Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Speaking Truthiness To Power

Lots of chatter about Stephen Colbert's White House Correspondents' Dinner address. Some thought it was boring and unfunny, some thought it not terribly funny but gutsy, some though it "crossed the line," and some thought it was both funny and an incredible display of courage. Personally, I applaud him. I wish more people had the guts to stand up and say what's really going on. Totally unsurprising that he bombed: neither politicians nor their attendant journalists have a sense of humor beyond the facile. They're too full of self-importance to either get or appreciate mocking and irony.
Unfortunately, as great as Colbert's speech was, I don't think it'll change anything. The press will keep on kowtowing and navel-gazing and self-congratulating, the President and his groupies will keep on thinking he was sent by God, and the anti-Bush people will still hate Bush. Still, it needed to be said, and I salute Stephen Colbert for saying it.

BTW, does it creep anyone else out that the only Washington insider who seemed to be laughing, even at himself, was Justice Antonin Scalia? I guess when you're that evil, you can acknowledge your own evilness and find it funny. Cheney was probably yucking it up in an undisclosed location.

(Oh, and to tie it all in with the bird theme I've got going, Stephen has his own namesake bald eagle.)

3 comments:

GayProf said...

I am glad that he gave that speech.

Scalia is probably on drugs.

Frank said...

El: Like I said, I guess it's easier for evil to laugh at itself. They're evil, what do they care? Just look at all the jolly villains in movies and comic books.

Gayprof: Not to beat a dead horse, but the only drug I'd say Scalia's on is Eviltonin!

Oso Raro said...

I loathe the Scalina, but it is true, he can laugh at himself, marking his one, distant, barely visible, microscopic, but laudable quality.