Left I on the News

I still hate Stephen Colbert's new show. As far as I'm concerned, as I've said before, he's so wrapped up in imitating a right-wing talk show host that someone unfamiliar with either Colbert or a real right-wing talk show host would almost certainly conclude he is one. But I just finished watching Colbert absolutely destroy George Bush, to his face, at the White House Correspondent's dinner. It will be replayed on C-SPAN several times, and chances are it will be online elsewhere (e.g., Crooks and Liars) before long. It is a must-watch speech/comedy piece.

I particularly loved how he ended with a long segment with Helen Thomas, which repeated over and over the question, why did the U.S. invade Iraq? No punches were pulled, and no quarter given. Brilliant stuff. If only he were like this every night I'd start watching his show again. In the meantime, I could watch this performance again and again. Well, at least again.

Update: Just watched it again, this time from the beginning. I love the George Bush clone, who I've seen many times (and enjoyed) on the Tonight Show (Jay Leno). The most notable thing about the whole evening was the sparseness of the laughter for Colbert's routine, and the mere smattering of applause at the end. I was rolling in the aisles, but the White House Press Corps and guests were not, for the most part, amused.

Second update: There was so much material, just two quotes. First:

The greatest thing about this President is you know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday!

The second, which I referred to above, had to do with a skit (on film) of Colbert acting as Press Secretary, using clips from real press conferences. The closing question was Helen Thomas asking why the U.S. really invaded Iraq, given that all the stated reasons have been proven false (this was a real question she asked). Colbert runs screaming from the room, but Thomas pursues him. Colbert runs into a garage, picks up the emergency phone, tells the person on the other end why Thomas is stalking him, and the guy on the phone says, "Yeah, why did we invade Iraq?" Loved it.

Incidentally, if you want to read more, I cross-posted this at Daily Kos here; there are now 411 comments (and climbing) on the post.

And, as predicted, the video is at Crooks and Liars here.