bush beat a hasty retreat immediately afterwards. Coward.

CSPAN has been running the entire White House Press Correspondent's Dinner on their channels. They carried it live Saturday night (where I watched it). They have re-run it several times this weekend. Check your listing, folks, and catch the entire event next time it shows. Well worth the time to watch it.

1 comment:

  1. You just now figuring that out, baby girl?

    ReplyDelete