Letters to the Editor
-
you know what's funny?
when the president looks under his sofa and says "Nope No WMDs there" Cohen got a great laugh out of that, IIRC.
-
He's right about one thing....
Watch out, Hillary. We are mad at you. You and the rest of the unprincipled panderers afraid to actually take a supposedly unpopular stand. Your faux concerns no longer interest us -- we need someone with genuine passion to lead ahead.
Frankly, it's hard to fear electing another Nixon right now. We were at least able to kick him out of office when he broke the law.
-
I scream cohen
whatta toady, this shitburger masquerading as a newsman. the i scream cohen flavor of the day is turdblossom crunch. I personally prefer imp-peach-mint. Yummy.
-
To Cohen, from the crowd. Get over yourself. Colbert was fabulous!
You know what, it is as sad as Jon Stewart said it was when he picked on poor ole Tucker Carlson. The network with a talking piece of poo as its most beloved character leads the hearts and minds of pissed off voters. The comedians have got this right, have been getting it right, and probably are the only ones left in American "intelligentsia" or the liberal left with enough independence of mind and good old American fuck you attitude (for ye less rude types, lets call it "rugged individualism") to inspire the center and left of center.
My dad used to say I was rude for using common language to be understood (swearing), for telling the truth (I am a gal child and was awfully direct), my law partners admired and chastised me for refusing to take shit, which often required rudeness, and I actually encourage these habits in my children. Legacy of rudeness. Gene of rudeness even.
colbert was fabulous, and authentic. What I loved most was his tributes to Helen Thomas... I watch him all the time. The rest was just gravy.
Hurray for Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Carlos Mancia, Chris Rock, George Carlin, Garofolo. I think we have enough for a ticket and a cabinet... Howard Dean, keep screaming. AL Gore, love you angry and insane (if that is what it is).
Always in favor of the direct, the true and the authentic,
Yours truly,
-
Colbert wasn't that funny
It would be hard to be. I've seen both the video and the transcript. A few old jokes, a few misses, but the transcript is generally pretty funny. The video was flat, and no wonder... It's hard to give a comedic performance when your audience isn't responding. Your timing is off, and Colbert was stuck waiting for laughs that never came.
Why the poor reception? Because the people there felt that Colbert had "crossed the line". Sure it's okay to poke fun of the president a little bit, but Colbert's hard hitting satire was an absolute shock to those at the dinner. Stephen Colbert committed a terrible faux paux -- he made the president feel uncomforable!
Then again, what did they expect? That he'd spend the evening talking about the threat bears pose to our American society? As a friend said "Didn't they watch the show before inviting him?"
And is there a bit o' anger in the Democratic voice? Hmmm... I guess seeing your country go from budget surplus to the largest deficit ever, to see a compentent agency like FEMA become a crony ridden agency, to see your land of freedom and liberty be accused of torture might make you a wee bit upset.
And yes, anger is a terrible thing to have, but it's a temporary problem for us. I think we'll be over "our anger" by the end of the first week in November.
In Texas, I use to be known as a "Yellow Dog Democrat" because I'd vote for a yellow dog if it was running on the Democratic ticket. But, I'd take a Democratic yellow dog over any corupt GOP old goat any day.
-
Big Babies
I find it particularly ironic and funny (if not sad and pathetic) that Cohen's response is pretty much on par with the kinds of hypocrisy found in responses like his. Put aside the easily (although hardly unusually) identifiable example of him being guilty of the very thing he complains about. I think more fundamentally we see another example of what a colossal bunch of weenies most of these folks are. For all the years Republicans and their apologists have snickered about us supposedly milquetoast liberals, they are as you put it terribly thin skinned when truly confronted and sure do spend a lot of time crying about what bullies we all are. Cohen gets points I suppose for not threatening to have Post security or local law enforcement come down on those terribly people who spoke so strongly to him (bill o'reilly anyone?).
-
Colbert was Rude? And A Bully?
Cohen also called him a bully -- as if a lone comic who is seen on basic cable standing 10 feet from the commander-in-chief (a noteworthy bully himself) -- a man who gives disparaging nicknames to people the better to belittle them -- a classic playground bullying tactic -- as if Mr Colbert was bullying Bush by delineating some of the fine points that have resulted in thousands and thousands and thousands dead and maimed and psychologically destroyed while -- my how coincidentally! -- friends of Bush and Bush's dad -- get obscenely rich from those same events.
Upton Sinclair had something to say about people like Rich Cohen:
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something
when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
Is it (and should it be) such a surprise to a national columnist that there's a tremendous amount of anger out here about Bush and his doings. And did Mr Cohen overlook the fact that tremendous anger drove Nixon from office in disgrace (many of whose cronies were the same ones here again, a political reality written more by William Burroughs (Nova Express) than Alex de Toqueville.
Perhaps this time around, our anger will prompt us to regain some respect in the world by turning the whole pack over to the world court to be tried for crimes against humanity.
-
a larger issue
I can't say whether Colbert was funny or not because I didn't see the performance. But he obviously touched some nerves. And that brings me to a larger point -- certain elements of the Washington press corps are just way, way too chummy with those whom it covers. Whatever happened to the idea of journalists comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable? It's apparently passe among the White House Correspondents Dinner crowd, apparently a bunch of insiders who seem to care less about the public trust than about maintaining and celebrating their insider status.
The whole flap supports the argument of those who say that the White House Correspendents Dinner and other similar back-slapping events should be put on the trash heap of history. (P.S. - I've heard of some principled reporters who refuse to attend such events.)