Stephen Colbert is Not Your Monkey

Today I read an article on salon.com about Stephen Colbert's appearence at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. Sometimes I wonder if organizations like this research the people they invite to speak. It seems to me they made the same mistake Tucker Calrson (before he was booted over to Fox) made when he invited Jon Stewart to participate on Crossfire.

What Jon Stewart had to say about the show rang very true to me. Appearing on political debate shows is part of the strategy; it is part of the machinery of campaigning and politics. It does not help the public understand the positions of the politicians on the show. I see this in modern debates, like the 2004 presidential debate. They are given the questions in advance, and can prepare their defences beforehand. What happened to putting them on the spot, and making them think on their feet, without all the prepressed rhetoric? This is what Jon Stewart is talking about when he says Crossfire is hurting America. It is not fostering honest debate, but rather opening its forum to more codswallop from politicians.

According to the salon.com article, Stephen Colbert's performance left the audience dumbstuck. He was the perfect "imitation of the quintessential GOP talking head," something which probably hit quite close to home for many of those attending the dinner. Apparently, the first lady, the ever charming and elegant Laura Bush (about whom I don't usually have anything bad to say), did not shake his hand. A sure sign that Colbert's appearance had the right effect on his audience, and one that I am certain, was not intended by his patrons. Like what Jon Stewart was talking about on his appearance on CNN, the dinner was a self-important moment when the White House correspondents congatulated themselves. There is no dialogue, and a hard-hitting message like the one Colbert was sending out is ill received by a group so blinded by their own self-rightousness that Colbert's parody is taken as an insult, a sure sign that the targets of his jest take themselves too seriously.

As the idiotic patriot, Colbert "uncovered the inner workings of the ever-cheapening discourse that passes for political debate," precisely the theater Stewart said Crossfire was staging. "Colbert's jokes attacked not just Bush's policies, but the whole drama and language of American politics, the phony demonstration of strength, unity and vision," which is what this administration has been peddling to us through a policy of fear-mongering and empty promises. "They invited Colbert to speak for levity, not because they wanted to be criticized." Yet another sign that the bureaucrats in Washington have no idea what they're doing.