Dan Froomkin characterizes Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.
Their very subversive message, at its core: That this Bush guy is basically a joke. And that the mainstream press is a joke, because it takes Bush at his word.”
I gotta disagree. They are saying that the press is a joke, but they never suggested there was anything funny about this administration. Sure, they’ve cracked endless jokes about how obvious their lies are. And it’s funny, almost a joke, to have them recount the lies of the day. But, we can never forget that this is our government we are talking about. This shit isn’t funny. And Stewart and Colbert know it isn’t funny. Froomkin is right about the rest though.
But I think that message was just too much for the self-satisfied upper crust of the media elite to handle when Colbert threw it right in their faces on Saturday night.
Colbert crammed a truckload of unspoken truth down the upper crust of the media elite’s craw…and it got stuck there.
But they still haven’t addressed the central issue Colbert was raising: Bush’s credibility…What Colbert was saying about the guy sitting a few feet away from him — and I think this is what made so many people in that room uncomfortable — was: Don’t believe a word he says.
I think that’s right. I’d go even further. I think Colbert was saying that the press should stop pretending to believe anything the Bush administration says. Because they don’t believe any of it (they aren’t stupid, just craven), and yet they feel compelled to seek out sources and give them a balanced treatment in their articles or their cable news segments.
I don’t care how unfunny Colbert was in the room, he was hysterical on my television. Of course, it helps if you get the jokes (and aren’t the butt of them). But, Colbert merely told the truth. I don’t know why people are criticizing his politeness and his lack of laughs. It wasn’t Colbert that was unfunny, it was the situation that was as serious as a heart attack. After all, if what Colbert was saying was true (and everyone knew that it was) then no matter how cleverly he delivered it, it was nothing to laugh about. Heh.
