The following is a selection of letters sent to the World Socialist Web Site on “Bush, US media respond to Stephen Colbert’s comic assault: ‘We are not amused.’”
Mr. Walsh, I was pleased to read your article on Colbert’s performance at the correspondents’ dinner, and the accompanying media reaction. I am very glad you recognized Colbert and his comments for what he and they are—sharp, insightful, funny, and, above all, absolutely necessary! His show on Comedy Central is perhaps the only program on TV (or anywhere else) that unflinchingly attacks Bush, the war, religious backwardness, and other right-wing tendencies in America. (He certainly puts “The Daily Show” to shame.) It is no wonder the media responded the way they did to his remarks. I remember a few months back I recommended “The Colbert Report” to you. I am glad to find you are enjoying it now. Thanks for your essay, and keep up the good work!
AC
Jamestown, New York, US
5 May 2006
* * *I just want to thank the WSWS for its critical voice that stands out in welcome contrast to the Goebbels-ian mass media, who are nothing other than cheerleaders of our criminal political establishment. In particular, what has prompted me to write this to you was your magnificent article on Stephen Colbert’s brave comic assault on our criminal political establishment and its media puppies. Thank you! Without you, I would not even know about this, because our European media are as Goebbels-ian as the US media.
MK
Darmstadt, Germany
5 May 2006
* * *Yeah, wasn’t it funny how the presstitutes didn’t cover Colbert report? I knew news items were getting quashed, but this should wake up quite a few as to just how far and how deep the situation really is. Colbert is funny—I don’t care what they say, he’s funny.
MO
5 May 2006
* * *I always love your essays, and this one is particularly acute and generally wonderful. Keep up the good work, please!
CS
5 May 2006
* * *Thanks for covering this. When I saw the video of it on the web, I was stunned—how did he get away with this in front of a crowd who vets everything? He was right on the money and W. (dumb-dub) was clearly furious, as he is used to everyone rolling over and playing dead for him. Colbert’s attack took great courage and I salute him.
RM
5 May 2006
* * *Last Saturday, while channel surfing, I stopped to listen to the stand-up routine of Steven Colbert on C-Span. I never laughed so hard, and I don’t laugh easily. If anything, my bias was against Colbert being funny in his appearance at the correspondence dinner, believing the dinner was a gathering of war criminals and their apologists.
It was with great delight, then, that I heard Colbert pick apart this crowd, flaying them for their utter fakery and phoniness, their poses as critics of the administration. Then he moved onto Bush, alluding to his anti-cerebral attitude in talking about how he relies on his “gut” and not on his “brain” because there are more nerve endings in the former. It was just too much.
If one listened closely, you could almost hear a hissing sound of air being let out of a big balloon. That’s the sound big egos make when someone sticks a pin in them.
KK
Madison, Wisconsin, US
5 May 2006
* * *Thank you Thank you Thank you. It’s easy to forget that the only difference between US media outlets and the state-run media in the old USSR is that Isvestia and Pravda didn’t pretend to be something they were not. You have to imagine the neocons are studying with envy the Chinese model of a state-controlled Internet.
BS
New York, New York, US
6 May 2006
This is the best commentary I’ve read on the Colbert monologue. Thanks for a sharp analysis of the situation. A friend sent me the link the night it occurred, and I sat there listening and thinking, “this is too true to be funny.” But, as you said, that was not the point. Keep up the great journalism! Your weary comrades need you!
JT
9 May 2006