You Can't Count on the Press to Be Honest. Yay Colbert!

Bush lampooned himself at the Press Corp Dinner, but the best part of the evening was when Steven Colbert got to lampoon bush, his staff and the news media. The president and the mrs. were not amused. Perhaps they didn't want to face the truth. Good. My favorite part of the presentation was when Colbert told the President:"I was vying for the job myself. I think I would have made a fabulous press secretary. I have nothing but contempt for these people."

From Editor and Publisher:

Noting those low ratings, Colbert advised, "The glass isn't half empty - it's 68% empty. There's still some fluid in there, but I wouldn't drink it."

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “They are re-arranging the deck chairs--on the Hindenburg.”

Colbert told Bush he could end the problem of protests by retired generals by refusing to let them retire. He compared Bush to Rocky Balboa in the “Rocky” movies, always getting punched in the face—“and Apollo Creed is everything else in the world.”

He noted former Ambassador Joseph Wilson in the crowd, as well as " Valerie Plame." Then, pretending to be worried that he had named her, he corrected himself, as Bush aides might do, "Uh, I mean... Joseph Wilson's wife." He asserted that it might be okay, as prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was probably not there.

Colbert also made biting cracks about missing WMDs, “photo ops” on aircraft carriers and at hurriance disasters, and Vice President Cheney shooting people in the face.

Observing that Bush sticks to his principles, he said, "When the president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday - no matter what happened Tuesday."

He closed his routine with a video fantasy where he gets to be White House Press Secretary, complete with a special “Gannon” button on his podium. By the end, he runs fleeing from Helen Thomas and her questions about why the U.S. really invaded Iraq and killed all those people.

Also lampooning the press, Colbert complained that he was “surrounded by the liberal media who are destroying this country, except for Fox News. Fox believes in presenting both sides—the president’s side and the vice president’s side."

Also from Editor and Publisher, some "Cocktail Chatter With Clooney, Plame, Snow at D.C. Bash"

Valerie Plame was there. She said, “I’m wearing Armani.”
George Clooney on the food in Darfur: "Don’t eat the goat. It took revenge on me.”
Joe Scarborough quipped that the late-breaking “Hookergate” scandal, "will keep reporters and columnists busy this summer.”

At a Reuter's party they were serving this drink: The Cheney Shot—made with Wild Turkey.

You can watch the video at CrooksandLiars.com
Transcript at DailyKos