The Colbert Report on the State of the Media

Troops, we know all about how notoriously unreliable the internets are, and thus how fortunate we are to have traditional/mainstream media as backup to tell us everything we really need to know.

But I never realized just how unbiased, not to mention thoroughly soul-searching, the 24-hour news cable news channels are until yesterday. I got home late Sunday after an out-of-town trip and almost immediately heard something about the appearance by Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. So first thing Monday morning, I tuned in to CNN, MSNBC, et al. to find out more. Someone must have given me bad intel, I quickly concluded; the only stories I could find about the event lauded the Pretendizent and a Pretendizent-impersonator for their warmly received, “self-deprecatory” standup bit. It was funny. It made the audience laugh. Despite his penchant for doing so repeatedly to various countries, especially those that have oil, Bush didn’t bomb.

Apparently the bombing occurred later in the evening. I soon found a few hundred links on the internets that led me to the C-Span broadcast itself, and I got to see Colbert's “disgraceful” performance. No wonder mainstream media were treating this wretched moment in broadcast history like the red-headed bastard at a family reunion. (Well, at least it was on C-Span, and nobody watches that boring channel, so I guess it wasn’t newsworthy. Yeah, that would explain it. Although it wouldn't explain the day-long repetitions of the Bush/Not Bush hilarity. Go figure.) It was bad enough that Colbert attacked Dear Leader during a time of war, as several patriots have pointed out (nevermind that we will apparently be at war from now until evermore-rapidly-approaching Doomsday). But to attack the media! Right to their smug, self-congratulatory faces! What on earth was he thinking? I mean, they were all sitting right there where they could hear him!

Colbert’s performance has been called “embarrassing,” “uncomfortable,” “unnerving,” and even worse, "not funny." His remarks were about as popular with the assembled press flacks and politicos as Rush Limbaugh was with the girls in high school, and therefore, according to the MSM bobbleheads, Colbert “bombed.” On Monday afternoon Mike Allen of Time Magazine, weighing in on MSNBC, likened Colbert’s performance to David Letterman’s much-disparaged Oscar-hosting stint, because apparently, Colbert was supposed to "entertain" the audience, who, at least in their own minds, are much like the celebs one would find in the audience at the Oscars. (That is, he was expected to suck up, flatter, and make jokes about the obvious big-laff-getters. Note how in Colbert's segment the only jokes that jollied the crowd into feeling comfortable enough to release tentative chuckles were about Jesse Jackson and New Orleans' mayor Nagin. Nothing like a tinge of racism to release the clowns!) Tweety brought it home, chirping, “Bush isn’t just a politician; he’s the President,” thus providing the requisite coda to another fine episode of “Hardball” by suggesting Colbert should have shown more respect. Sort of like Don Imus and President Clinton, at the same event ten years ago.

The reaction shots of the news correspondents in the audience—the silent tablesful of stunned, unamused faces—reminded me of Jon Stewart’s masterful smackdown of Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson on CNN's now-deservedly-defunct “Crossfire” shortly before the 2004 election. Rebuffing their sweaty pleas that he start being funny already, Stewart retorted: “No, I’m not going to be your monkey.” Colbert threw off the organ-grinder’s leash as well and delivered a stinging spanking that’s been long overdue to the White House’s tuxedoed, bejeweled hoardes of media whores. And if Colbert’s dead-on comments resulted in embarrassment or discomfort, it belongs to the correspondents themselves, not the messenger. Unamused, were they? Perhaps they should start tuning in to Comedy Central more often. Maybe they'll find Colbert more humorous when he's targeting someone they feel really deserves it.

Posted by MzNicky
Cross-posted at Tennessee Guerilla Women