Steven Colbert at Correspondents' Association Dinner 5-3-2006

3, May 2006         Steven Colbert at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner

The decision of the mainstream media to ignore reporting Stephen Colbert’s stinging rebuke of Bush’s polices and the media, at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, is disquieting, but not surprising. Colbert, aided and abetted by the ever-feisty but courageous Helen Thomas, exposed the D.C. press corps’ reluctance to aggressively challenge the Bush administration’s disastrous domestic and foreign polices.

Bush looked visibly uncomfortable as Colbert launched into his tirade. The media chose to ignore Colbert’s razor-sharp barbs in favor of Bush’s light hearted exchange with his alter-ego, Steven Bridges. Democracy is not well served by a media cowered to silence by the attack dogs of the White House. I urge readers to pick up a copy of Boehlert's new book, Lapdogs, which is a scathing indictment of the media’s timidity during the Bush presidency which has allowed so many of his failed polices to be ignored or unchallenged.