its like jon stewart at the oscars, some icey silence as he skewers the self congratulatory mob that invited him. theyre all for a good ribbing but his truthiness is much more devastating.
- dave 4-30-2006 6:10 pm

I laughed hardest when the room got totally quiet.
Still, the clubbiness of these kinds of things continues to bug me.
Bush, Scalia, Joe Wilson, George Clooney, all breaking bread together.
How nice.
- tom moody 4-30-2006 8:32 pm

More video. Not sure if they are dupes.
- jim 4-30-2006 8:49 pm

pretty strong (good strong) material. i wish i could see the squirming a little better. the smattering of applause says everything. and right dave JS all over again. in s and m theire's a code word for "ouch, that hurts too much." they forgot to pass that code word to the guys with the control switch.
- bill 4-30-2006 9:22 pm

Torrent of the whole thing.
- jim 4-30-2006 9:26 pm

Thanks (I watched the YouTube)--part 1 isn't in the C&L .mov.
Man, that guy's got some balls.
The crack about McLellan spending more time with Card's kids...
They stopped having Bush reaction shots after the unsmiling reaction to the "standing on a pile of rubble photo op" joke.
- tom moody 4-30-2006 9:40 pm

In V for Vendetta, a popular comedian spoofs The Leader on TV about as mercilessly as this. He gets "disappeared."
- tom moody 4-30-2006 10:22 pm

"the clubbiness of these kinds of things continues to bug me.
Bush, Scalia, Joe Wilson, George Clooney, all breaking bread together."

Totally.
Colbet kicked ass though.
- steve 5-01-2006 1:27 am

what a reality check. score : humor 1 point
- bill 5-01-2006 2:15 am

You mean how the media's spinning it?
- tom moody 5-01-2006 3:08 am

or the lack there of, as pointed out by the commenter on toms page. the times ran with a story on dub's comedic stunt double. to hear the thruthies coming out of colberts mouth in the same room as the great deceiver was quite moving. it (for a moment) called him out to his lying face and collapsed the disparity of two opposing sets of historical books. via the only way possible, well crafted humor.
- bill 5-01-2006 8:00 pm

Gosh, I haven't seen the Bush impersonator on YouTube yet. Am I only getting one part of the story?
- tom moody 5-01-2006 8:15 pm

As Colbert walked from the podium, when it was over, the president and First Lady gave him quick nods, unsmiling. The president shook his hand and tapped his elbow, and left immediately.

Those seated near Bush told E&P's Joe Strupp, who was elsewhere in the room, that Bush had quickly turned from an amused guest to an obviously offended target as Colbert’s comments brought up his low approval ratings and problems in Iraq.

Several veterans of past dinners, who requested anonymity, said the presentation was more directed at attacking the president than in the past. Several said previous hosts, like Jay Leno, equally slammed both the White House and the press corps.

“This was anti-Bush,” said one attendee. “Usually they go back and forth between us and him.” Another noted that Bush quickly turned unhappy. “You could see he stopped smiling about halfway through Colbert,” he reported.

After the gathering, Snow, while nursing a Heineken outside the Chicago Tribune reception, declined to comment on Colbert. “I’m not doing entertainment reviews,” he said. “I thought the president was great, though.”

Strupp, in the crowd during the Colbert routine, had observed that quite a few sitting near him looked a little uncomfortable at times, perhaps feeling the material was a little too biting -- or too much speaking "truthiness" (Colbert's made-up word) to power.

Asked by E&P after it was over if he thought he'd been too harsh, Colbert said, "Not at all." Was he trying to make a point politically or just get laughs? "Just for laughs," he said. He said he did not pull any material for being too strong, just for time reasons. (He later said the president told him "good job" when he walked off.)

Helen Thomas told Strupp her segment with Colbert was "just for fun."

In its report on the affair, USA Today asserted that some in the crowd cracked up over Colbert but others were "bewildered." Wolf Blitzer of CNN said he thought Colbert was funny and "a little on the edge."

Earlier, the president had addressed the crowd with a Bush impersonator alongside, with the faux-Bush speaking precisely and the real Bush deliberately mispronouncing words, such as the inevitable "nuclear." At the close, Bush called the imposter "a fine talent. In fact, he did all my debates with Senator Kerry." The routine went over well with this particular crowd -- better than did Colbert's, in fact, for whatever reason.

Thankyoustephencolbert.org. 7128 signatures and counting.
- jim 5-01-2006 8:22 pm

My own gauge of the popularity was downloading the 70+ meg torrent file. Fastest torrent I've ever seen. By a long shot. I was getting 3 Mb/sec yesterday which would have been maxing out my connection.
- jim 5-01-2006 8:24 pm

Put in a room with the President of the United States, administration officials, lawmakers and the men and women who bring you news of them, Stephen Colbert did something that should make every American proud.

He exercised the rights given to him by the Constitution of his country to speak his mind and to speak it freely even in the face of power. In those minutes I was reminded that in this country, in these United States, the citizen retains the ultimate power.

Kudos Mr. Colbert. Too bad hardly anybody wants to tell this story.

The Colbert Report may be the best show on television, but when 60 Minutes flacked the show last night it abandoned its responsibility and didn't quiz Colbert about his politics. Morley Safer just chuckled along with Colbert from start to finish, making him out to be some take-on-all-sides entertainer.

...

Which is to say, Colbert has real power. I don't expect him to want to talk about it, but 60 Minutes let its own fuzzy liberal orientation show when it failed to ask Colbert one genuine question about his politics, and failed to try to talk to his friends and family about his politics.