White House Correspondent

Remember the White House Correspondents' dinner 2006, where impersonator Steve Bridges acted as Bush's unconscious thoughts?

It was a funny sketch, which can be viewed here.




But that was only the precursor to a much more interesting piece of comedy at the same meal. The main event was this speech by Stephen Colbert.

Colbert, as most of you will know, is the satirical presenter of The Colbert Report and contributor to The Daily Show. In The Colbert Report, and in this speech to President Bush, Colbert adopts the Bill O'Reilly-like persona of a hardline supporter of the Republican Administration, and then uses this cover to expose certain absurdities in Bush and in his policies.

What's so interesting is that, although it was such a vicious attack on Bush to his face, and in front of many of the main journalists in Washington, yet it was barely covered in any news outlets.

So, for example, Colbert lists a series of Bush-like "beliefs that I live by," such as "I believe in America. I believe it exists." and, "I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."

He 'defends' Bush's then-sinking approval ratings:

"Now, I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32 percent approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in 'reality.' And reality has a well-known liberal bias. "

and

"I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers, and rubble, and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message: that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound — with the most powerfully-staged photo-ops in the world."

Was the lack of media coverage because Colbert also harshly criticized the the media in general?

Addressing the White House Press Corps, he 'praised':

"Over the last five years, you people were so good — over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out... And then you write, 'Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.' First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!"