Stephen Colbert has balls

[ShadowofBob]

I can't believe that he got away with what he said on there. Kept on expecting him to be escorted off the podium. Hahaha.

Here's a link to the video.
http://www.etherkillers.com/files/colbe ... dinner.avi (197 MB)

Smaller and slightly shorter QT Movie:
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/WH-Dinner-Colber.mov




WASHINGTON (AP) -- It was twice the fun for members of the White House Correspondents' Association and guests Saturday night when President Bush and a look-alike, sound-alike sidekick poked fun at the president and fellow politicians.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I feel chipper tonight. I survived the White House shake-up," the president said.

But impersonator Steve Bridges stole many of the best lines. Vice President Dick Cheney and his hunting accident were targets of his humor on a couple of occasions. (Watch as Bush and Bridges poke fun at VP Cheney -- 2:20)

"Speaking of suspects, where is the great white hunter?" Bridges said, later adding, "He shot the only trial lawyer in the country who supports me."

Bush continued a tradition begun by President Coolidge in attending the correspondents' dinner.

He invited Bridges to play his double. The president talked to the press in polite, friendly terms. Bridges told them what the president was really thinking.

Bridges opened like this: "The media really ticks me off -- the way they try to embarrass me by not editing what I say. Well, let's get things going, or I'll never get to bed."

"I'm absolutely delighted to be here, as is (wife) Laura," Bush replied.

"She's hot," Bridges quipped.

The featured entertainer was Stephen Colbert, whose Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report" often lampoons the Washington establishment.

"I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq," Colbert said in a typical zinger.

He also paid mock tribute to Bush as a man who "believes Wednesday what he believed Monday, despite what happened Tuesday."

Yet it's the Who's Who of power and celebrity in the audience -- invited by media organizations to their dinner tables -- that draws much of the attention.

Joining ABC were former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, the CIA officer at the heart of a leak investigation that has reached deep into the White House.

Others on the guest list included rapper-actor Ludacris; James Denton, the hunky plumber on ABC's "Desperate Housewives"; "Dancing With the Stars" winner Drew Lachey; New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; tennis player Anna Kournikova; and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Award winners honored at the dinner were:

# Deb Riechmann of The Associated Press and Terry Moran of ABC News, Merriman Smith Awards, the top journalism award for White House reporting under deadline pressure.

Riechmann was recognized for breaking the news of Bush's choice of John Roberts for the Supreme Court. Moran was cited for his broadcast coverage of Bush's first visit to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.

# Carl Cannon of the National Journal, the Aldo Beckman Award for his profile of presidential adviser Michael Gerson. The award is given for repeated excellence in White House reporting.

# Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer of the Copley News Service, the Edgar A. Poe Award for a series of stories on Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who resigned in disgrace and pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes. The Poe award recognizes excellence in news of national and regional importance.

The association was established in 1914 as a bridge between the press corps and the White House. The current president is Mark Smith of AP Radio.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/30/ ... index.html

[404NotFound]

So uhh... were are all the people that say the US is a facist nation full of totalitarianism, witch hunts, etc now? He walked into the lion's den and put his head in the jaws and so far nothing has happened.

I thought some parts were fairly funny, I really liked the ending, but parts were just asinine.

[Lartrak]

So uhh... were are all the people that say the US is a facist nation full of totalitarianism, witch hunts, etc now? He walked into the lion's den and put his head in the jaws and so far nothing has happened.

I thought some parts were fairly funny, I really liked the ending, but parts were just asinine.

Colbert just went on too long. It was like 20 minutes of material stretched to 40. Some of it was quite amusing though.

[Ex-Cyber]

So uhh... were are all the people that say the US is a facist nation full of totalitarianism, witch hunts, etc now? He walked into the lion's den and put his head in the jaws and so far nothing has happened.

Right, nothing has happened. Nothing has changed. Nobody needs to punish him for speaking out, because to the extent that this shows up on the news, his scathing remarks will take a back seat to the notion of "look at how humble and self-deprecating our President is". The problem is not totalitarianism, it's that American media won't bite the hands that feed them (that's advertisers and government officials, not viewers).

[DaMadFiddler]

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/30/1441/59811

Transcript, for anyone who can't get the video clips to work. BTW, the shorter clip (the Quicktime one) leaves out the first half, which contains a lot of the best stuff. The best part of the whole thing is that Bush is sitting a mere 20 feet away the whole time, looking progressively less amused. They stop cutting to him after about five minutes, and the Bushes apparently snubbed Colbert after the speech ended.

[Ex-Cyber]

But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!

This would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

[404NotFound]

I just don't see how people can do the whole "nazi bush" sign anymore with the swastica on his forehead. I mean... wouldn't Cobert have been hung by piano wire by now?

It's like they're cheering Colbert for overcoming some sort of oppression that doesn't exist.

[Roofus]

Stephen Colbert is giving aid and comfort to the terrists.

[Ex-Cyber]

I just don't see how people can do the whole "nazi bush" sign anymore with the swastica on his forehead. I mean... wouldn't Cobert have been hung by piano wire by now?

The similarities are generally more abstract than that, and frankly I think that most of the people who push those signs around are just trolling.

[DaMadFiddler]

Full event on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcIRXur61II

[DaMadFiddler]

It seems that YouTube has not only removed all copies of the footage from its servers, but it has banned the people who posted them.

Here is a *working* video of the full presentation:

http://throwawayyourtv.com/2006/04/colb ... dents.html

[Ex-Cyber]

It seems that YouTube has not only removed all copies of the footage from its servers, but it has banned the people who posted them.

Source? That would be pretty disturbing if it's true.

[Roofus]

It seems that YouTube has not only removed all copies of the footage from its servers, but it has banned the people who posted them.

Source? That would be pretty disturbing if it's true.

Why? They always remove copyrighted material.

[Ex-Cyber]

They always remove copyrighted material.

Copyrights take effect automatically. Anything on there that hasn't been explicitly placed into the public domain or had its term expire is "copyrighted material".

[Roofus]

They always remove copyrighted material.

Copyrights take effect automatically. Anything on there that hasn't been explicitly placed into the public domain or had its term expire is "copyrighted material".

That doesn't explain why it's "pretty disturbing."

[Ex-Cyber]

My point is that a policy against "copyrighted material" doesn't do anything to explain why they chose to take those particular videos down when 99% of what's on there would be in violation of the policy, so they must have taken it down for some other reason. It could be lots of things (maybe they only act upon a complaint, and someone at C-SPAN complained, for instance) but I'm not sure why they would ban the users who uploaded them.

[Lartrak]

My point is that a policy against "copyrighted material" doesn't do anything to explain why they chose to take those particular videos down when 99% of what's on there would be in violation of the policy, so they must have taken it down for some other reason. It could be lots of things (maybe they only act upon a complaint, and someone at C-SPAN complained, for instance) but I'm not sure why they would ban the users who uploaded them.

It was a LONG video. Longer, very recent videos from major networks get far more complaints from people with the network. Odds are they were just being cautious. I don't think this has much of anything to do with the content of the video.

[I.M. Weasel]

So uhh... were are all the people that say the US is a facist nation full of totalitarianism, witch hunts, etc now? He walked into the lion's den and put his head in the jaws and so far nothing has happened.

The problem is not totalitarianism, it's that American media won't bite the hands that feed them (that's advertisers and government officials, not viewers).

Yeah seriously, god forbid a news show do a story about the bad things a company does. It just pisses me off that a lot of companies get away with a lot of shit, just because the news will lose sponsors if they do a story about it.

Firestone tires recall doesnt count, because all the news outlets could get on a bandwagon together.

[FETUS]

http://www.alldumb.com/item/27985/
video