Don't stand, don't stand, don't stand so close to me
I've often wondered how often our president is faced with the scathing truth of how a majority of Americans feel about his procedures and policies.
For better or worse (better in my opinion), Stephen Colbert put it in his face at the White House Press Correspondence Dinner on April 29th, 2006.
The whole video (little over 25 minutes) can be viewed here (from Google Video):
Colbert Roasts Bush
It is interesting to watch how the entire mood changes around 8 minutes 45 seconds into the video. Colbert starts talking about disasters and photo ops. Watch for Bush's reaction shot at 9 minutes and 15 seconds.
I'm not sure who booked Colbert to wrap up the Press Correspondence Dinner, but maybe they didn't realize that his humorous support of Bush is actually critical satire. Reminds me of Reagan wanting to use John Mellencamp's "Pink Houses" for his second term campaign.
-HBH
posted by Hillbilly_Hotei @ 7:30 AM
2 Comments:
I read the transcript--he skewered Bush & Co. pretty good. I think part of it is all about PR and Bush's attempt to raise his approval ratings via showing everyone how he can take a joke and doesn't take himself too seriously. I think it shows how he doesn't take his job too seriously, other than making sure his oil buddies are taken care of which is too bad for the rest of us...
I too read the transcript first. I kept hearing though, how bad Colbert's performance was. I began thinking that perhaps since no one seemed to be talking about it and the few that did were coming down so bad, that there was probably actually something there. Bush was not happy at all. There were very few reaction shots of Bush and virtually none after the extended shot at 9 minutes and 15 seconds. As for the performance, Colbert did muff the beginning of one joke but other than that he was spot on. Was it "uber-funny"? No. But then again, I think he did pretty well considering his material and the audience. Not only did he show the emperor wasn't wearing any clothes, he did it to his face and then slapped him on his ill-tempered bare fanny.
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