Speaking Truthiness to Power

Stephen Colbert spoke at the White House Correspondents Dinner - and ruffled a few feathers, it seems.

Among his remarks, a dig at the 'reality-based community' (or was it? You Decide):

Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.” He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “If anything, they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.” [from E&P]

I missed it - went to the opera - but watched the clip. If you missed it - or didn't record it - you can see see it here at Salon (you'll just have to watch a very short ad first, no registering, no paying). Very funny stuff.

And if the reactions of some of the right are genuine, it proves they really don't understand satire. The Colbert Report isn't really pro-Bush.

The Moderate Voice has a good article on the address, called "Colbert's White House Correspondent Dinner Performance Underscores Irony's Power And Delicacy". Good stuff - besides the analysis - asking (and answering) questions suchs "Does the lack of laughter mean he bombed?" (No, in case you're wondering), lots of reviews from left and right as well as center, links, and comments.

One of which, from Mauer, nails the whole thing right on its pointy head:

Of course half of the audience didn't laugh! Colbert was not making fun of them. He was indicting them.

Updated 3 May to note that with the exception of the entertainment reviews, I haven't seen any mainstream media mentions of this. Typical. After all, as Mauer said, Colbert was indicting the media as much as the administration ...

Updated 4 May to note that at last the MSM are mentioning Colbert - mainly by saying "he wasn't funny." Richard Cohen even said he was bullying W. Sheesh. Mauer was right: Colbert's audience wasn't laughing, because the 'funny' was bitingly, scathingly, directed at them.

A few other folks are equally right when they suggest that Colbert wasn't "funny" because what he was talking about - this administratin and the media who have spent the last six years fawning over it, only just recently waking up - aren't funny. Not funny at all.

Updated 20 May: here's a link to the full transcript, including the Helen Thomas tape, courtesy of the Daily Kos