E Pluribus Unum

He pissed them off, all but Scalia who had just enough vino in him to laugh at himself . Hey, what does a Supreme Court Justice care about whether the White House is in danger of losing the Congress as well as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.?  President's come and Senators go, but Scalia gets to wear his black toga forever.

Colbert, ever the professional, worked through it.  In fact, after completely muffing the set up to a joke, admitted it, shook it off, and was even smoother than before.  Probably because the muff broke the tension.

I won't say he won over the stuffed shirt crowd at that point, although it was reported that this was the only time Bush smirked, but they were reminded at that point that it was a joke, just a bit.  And Colbert was unswerving in his roast of both the President and the Press Corp. because his routine throws a glaring spotlight on just how hypocritical and inept the people in that room are by praising them for their failures.  They had no idea how to take that.

He wasn't bombing, he was throwing bombs.  Does anyone really expect the usual thunderous applause one hears when he's in his home studio?  Not when this kind of truth was ringing in their ears:

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. “They are re-arranging the deck chairs--on the Hindenburg."

Shakes said, this time at her own blog but highjacking someone else's post titled, "Stephen Colbert has Balls as Big as Church Bells."

Colbert was like a fucking pitbull who latched onto Bush’s jugular and proceeded to gnaw on it for 15 minutes, then turned on the press and slaughtered them, too.  It was fucking unbelievable.  It was brutal, painful to watch.  No one was laughing, because it wasn’t funny.  It was the fucking truth—and it was awesome.

Throughout the entire thing, he would periodically look evenly at Bush, holding his gaze and addressing him directly as “Mr. President.”  Bush looked back at him with a face of stone (save for one time when Colbert flubbed a set-up).  Standing in front of a room full of people who didn’t, couldn’t, laugh, letting them have it with everything he’s got, sweating bullets, Colbert would look dead at Bush and never blink.  It was so brave.

They wanted the Truthiness?  They can't handle the Truthiness.

The truth is, they should have known that Colbert is no sycophantic Jay Leno, it's all in good fun type of comedian.  He's not Hollywood, sucking up to movie stars and political stars alike.  Colbert is strictly political satire, from the city councilman level to powerful potentates and pusillanimous pundits.  I would have expected no less from him.

Stephen was truth-y-ful to us, his fans. Will he be invited back? Never. Not as long as the President isn't completely at ease with humor and criticism and is cock-sure of himself (god I miss Bill Clinton).

Sometimes, it has nothing to do with the delivery or the medium. Wince pointed out something I endeavor to keep in mind any time I'm trying to be clever.

I absolutely cannot detect the humor in written hyperbolic rants unless clear absurdities are added. To me, they sound exactly like angry, hateful hyperbolic rants. And the absurdities have to be absolutely clear. Often people, including me, say something that others take as absurd and we are serious.

Colbert's perceived difficulties had nothing to do with the shortcomings of the medium he used.  It had everything to do with uncomfortable truths, spoken in a comfortable truthy way to those who should be hearing much, much more of it

Tonight, only the President was allowed to poke fun at the President (or someone who looked remarkably like him reading from a joint script full of vetted and focused grouped jokes).  Fortunately for us, and posterity, Colbert brought his own script.  And he may have done us all a great service.  Maybe, just maybe, George W. Bush got an inkling about why so many more people are joining the ranks every day of those who have decided that the Decider has to go.