Althouse: "The story is either 'transformative president' or 'subversive president,' but that nails you in the same direction, emotionally."

September 8, 2015

"The story is either 'transformative president' or 'subversive president,' but that nails you in the same direction, emotionally."

"It’s always either attack or defense, but on one issue. Everything was always channeled through the president. That’s why a great joke — and it worked every time — was 'Thanks, Obama.'"

Said Steve Colbert, toward the end of his answer to the question (from the NYT): "Given how you presented yourself on 'The Colbert Report,' do you think the political world might be concerned that 'The Late Show' won’t be welcoming to conservative guests?"

His stint as David Letterman's replacement begins tonight. I've set the DVR.

I'm just keeping my tag "The Colbert Report" for all things Colbert. I don't redo tags, hence "Bruce Jenner," etc. etc.

30 comments:

cubanbob said...: "Given how you presented yourself on 'The Colbert Report,' do you think the political world might be concerned that 'The Late Show' won’t be welcoming to conservative guests?""

How many bookies would take that bet?; 9/8/15, 6:41 PM
cubanbob said...: The story is either 'transformative president' or 'subversive president,' but that nails you in the same direction, emotionally."
"It’s always either attack or defense, but on one issue. Everything was always channeled through the president. That’s why a great joke — and it worked every time — was 'Thanks, Obama.'"

Apparently Colbert is incapable of seeing that Obama is both subversive and transformative. He has managed to subvert the country and transform a part of it into crap. And Colbert thinks he is clever by thanking Obama. But then again the network isn't call See B.S. for nothing.; 9/8/15, 6:48 PM
Jaq said...: Normally I would say thanks for watching it so I don't have to, but this will be my shocked face :^O if Colbert does anything but use his new perch to deliver anything but doctrinaire liberalism and partisan cheap shots.; 9/8/15, 6:52 PM
traditionalguy said...: So how will Colbert funnel all news through President Yrump? That would transform him into a successful bombastic nice person. He can't handle that.; 9/8/15, 6:55 PM
traditionalguy said...: Yrump is the new front runner.; 9/8/15, 6:56 PM
Curious George said...: You could use your "Not funny" tag too.; 9/8/15, 7:41 PM
dbp said...: "Given how you presented yourself on 'The Colbert Report,' do you think the political world might be concerned that 'The Late Show' won’t be welcoming to conservative guests?""

The left either doesn't care or is so oblivious, that they don't presume thatThe Late Show doesn't welcome conservatives.

Conservatives have long assumed that you are a fool if you are a conservative and go on the show.

None of this has anything to do with how Obama "presented" himself on The Colbert Report; 9/8/15, 7:43 PM
Michael K said...: Colbert will have to do without me.; 9/8/15, 7:57 PM
Bob Ellison said...: But what makes Colbert go?

His show was a parody of O'Reilly. Without O'Reilly's long-running success, Colbert's show would not have survived.

What now makes Colbert go to work? Could be money or fame or power.

Will the real Colbert please stand up?; 9/8/15, 8:10 PM
Carnifex said...: I got better things to do than watching Colbert. Wiping my ass with barbed wire comes to mind. Wearing Klan robes in downtown Detroit. Being gay in the middle east. It's pretty much the same as watching Colbert; 9/8/15, 8:39 PM
rhhardin said...: I like Colbert. The visit to the Kennedy school of government, for instance. He knows what gets to the officials there.

That he's playing a stupid conservative didn't occur to me. He was needling the lefty officials, was what I saw. He knew how set them back, using their barely held politeness against them.

That was the show.; 9/8/15, 8:52 PM
RecChief said...: how about well-meaning, in his mind, but frequently wrong, in over his head president stumbles through presidency bent on grasping at a personal "legacy" rather than grasping for greatness for the American People?; 9/8/15, 9:01 PM
Bob Ellison said...: His name is a play on black America's antipathy toward homosexuality. Coal-burt. Black in the first syllable, and Ernie's room-mate in the second. If he insists on the pronunciation "bear", well, there you go.; 9/8/15, 9:11 PM
MikeD said...: As a 'tweener, after the greatest generation and before the generation that destroyed America, aka boomers, I had the pleasure of enjoying comedy that didn't depend on facial/hand gestures to be funny. Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Henny Youngman,
late night pioneers Jack Paar, Steve Allen &, maybe, Dick Cavett & don't forget Red Foxx & Bill Cosby who both sold untold LP's (ancient) of their sight unseen comedy routines.
As the final evidence I'm not of this era, the last movie, in theater or on TV, that I couldn't stop laughing with, 1963's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World".; 9/8/15, 10:28 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Are right coasters going to post spoilers in this thread?

The NYT is already doing it. Presumably, some of y'all may have a different POV.; 9/8/15, 10:35 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "grasping at a personal "legacy" rather than grasping for greatness for the American People"

Make America Great Again.; 9/8/15, 10:45 PM
bgates said...: a great joke — and it worked every time — was 'Thanks, Obama.'"

You came into office promising a net spending cut but every budget you submitted had a deficit at least three times as high as the last budget Bush signed - Thanks, Obama!

You came into office promising no one's health insurance would change except it would get a lot cheaper, and now insurance costs a lot more and does a lot less - Thanks, Obama!

The labor force participation rate has dropped to the lowest it's been in my lifetime - Thanks, Obama!

You inserted yourself into several local justifiable homicide investigations in which the deceased turned out to be at fault and you led your followers to believe that the problem was racist cops acting stupidly. Now the police who aren't withdrawing and leaving the streets to the criminals are getting assassinated. Thanks, Obama!

You demanded Assad not use chemical weapons, then when he called your bluff you told a childish lie and did nothing. You bragged the war in Iraq had been concluded successfully on your watch and ignored calls to keep American troops stationed there. Now both Syria and Iraq have been torn apart and Europe is facing the biggest wave of migrants since World War II. Thanks, Obama!

It's funny because Barack Obama is a horrible person, and defending him has made Stephen Colbert rich.; 9/9/15, 12:45 AM
Mark said...: Bunch of humorless commenters don't get it and sound angry about it. Not sure if they yelled at Colbert to get off their lawn, but if they haven't that is next.

Sucks to be them.; 9/9/15, 6:00 AM
Jaq said...: Sucks to be them

Actually, I think Colbert is nothing but a tool who is going to breathlessly represent the about thirty percent of the country that are white liberal, and I won't watch it not because I don't get it, but because I do, but one thing I can tell you is that it doesn't suck to be me.; 9/9/15, 6:12 AM
rwnutjob said...: "And, for the entirety of the Obama years, the adversarial press and punditry in general yanked the emotional needle in one direction and nailed it there."

Adversarial Press. Busted.; 9/9/15, 6:15 AM
jr565 said...: You don't redo tags. The same way that you can't change your sex. Hence, Bruce Jenner.; 9/9/15, 6:23 AM
Matt Sablan said...: It's always been assumed that Conservatives and Republicans going on late shows or the like are operating in hostile territory. It's why it is much bigger news when they do than when people on the left do it. If anything, all hiring Colbert has done is remind me that, for the most part, the people running those shows don't think that gaining a Republican audience is worth their time.; 9/9/15, 6:34 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Apparently Colbert is incapable of seeing that Obama is both subversive and transformative."

Actually, he is neither. He is simply the latest figurehead (aha!) purporting to serve the American people but who is actually NOT serving 99.99% of us, only the rest. In other words, it's all just business as usual.; 9/9/15, 6:40 AM
Robert Cook said...: "You could use your 'Not funny' tag too."

Ah, but that wouldn't pertain!; 9/9/15, 6:42 AM
Robert Cook said...: "What now makes Colbert go to work? Could be money or fame or power."

How about that he's been a professional comedic performer for 25 or so years? That this is his job? (To me, the COLBERT REPORT is just his "recent" gig; I remember him from the brilliant and caustic STRANGERS WITH CANDY on Comedy Central, starring Amy Sedaris as a just paroled middle-aged convict who returns to high school.); 9/9/15, 6:45 AM
M Jordan said...: When a comedian goes partisan on either side of the aisle, they lose me. Comedy isn't partisan, it's relentless in its pursuit of the side door. Colbert wasn't all that partisan in the early days of the Report, but he became progressively so to the point I simply had to turn him off.; 9/9/15, 6:58 AM
David Begley said...: How about worst president if one is conservative or liberal?

Iran with nukes clinches the rating.; 9/9/15, 8:21 AM
Known Unknown said...: Comedy isn't partisan, it's relentless in its pursuit of the side door.

Comedy is truth.; 9/9/15, 10:57 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Robert Cook, but what motivates Colbert to go to work? Just being a worker bee in the comedy circuit isn't enough. Bill Gates works; Paul Allen doesn't. Jerry Seinfeld works; Dave Chapelle doesn't. It's not like being a janitor in a restaurant; they (and Colbert) don't have to do it to survive.

Colbert might have money, fame, ideology, legacy (doubtful), or other things pushing him. What pushes him?; 9/9/15, 11:46 AM
Robert Cook said...: Bob Ellison:

How about: the enjoyment of what he does?; 9/9/15, 3:41 PM