On Saturday night, at the White House Correspondents Dinner,
Stephen Colbert did something brave and unparalled.
Standing 10 feet from George Bush and in front of an audience
of hundreds of members of the Washington press corpse,
Colbert, acting in his persona of a Bill O'Reillyesque pundit,
flayed them with irony and sarcasm.
The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he
stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on
Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change; this man's
beliefs never will. As excited as I am to be here with the president, I
am appalled to be surrounded by the liberal media that is destroying
America, with the exception of Fox News. Fox News gives you both sides
of every story: the president's side, and the vice president's side.
But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA
wiretapping or secret prisons in eastern Europe? Those things are
secret for a very important reason: they're super-depressing. And if
that's your goal, well, misery accomplished. Over the last five years
you people were so good -- over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect
of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the
courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we
knew.
But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president
makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those
decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make,
announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. 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!
Because really, what incentive do these people have to answer your
questions, after all? I mean, nothing satisfies you. Everybody asks for
personnel changes. So the White House has personnel changes. Then you
write, "Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."
First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not
sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are
rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!
What balls! To stand in front of that crowd and show them up for the fools
they are.
Complete transcript.
Video.
Update: A much more eloquent essay,
The truthiness hurts,
at Salon.
Update #2:
www.ThankYouStephenColbert.org has over 50,000 signatures
as of May 7th.
And the Stephen Colbert Musical Extravaganza is very silly.