Dangerous Ideas

I’ve run across several mentions of Stephen Colbert’s appearance at the White House Correspondents Dinner, so I finally looked at the transcript and at video of the event. Wow! That must have been the most difficult performance ever in the history of the event. I’ve done some performance, and it’s hard enough getting in front of any old audience. But Colbert took things to a whole new level: he verbally skewered the administration sitting just a few feet from the president.

I just checked YouTube, and, apparently, the video has been removed now due to copyright infringement. From C-Span? I didn’t think a non-profit would care so much, and would even enjoy the extra publicity. According to Mark Morford on his blog, video is still available at a few sites.

I read the news online almost every day, and I didn’t see mention of this event for a couple days, at least. I would have at least expected to see this on the front page of the SF Gate (Morford’s blog is hosted there; I just didn’t see anything in the main section). Some people have wondered if there was a media blackout.

I wonder who made the decision to have him be the guest? And whether this person was being subversive or just not doing their homework? And whether this person has a job any more? ;-) Of course, there is the cynical view that the appearance helped Bush.