Three Cheers for Colbert

Stephen Colbert (from Comedy Central's The Colbert Report was the headlining guest speaker at the White House Correspondent's Dinner on Saturday, April 29th, 2006.

His masterfully written and expertly delivered speech was uncomfortable and insulting to President Bush and the attendants of the dinner, but exhilarating, cathartic and down-right hilarious (in an ouch, burn kind of way) to 68% of Americans.

If you didn't get to catch it on CSPAN, take a look at the video rip. It was a pleasant surprise for me and something I had to watch over and over.

Colbert's silver tongue and sharp wit served Mr. Bush, members of the current administration, and the American press, a healthy meal of bitter irony when he spoke as the misguided right-wing pundit character he plays on his show.

It's surprising that he was granted the opportunity of a headlining speech at this dinner. His words were so scathing, so humiliating and so damn funny that you'd think the whole thing was staged. It wasn't.

Colbert deserves an award for this performance. Not only for the beautiful writing, excellent delivery and perfect acting, but for his ability to stand up and say exactly what millions of American's already think about President Bush. He showed all of us that while you can buy off the press, bury facts and silence critics, you can't stop everyone. Colbert should at least get a Presidential Medal of Freedom for exercising his right to free speech, directly in Bush's face.