Rahm Emanuel Roasts Stephen Colbert (at Spina Bifida Association Event)

[Ian David]

Source: The Huffington Post

White House chief of staff-designate Rahm Emanuel took some time off from the transition Friday night to hurl barbs at his longtime pseudo-nemesis Stephen Colbert (as well as Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, Joe Lieberman, et al...)

Colbert was roasted as part of a charity event for the Spina Bifida Association, organized every year by Judy Woodruff and Al Hunt. (Click here to donate to the cause.)

We've posted some text highlights from Emanuel and Colbert below, and videographer/journalist Liz Glover was kind enough to pass along video of the event (note: the first minute or so is choppy). Enjoy:

<snip>

And from Stephen Colbert's speech:

<snip>

On Chris Matthews: "Chris Matthews is here tonight, thank you so much for coming here tonight. People are asking, how did he come here, doesn't he have a show? Well what people don't know is that many nights, Chris just puts a blond wig on a potato and nobody notices. You're a good man -- good luck in Pennsylvania on that run."

On Dana Perino: "Dana Perino is here, what an honor to be roasted by the spokesman for the president. Dana Perino, wonderful to see you. I always knew Scott McClellan would hatch into something beautiful. When you crawled out of the McClellan cocoon, did you have to devour the shell for nutrients or is he still lurking around someplace? ... I loved it when you told Helen Thomas that the 'Mission Accomplished' banner should have read, 'Mission Accomplished For These Sailors Who Are On This Ship On Their Mission.' I certainly hope you had a banner for that explanation. Do you get sore the next day after shoveling it that hard? I kid, I kid, but no, Dana, you are the one person who I don't mind slamming me on this entire podium, because I know for the last year and a half you haven't meant anything you've said."


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/15/rahm-emanuel-r...

[LaStrega]

1. why would he hurl barbs at Joe Biden?

[nugzie]

2. cuz it's a roast

it's all in good fun

[LaStrega]

18. Oh right right. I went all doe-in-the-headlights for a moment. n/t

[Posteritatis]

3. Roasts are an honour

Getting roasted formally is a considerable compliment.

[DeeDeeNY]

12. Obama roasted Rahm Emanuel a few years ago

Here --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdphzxz64BY&eurl=http://...

[PassingFair]

4. Stephen Colbert is my hero.

Rahm....not so much.

[Occulus]

5. You have to hand him this line, though:

"Mary Matalin is scared of Stephen, and she's seen Carville naked!"

[annabanana]

7. That whole riff was pretty good. The "Everyone's scared of Stephen"

line is pretty good because it's not far off...

[Ian David]

13. Either you support The President's Chief of Staff, or you're with The Terrorists' Chief of Staff. nt

[Lumpsum]

6. My respect for Colbert has grown even larger.

He's one of the last people I'd expect to show up at a SBA charity event. As a person with Spina Bifida, I find that awesome.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

15. He seems to be a pretty down-to-earth kind of guy.

Comes from a family of 11 kids. Lost two of his brothers and his father in an airline crash when he was a kid.

[tpsbmam]

8. I love that the did this at a Spina Bifida event.....

it's a cause near and dear to my heart. Bravo to all of them! Hope they raised tons of money.

[Greenheron]

9. Colbert

He is a super nice guy in person and has a very nice wife. A hero of mine for sure after that White House Correspondence Dinner speech.

[tanyev]

10. Wow, what a slam on Perino!

[tomp]

19. the man has balls. he did that and worse to bush and cheney, too. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Colbert is a good man. And funny.

And he's so razor sharp in this sort of event.

[Chalco]

14. Where's the video? nt

[Ian David]

17. The video link stopped working. Looks like The Copyright Nazis got to it. n/t

[investintrains]

16. Rahm Emanuel promoted vivisection by appearing at this event

Rahm Emanuel, the President-Elect's chief of staff,
spoke at a vivisection fundraiser for the Spina Bifida
Association which funds and promotes research on
caged animals.
http://www.stopanimaltests.com

[buzzard]

20. Try this link.n/t

http://video.google.ca/videosearch?q=colbert+roast+eman...

[Ian David]

21. ooh! Thanks! n/t