I Gotcher Bad Taste For Ya Rite-chia

by digby

I’m listening to Scarborough dissect Colbert’s performance with Ana Marie Cox and Michael Sherer from Salon and I can’t believe how vapid it is. They all agree that Colbert is usually hilarious but he wasn’t entirely successful at the white house correspondent’s dinner because well … they’re not quite sure. Apparently, they don’t know that comedians often fail to get laughs in a room full of uncomfortable, angry people who are being skewered by a master satirist who is pulling no punches. Have they ever seen any footage of Lenny Bruce?

And some Democrats, bless their hearts, agree that it got a little rough:

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) took on a rare role yesterday as a defender of President Bush.

Hoyer came to the defense of the commander in chief after Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where the president took a drubbing from comedian Stephen Colbert.

“I thought some of it was funny, but I think it got a little rough,” Hoyer said. “He is the president of the United States, and he deserves some respect.”

“I’m certainly not a defender of the administration,” Hoyer reassured stunned observers, but Colbert “crossed the line” with many jokes that were “in bad taste.”

Colbert needled Bush, often prompting only an expressionless stare from the president, who appeared not to be amused.

Bad taste? I’ve got your bad taste for you:

Don Imus was the featured speaker at the Radio Television White House Correspondents Association Annual Dinner 1996:

“Dan has these utterly incomprehensible bucolic expressions he punctuates the conversation with. Several times after talking with him, he would say to me ‘Tamp ’em up solid.’ Having something to do, I later learned, with fortifying underground tunnels his father dug, for reasons that remain unclear. Now I’m hearing impaired a little bit from wearing headphones for a long time. I thought he was saying ‘tampons up solid’ and I’m, ‘Why would he say that?’ I mean, I know he’s nuts, but what does that mean? Anyway, I’d laugh and I’d say uh huh, and I would hang up.

[…]

And then there’s Peter Jennings, who we are told more Americans get their news from than anyone else — and a man who freely admits that he cannot resist women. So I’m thinking, here’s Peter Jennings sitting there each evening, elegant, erudite, refined. And I’m thinking, what’s under his desk? I mean , besides an intern. The first place the telecommunications bill should have mandated that a v-chip be placed is in Mr. Jennings shorts.

[…]

By the way, and this is really awful, if you’re Peter Jennings and you’re telling more Americans than anyone else what’s going on in the world, shouldn’t you at least have had a clue that your wife was over at Richard Cohen’s house? She wasn’t at my house! Bernard Shaw and Peter couldn’t be here tonight — he went to the movies with Alanis Morissette — Bernard Shaw and Judy Woodruff round out our network news anchors and deserve mention only to recognize that Bernie has greater nut potential than even Dan Rather. If not for CNN, Bernard Shaw is at the post office marching somebody around at the end of a wire coat hanger and a shotgun.

[…]

Mort Saul made the original observation that people who talk most about family values are all on their second and third wives. And I would point out they all have families you could rope off and charge admission to view. You throw up a tent, put Pat Buchanan, his brother Bay, Newt, Mom, Candace, Hugh Rodham in it, and you’re lookin at a theme park.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Saying the president is rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenberg doesn’t even come close to that low-life rap. Here’s the whole thing. I’m not saying it doesn’t have its funny moments — but it’s almost entirely inappropriate by anybody’s standards.

Colbert’s routine is a satirical take on the bloviating wingnut (and covert wingnut) gasbags who support the Republicans no matter what they do. That’s not in bad taste. It’s a public service. He stood up there and mirrored what we see them do every day of the week. They didn’t find it funny because it was a little too real.

Apparently Steny Hoyer is a stereotypical Democratic wuss who can’t tell the difference between raunchy bad taste and political satire. I honestly can’t figure who these guys actually appeal to.

And the press — well, we know how they reacted to being insulted as ugly, deranged adulterers. Imus became a huge star and the press corps immediately lined up to go on his show and get under his desk themselves. That’s why we called them mediawhores.

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