Wow, I don't think it's impressive that Scalia was laughing. I think it's even more horrifying. When you hold up a mirror to these people as Colbert did, most of them get uncomfortable and squirm at seeing their own grotesque nature. Scalia apparently revels in it.

that Someone knew exactly what sort of show they were getting when Colbert was signed to do the gig. That speech was no accident. The WH press gaggle may be gutless, but they are not all so stupid.

My favorite moment was when Colbert oh so carefully made a point of ripping sacred Laura to shreds for her hypocritical literacy crusade. Like, why encourage the "masses" to read when the last thing any of the Bushites want is an educated and informed electorate. It was a sly way of pointing out what everyone knows, Laura could give a rats ass about literature, art or books in general. Her librarian thing (which lasted what, about 18 mos until she snagged young GW?) is just that - a shtick. Show me one person who has begun to read because they were inspired by Laura Bush (who watches Desperate Housewives btw - which is what people who don't read do in their spare time).

Kudos to brother bob for recognizing all those Bush/Rove rhetorical tricks in Colbert's performance. Little secret: Colbert actually does that on purpose!

Cuz when Colbert models Bush's wardrobe, its tranparency and his stark nakedness underneath become painfully, hilariously obvious to everyone. You were quite eloquent on that point, so I know you got that far.

But don't stop there. It's just a small step for a bob, but truly a giant leap for bobkind: those very same clothes don't cover the presidential ass (or elephant) either, and what they reveal is a hundred times uglier than Colbert's sorry ass.

There, see: when it's explained, it's not nearly as funny.

Wow, he was fantastic! But how depressing is it that, in a room full of "journalists," the only one with the guts to challenge the President is a satirist? It's a sad commentary on what a bunch of smug, spineless stenographers the Washington media are, when people are leaping in ecstasy that someone finally called them on their dereliction of duty--and are pretty much ready to canonize the guy.

Usually, these dinners feature comedians who either are toothless clowns (ie Leno), or people who do offer some biting satire--but only in the direction of the politicians, leaving the journalists to feel as if they are "in on the whole thing" and/or feeling as if they have actually challenged the politicians as well, if only by proxy.

But Colbert skewered the whole room, and didn't leave a single piece of smug conventional wisdom (ie "maverick McCain") in his wake.

People are going to be swapping phrases from this performance like baseball cards, talking about which are their favorites. Mine was the part about Bush's skill at "standing on things" for photo ops following national tragedies in which his humongous incompetence played a central role, ie 9/11 and Katrina.

I do, however, wish that Scalia hadn't been so freaking amused; he's such a thick-headed egomaniac I don't even think he knew he was being mocked. Because God knows it's impossible to believe he has either a sense of humor about himself or any sense of how he is perceived.

But wow. What a performance. Finally, someone has spoken truth to the "truthinessists." On both sides of the podium. I never thought I'd say this, but when they rerun it, I'll be TIVO-ing C-Span!!

You may or may not know your ass from a hole in the ground -- I'll leave that judgment to others -- but you certainly don't have much connection with facts. For instance, you slobbered this:

You can take the man out of Dartmouth but you can't take Dartmouth out of the man.

Well, I happen to be a Dartmouth alum, so I searched the alumni directory for Colbert ... there are two of them, neither of them a Stephen, neither living near New York. Just for you, I even tried Colbear, of which there were none. Stephen Colbert did not attend Dartmouth.

Of course, that's a bass-ackwards way to look for the Ivy League roots you "accuse" Colbert of displaying. Googling his name, it's readily evident that he was in the class of 1986 at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. His profile on HSC's site (http://www.hsc.edu/alumni/profiles/colbert.html) indicates that he transferred to Northwestern, perhaps as a means to audition for Second City. From there, of course, he moved rapidly into TV comedy stardom.

So you drop a gratuitous dig at Colbert's "Ivy League" attitudes and values, which happens to be false, easily researched, and easily refuted. Why should we care about anything else in your blather?

Brilliant. Bravo!

Bring on the revolution.

do shut up Bob. That's better!

" He's subtle, sophisticated, but, unfortunately, brash, loud and pompous, which, he'd be the first one to tell you, he's given a license for all this simply because he uses it to mock people just like him."

Yeah, last I heard Colbert hadn't sent thousands off to die in an ill-planned war to piss off his Daddy.

I'll take what I can get.

thanks for the Art History lesson, Bob.

Gee, I've often wondered to myself why there's so much 'bad art' around these days...especially on the walls of Mc Donalds. Now, thanks to your scathing critique, I can hold my head up and place the blame squarely on the shoulders of Andy Warhol and those nasty ol' 60's doodlers.

Brother Bob, you obviously do not have the intelligence to understand satire, even though a couple of people on here have patiently tried to explain it to you. Quit taking up space with your nonsense posts.

I don't know who I love more - Stephen Colbert or Helen Thomas.

This has to be such sweet revenge for Thomas after the way this admnistration has been so disrespectful toward her (though Thomas, the consumate professional, has never acknowledged the disrespect). What a way for her to finally say "Fuck You," in the most respectful of ways, of course.

I bow before you, Stephen and Helen.