Both the New York Times and the Washington Post have stepped in regarding their non-coverage of Stephen Colbert's appearance at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Via the WaPo:
The result, however, was a wave of indignation from the liberal side of the blogosphere over what some considered a willful disregard of the bigger story: That a captive, peevish president (and his media lapdogs) actually had to sit and listen as someone explained to them what they had done wrong; that the Bush Bubble was forcibly violated, right there on national television.
Now the mainstream media is back with its second reaction: Colbert just wasn't funny.
Uh, sorry, but the internet disagrees with you. The damn near 38,000 respondents at ThankYouStephenColbert clearly disagree, as do 75% of the respondents voting him a 'great patriot' at Gawker.
They go on further:
Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts write in The Washington Post's gossip column: "The reviews from the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner are in, and the consensus is that President Bush and Bush impersonator Steve Bridges stole Saturday's show — and Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert's cutting satire fell flat because he ignored the cardinal rule of Washington humor: Make fun of yourself, not the other guy.
Satire is serious business. And he did make fun of himself, staying in character as a rightwing blowhard standing steadfastly by the the President, in clear deference to all facts to the contrary. Clearly, the king STILL has clothes.
USNews states that the Bushies were not amused:
"Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert's biting routine at the White House Correspondents Association dinner won a rare silent protest from Bush aides and supporters Saturday when several independently left before he finished.
" 'Colbert crossed the line,' said one top Bush aide, who rushed out of the hotel as soon as Colbert finished. Another said that the president was visibly angered by the sharp lines that kept coming.
" 'I've been there before, and I can see that he is [angry],' said a former top aide. 'He's got that look that he's ready to blow.'
Well that's tough, buttercup. When you get to sit in the big chair, you have the airplane and black limos, the guy with the "nukular suitcase", and the cool red telephone, your just gonna have to accept that people won't like you (like 68% of Americans, for instance).
It really illustrates the political problem in this country. Policy sometimes has the effect of benefiting an essential constituency, ensuring that they donate money (like the business lobby) and turn up at the polls (like the god, gays, and guns "values voters"). But most of the time, when politicians have something to say, it's meant to impress, motivate, or convince the political pundits, and to influence them to support whatever the politicians are pushing. The mindset that they, being the political aparatus, know better than the press, who know better than Joe Sixpack, has been a reoccuring theme, one that only changes after some jarring incident shakes everyone back into reality.