I have been following this in the US blogs for a while now, and I was laughing so hard when I saw it.
It seems Mr Colbert struck a nerve with the Press and the President. The press barely mentioned it unless it was to call him unfunny. There is also a clip being passed online of Bushs reactions while watching the "audition" tape. Bush went from smirk, to disgusted shake of the head to that weird jaw thing he does...Whitehouse aides were caught getting the heck out of there because as one said, Bush was about to blow.

Using Helen Thomas was a stroke of genius too.

It's been a painful 5 years since that evil gargoyle was installed by the corporate elite.
Watching SC eviserate him on CPAC was almost as much fun as the upcoming impeachment hearings after his filthy party gets clobbered in November.

From Niall Ferguson's column in today's Los Angeles Times:

It's No. 5 that really interests me because it's actually a high-probability, high-impact event. Indeed, it's not just high probability. It's already happening.

The headline event has been the decision by newly elected Bolivian President Evo Morales — predicted in this column Feb. 13 — to nationalize his country's energy sector.

But the swing to the left is not a purely Latin American story. The left won last month's Italian elections. The French government recently caved in to street protests by trade unions and leftist students. And in the United States, the Democrats are poised to make gains in the November midterm elections.

The reason so many commentators are missing this political shift is that, as relatively high earners, they are mostly cut off from its social drivers.

Driver No. 1 is inequality, which has risen quite markedly within most economies in the last decade, mainly because tax systems have become less progressive and the fruits of the world's rapid growth have been disproportionately distributed to the owners of corporations and the executives who run them.

Income distribution in the U.S. has not been this unequal since before World War II — the last time that the top 1% of earners accounted for more than 14% of all income (excluding capital gains). The average pay for a chief executive in the U.S. increased 27% last year to more than $11 million. By contrast, the average wage earner took home less than $45,000 in 2004, up roughly 3% from the year before.

In 1940, the average top executive's salary was about 68 times the average worker's earnings; now, it's more like 200 times higher.

The second driver of the swing to the left is ethnic conflict. Take the issue of immigration. You might think rising immigration would lead to a backlash on the right, not the left, and you'd be right. But the net effect of xenophobia — which is most likely to be felt by blue-collar, indigenous voters — is often to benefit the left because it tends to split the right.

That's already detectable in North America and continental Europe. It could prove to be true in Britain too.

Granted, last week's front pages in Britain were dominated by Labor's heavy losses in local elections. But the real story was that the far-right British National Party won 11 of the 13 seats it contested in East London.

According to opinion polls, about a third of British voters now regard immigration as the most important issue facing the country. Polls taken before last week's elections revealed that 24% of likely voters had considered, or were considering, voting BNP. If there had been more BNP candidates last week, it seems certain, there would have been more BNP votes. And not all of them would have been taken from Labor.

No trend is ever universal, of course. But history would lead us to expect that a period of widening inequality be followed by a bout of political populism.

There are many reasons to be cheerful these days, as I said. But not everyone is cheerful, especially the further down the income pyramid you go. And that's an opportunity for a new generation of political leaders.

Bolivian gas nationalization may be just the first of many high-impact events the markets haven't priced in.

Viva Chavez!!!!
Viva Castro!!!!
Viva Morales!!!!

Bring 'em on ... Colbert. Rick Mercer. Mow the bastards down with laughter.

I hope for the day when George W. Bush's downward spiral crashes and burns; followed by his adoring little brother.

I dunno, but this may be a start. Stephen Harper as a fashionista gave rise, so to speak, to the beer belly ... now you can buy one and strap it on. Thousands are.

Beer belly sales in the U.S. and Canada are a booming business, I hear. And great for smuggling cans of beer into church. Or hockey games.

Stevie would look great, especially if he acquired that stupid expression of martyrdom which took possession of Stockwell Day's face, after he changed his name to Doris. Anybody seen ValOrie lately?

Rick Mercer always seems to nail the subject so bang on...Gotta love his rants.

Heres a good chuckle..the question of the day? Was it Laura who knocked them out?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/8/13337/27030

I still like the line that was hacked into the Toronto transit system "Stephen Harper eats babies!"
Humour will get us through a bit until we can get these gits out of office.

Brilliant and biting. Not the bravest act I ever saw of course, but that still took some kind of guts.

And GWest is right. "The Left" is slowly, steadily , painfully, and not infrequently with laughter, setting these fukers up for the fall.

With their help now, nind. They are capable of incredible cruelty, but with such Keystone Cops choreographed bungling and ineptitude.For which we should gleefully thank them as they fall by us into the goddamned tank. Then flush the bastards.

Now, that was a fun read.

It'll be interesting to compare this performance with the Edward R. Morrow piece where he punctures the unlamented Senator Joe McCarthy of Unamerican Activity fame.

Morrow's piece was magnificently brave, unflinchingly true, and brought McCarthyism to an end, arguably.

Colbert's piece, delivered as it was to Bush's face, might be even braver. I hope it will be as effective in shining the light of truth on a tyrant, and illuminating him for all to see.

I feel sorry for the poor boob who approved having Colbert speak!! He's probably discovered the body of Jimmy Hoffa by now. If these guys can't even protect themselves from a comedian is it any wonder it is so easy to prove their ideologies so weak.

This was one of the most heroic public performances of this century. I hope it spells a turning point: one for the better. It is hard to be optimistic as we face the concentration of power by people like Bush. But hats off to Colbert's fearless performance. Another location to video is at CSPAN:

http://www.c-span.org/

oh, I so agree. It hurts to even read it without flinching... but in a very, very good way.

The tension in that room must have been unbelievable...because Colbert simply does not let up...no half way measure...fearlessly full throttle.

With Colbert's direct comic hits and Neil Young's "Let's Impeach the President," one hopes that the momentum will continue to gather. As much as celebrity culture makes me cringe, it's great to see some people use their celebrity with candor and courage to push the envelope a bit.

I love it, sure wish I could have been there, to watch GW squirm, trying to be all nicey nice. This was even better than Michael Moore's stinging accusations about Shame, during his acceptance speech (Bowling for Columbine).

What gets me is the mainstream media conveniently let this one slip by. Guess it's to be expected, most news are all whitewashed anyway, especially when it comes to protecting the neo-cons in the White House. Thanks be given for alternative media, such as The Tyee, for bringing information such as this to our attention.

Guess the guy who OK'd Colbert for that night's entertainment is polishing latrines in Antarctica by now.

Don F.

And don't forget Pink's "Dear Mr. President" that took on more than just the Iraq war and had her young fans singing along with her. Another demographic having their spokeperson...the message is spreading: Bush is unconscionable. He is beyond a joke. He is deadly, and needs to be stopped.

Same goes for harper and gordo.
Filthy crooks.

Well, Heather Mallick reliably gave a good review on Colbert's performance http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_mallick/20060505.html in CBC's viewpoint. She even gives all those who are particularly appreciative of his stark honesty (and as Jon Stewart put it, "balliciousness") a means to thank him at http://www.thankyoustephencolbert.org/.

The tide is turning and Stephen Colbert is at the helm for the US. So why is our Stephen wanting to increase our military and set up bases along our coasts while increasing the war machine in this peace-loving nation. Cut social welfare infrastructure, subsidize the depletion of our natural resourses, and watch our ecosystems die like the eggs of the bald eagles on Horby... It's the new Canadian way--the old American way!

Way to take the lead Stephen! Canada loves you!

Can we make Stephen Colbert the new PM? lol

Yes, I too have seen the video of Stephen Colbert's presentation!
I have also read the transcipt.
VERY FUNNY INDEED!

Thank you G WEST for the post from Niall Ferguson!
It reminds me of the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999 which I was involved in. At that time the media was also clueless! They kept asking "Why are you protesting?" and "Where did this large group of protesters come from?". If they had actually talked to common people instead of the corporate and government flacks for a change they might I have seen it coming.

Also, why are entertainers (Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Pink, Eminem, the Daily Show, etc.) and average citizens (like Ray McGovern confronting Donald Rumsfeld in Atlanta recently) asking the questions? I guess the media are unable to say "LIAR"!

Lastly, where are IAMC, Tax Cutter, etc. on this post?
I guess the truth hurts!

Kevan Hudson
Suncheon, South Korea

Former BC Boy
Cheers. I really liked what Ray McGovern did to Rumsfeld. Immediately countered by an hour-long hagiographic interview on Fox.

They've never been much for humour; our little right wingers, I mean.

I think you'll find them on another thread putting criminals in jail for life.

Maybe they are speachless! Hey I think we are on to something here!!!

But why is it always comedians who take on bush? Or movie stars and musicians? what about the Democrats? Aside from Feingold's motion to censure bush, what have they done? you have hawks like Hillary and Lieberman calling for an attack on Iran to protect Israel! They're all just as loyal to corporate lobbyists. Will it have to be total economic collapse that finally provides the impetus for change?

It really does not matter which party one belongs to be they democrate, republican, N.D.P. or Liberal. Every single party must please the corporate giant in one way or another. If not, then just as Patterson said "why should I keep my business in a country that does not promote the welfare of my businesses" (I.E. Corporate tax breaks)( absolute lack of morals or civic pride). To challenge these things is to risk the loss of businesses and thus appear to be damaging the province/state that you represent. Corporate power is all mighty and this is why I say we need global leaders who can work together to keep corporations in check. As it is now, to risk corporate wrath is to risk electoral power. All politicians really do is walk a constant tightrope of trying to appear in the best interests of their electorate while actually promoting the wishes of corporate power. The G-8 should be setting a flat corporate tax rate to remove the insentive for corporations to leave while ensuring that governments maintain enough taxation money to fund needed social programs. Unfortunately, the G-8 is run by corporate interests (I.E. GREED), and not what is best for the citizens of their countries.

Comedians do it because it is the one attack which is unanswerable... well, the one if you exclude having someone whacked, that is... by all the right wing demogogues and their captive commentators.

No talking points, no changing subjects, will overcome it.

Funny comments here. Some comedian skewers Bush and the Washington media and all of a sudden Che Guevera is rising from the grave to rid the world of Capitalism forever. It was a funny spech though.