I HEART Colbert

Many of you have probably caught Stephen Colbert's stunning and ballsy performance at the White House Correspondent's Association Dinner last saturday. It took the press several days before bothering to report this unprecedented event, most likely because Colbert took them on as much as he took on W.

Michael Scherer from Salon had this to say about Colbert's report. Ouch. But, thankfully many other fans, including myself, recognize the heroics in what he did. Greg Mitchell, from Editor and Publisher, had this to say. Ezra Klein has this retort to WaPo journalist, Richard Cohen's snotty response

Worse than being rude, Colbert was substantive. He "took a swipe at Bush's Iraq policy, at domestic eavesdropping, and he took a shot at the news corps for purportedly being nothing more than stenographers recording what the Bush White House said." In other words, he urinated on Richard Cohen's fire hydrant, and Cohen's not happy about it. Not just anyone, after all, can do substance. Let the jester jest and the blogger blog, but leave the heavy lifting to credentialed columnists. Colbert was out of line, an overhyped funnyman who darkened a light roast by disrupting the night's comity. "Bush," Cohen laments, "[had] to sit there and pretend to laugh at Colbert's lame and insulting jokes." Being president is hard work! I bet the chicken was rubbery, too, but Bush had to eat it in order to be polite. The man's a hero.

Media Matters has been tracking the press's lack of response, or wrong headed response (e.g. Lou Dobbs)

You can go here to see the entire Colbert speech. You really don't want to miss it if you haven't already seen it.