Re: Fake news (ndc)


"Neil X." <neilxk@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1146770784.780914.69010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

mjd wrote:

well, I watched it and I'd hardly call it blistering. It wasn't really
even that funny or provocative.


Agreed. It bordered on lame, IMO. Meat for liberal partisans,
impact-free to everyone else.

**You're not alone. Even this liberal partisan agrees:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/03/AR2006050302202_pf.html

So Not Funny

By Richard Cohen
Thursday, May 4, 2006; A25



First, let me state my credentials: I am a funny guy. This is well known in
certain circles, which is why, even back in elementary school, I was
sometimes asked by the teacher to "say something funny" -- as if the deed
could be done on demand. This, anyway, is my standing for stating that
Stephen Colbert was not funny at the White House Correspondents' Association
Dinner. All the rest is commentary.

The commentary, though, is also what I do, and it will make the point that
Colbert was not just a failure as a comedian but rude. Rude is not the same
as brash. It is not the same as brassy. It is not the same as gutsy or
thinking outside the box. Rudeness means taking advantage of the other
person's sense of decorum or tradition or civility that keeps that other
person from striking back or, worse, rising in a huff and leaving. The other
night, that person was George W. Bush.

Colbert made jokes about Bush's approval rating, which hovers in the middle
30s. He made jokes about Bush's intelligence, mockingly comparing it to his
own. "We're not some brainiacs on nerd patrol," he said. Boy, that's funny.

Colbert took a swipe at Bush's Iraq policy, at domestic eavesdropping, and
he took a shot at the news corps for purportedly being nothing more than
stenographers recording what the Bush White House said. He referred to the
recent staff changes at the White House, chiding the media for supposedly
repeating the cliche "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" when he
would have put it differently: "This administration is not sinking. This
administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs
on the Hindenburg." A mixed metaphor, and lame as can be.

Why are you wasting my time with Colbert, I hear you ask. Because he is
representative of what too often passes for political courage, not to
mention wit, in this country. His defenders -- and they are all over the
blogosphere -- will tell you he spoke truth to power. This is a tired
phrase, as we all know, but when it was fresh and meaningful it suggested
repercussions, consequences -- maybe even death in some countries. When you
spoke truth to power you took the distinct chance that power would smite
you, toss you into a dungeon or -- if you're at work -- take away your
office.

But in this country, anyone can insult the president of the United States.
Colbert just did it, and he will not suffer any consequence at all. He knew
that going in. He also knew that Bush would have to sit there and pretend to
laugh at Colbert's lame and insulting jokes. Bush himself plays off his
reputation as a dunce and his penchant for mangling English. Self-mockery
can be funny. Mockery that is insulting is not. The sort of stuff that would
get you punched in a bar can be said on a dais with impunity. This is why
Colbert was more than rude. He was a bully.

I am not a member of the White House Correspondents' Association, and I have
not attended its dinner in years (I watched this year's on C-SPAN). The gala
is an essentially harmless event that requires the presence of one man, the
president. If presidents started not to show up, the organization would have
to transform itself into a burial association. But presidents come and
suffer through a ritual that most of them find mildly painful, not to
mention boring. Whatever the case, they are guests. They don't have to be
there -- and if I were Bush, next year I would not. Spring is a marvelous
time to be at Camp David.

On television, Colbert is often funny. But on his own show he appeals to a
self-selected audience that reminds him often of his greatness. In
Washington he was playing to a different crowd, and he failed dismally in
the funny person's most solemn obligation: to use absurdity or contrast or
hyperbole to elucidate -- to make people see things a little bit
differently. He had a chance to tell the president and much of important
(and self-important) Washington things it would have been good for them to
hear. But he was, like much of the blogosphere itself, telling like-minded
people what they already know and alienating all the others. In this sense,
he was a man for our times.

He also wasn't funny.

cohenr@xxxxxxxxxxxx

© 2006 The Washington Post Company


Exactly what should the press be writing about the roast? "Liberal
Bashes Bush at Roast" isn't exactly a world-shaking headline for the
morning paper.

**Yep. And if this had gotten lots of attention, Fox would have been
complaining about that!



Peace,
Neil X.



.

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