Cartel of Defiance

cartel of defiance (noun): 1. In medieval combat, a formal declaration, delivered by herald, of a combatant's intention to fight and refusal to submit. 2. An electronic assemblage of engaged and enraged citizens. 3. An intertextual mode of reading, writing, and thinking that puts the current political, cultural, and personal moment in dialogue with text/art from the past in counterargument to the ahistorical Memory Hole into which America seems to have slipped.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Reliable Source

"You have to have a great deal of confidence to do self-deprecating humor, especially when you're being attacked day in and day out," said Landon Parvin, who helped Bush and Bridges write the jokes contrasting Bush's public voice with his supposed inner thoughts." -- Washington Post, The New Bush Twins: Double Dubya

"Make. Announce. Type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home." -- Colbert

The reviews from the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner are in, and the consensus is that President Bush and Bush impersonator Steve Bridges stole Saturday's show -- and Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert's cutting satire fell flat because he ignored the cardinal rule of Washington humor: Make fun of yourself, not the other guy. -- Washington Post, The New Bush Twins: Double Dubya

2 Comments:

Blogger &y said...

"his supposed inner thoughts."

Hilarious. Spelling is important, but somebody really needs to invent a subtle-if-unintended-humor checker for journalists.

3:38 PM  
Blogger kid oakland said...

I think one of the brilliant ploys Colbert used was to take you down the same "mental pathways" that Bush uses...and then point out the ludicrous illogicality of those pathways.

You cringe. Not simply because it's "so true" but because, by and large...

Bush has gotten away with it.

In effect, Colbert is roasting US. The suckers who've been taken in.

For me the line about Bush "standing on" things (rubble, flooded city squares, aircraft carriers)...followed with the image of "courageous" generals standing "on" a bank of computers ordering men into battle is the take away.

Reagan/Bushism in a nutshell.

2:27 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Man (1938)

Powered by Blogger