The person who should be Time's Man of the Year

[highnooner]

Stephen Colbert.

There is a reason his White House Press Corps dinner speech went under-reported. He basically dope-slapped them by clearly showing that they had not been doing their jobs. The press was not about to report that. However, Stephen Colbert did wake up the White House and other mainstream press outlets. Note that the lapdog press became a raging rottweiler shortly thereafter. It was a rather small, yet momentous moment, that helped to change the course of the reporting of what the BA was doing. Finally, the people were hearing the unvarnished truth from most of the press.

For this, Stephen Colbert should be Time Man of the Year for 2006.

[POAS]

1. Nope it should be Bush

for single-handedly toppling the GOP and PNAC agendas.

[bianca2001]

2. NANCY PELOSI

As first WOMAN Speaker of the House!!!

[liberaldemocrat7]

5. I agree.

Nancy Pelosi as the first woman speaker of the house. She worked her way up in the Democratic party and I applaud her.

She should get named Woman and Person of the year.As for Villain of the Year, the Entire Republican party.

[dicknbush]

13. Agreed

I think that Nancy Pelosi is going to make Idiot in Chief wish he was still in the TANG!

[Janice325]

3. I think it should be Keith Olbermann.

Having said that, I certainly wouldn't have a problem with Colbert or Pelosi.

[opihimoimoi]

4. Yup, count me on your page....KO for President...

[Inspired]

9. You read my mind! Yes, it should be Keith. n/t

[Bobbie Jo]

23. OMG...KO is my Hero!....n/t

[KittyWampus]

6. howard dean

[twilight_sailing]

7. White House Press Corps dinner speech

I will never forget it.

Colbert is a brave man.

[Buzz Clik]

8. LOL! I guess you favored Dennis Miller as Man of the Year in 2002.

[ThomWV]

10. Did You Watch Him With Charlie Rose Last Night? Pitiful.

I don't like Colbert very much at all, I don't think he's a bit funny, I don't think he is entertaining.

Last night he was with Charlie Rose. After listening to him for about a half hour I liked him even less than before. Egomaniac would seem to cover him nicely. There was no part of the discussion that he did not twist around to make it about himself. He seemed unable to speak about anything other than himself or relate any world event in terms other than how it effected him.

Boring and cheap-shot opportunist if you ask me.

[annabanana]

12. ?

Perhaps you are not an 'it' getter.

[ThomWV]

15. I Understand What He Tries To Do

Its just that he isn't worth a shit at doing it. Really, the guy is a piss-poor comedian at best but what is worse is how he acts when he's not playing his part. That is what he showed last night with Charlie Rose, its what he shows the couple of nights a week he works on his show. I don't think I've ever been able to get through more than about 10 minutes of him before switching channels.

[xultar]

17. He's an actor. Have you seen him on Law and Order? He's actually quite good.

He can play different roles and characters. Don't confuse the man with the role or the character.

[xultar]

16. Apparently they think the TV character is the real guy. Buhwawawa!

[AlinPA]

20. "..not an 'it' getter." I love that. LOL

[TroglodyteScholar]

14. Um...you know that's a CHARACTER, right...

Colbert's egomaniacal tendencies are SATIRE. He's mocking all the self-obsessed pundits and politicos that have enjoyed undue influence in recent years. Jesus Christ, how are there STILL people who don't understand this?

[TahitiNut]

18. Parody.

It's not just for breakfast anymore. :rofl:

'Parody' and 'satire' are not the same, even though they contain the same number of letters.

[Frank Cannon]

19. Stephen Colbert must truely be an absolute genius

It's just amazing how many people just don't fucking get that he's doing a LAMPOON. It even went completely over the heads of the WH press corps, until they invited them to their dinner and he publicly horsewhipped them.

[TahitiNut]

21. It's a sad commentary on our times that 'reality' has gotten so extremely bizarre ...

... that it's indistinguishable from a parody for so many. After all, how many people would regard Sean Insannity or Billo Really in precisely the same 'camp' as Colbert? Far too many, it seems.

[TroglodyteScholar]

24. Satire

From Merriam-Webster's online dictionary:

Main Entry: sat·ire
Pronunciation: 'sa-"tI(-&)r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin satura, satira, perhaps from (lanx) satura dish of mixed ingredients, from feminine of satur well-fed; akin to Latin satis enough -- more at SAD
1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn
2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly

So let's take it easy on the "wordinista" behavior... ;)

Edit: broken smiley

[TahitiNut]

25. Ahh... someone else who doesn't know the difference.

To engage in satire does NOT require imitation ... a comic portrayal of the subject. While the parody itself may be characterized as satirical, the term parody is the more specific and accurate term to describe Colbert's schtick.

par·o·dy (pār'ə-dē)
n. pl. par·o·dies

1.

1. A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. See Synonyms at caricature.
2. The genre of literature comprising such works.

2. Something so bad as to be equivalent to intentional mockery; a travesty: The trial was a parody of justice.

3. Music The practice of reworking an already established composition, especially the incorporation into the Mass of material borrowed from other works, such as motets or madrigals.

So, before you accuse others of "'wordinista' behavior" it might be wise to actually attempt to comprehend the very real and legitimate distinctions. I say "legitimate" because parodies receive legal protections not afforded to satires. (Think about that!)

[TroglodyteScholar]

26. His act isn't limited to parody. Who said the words were synonymous?

Both words truly apply to Colbert's act, so save your "don't understand the difference" crap. Why so mean-spirited?

Satire in this situation is describing the fact that the whole thing is a pointed JOKE -- parody accounts for the imitative quality of his act, but what keeps this from being apparent to so many people is that they don't catch the sarcasm. The sarcasm is the quality that clues viewers (moderately intelligent ones, anyway) into the fact that Stephen is playing a character, or engaging in parody. People who don't understand it's sature think he's conveying his honest thoughts. Understanding that Colbert is satire is a prerequisite to the seeing that he's parodying rightwing egomaniacal talking heads.

Maybe it's just hard to see that the two aren't mutually exclusive from up there on your high horse.

[TahitiNut]

27. "Why so mean-spirited?"

From your prior post: "So let's take it easy on the "wordinista" behavior"

From this post: "... from up there on your high horse."

I have no patience left for the faux naivete of assholes who engage in rude and snarky posts and then pretend someone else is being "mean-spirited".

[TroglodyteScholar]

28. Some assholes need to learn what a winking smiley means...

I suppose if you (conveniently) remove the smiley from what I said in my earlier post, you miss the IRONY. You're just itching to fight with someone. Get a life.

[annabanana]

11. You may have a point. . .

He was speaking directly to the WH Press Corp at that dinner. Perhaps he needled some deep seated memory of long forgotten classes in journalistic ethics that they had all taken at some time or another.

Whatever, He certainly schooled them that night.

[Bobbie Jo]

dupe/delete

[Bobbie Jo]

22. Actually...I'm thinking the title should be shared this year.

IMO...Jon Stewart has been equally effective in the effort to draw attention to the utter stupidity of this administration.

Lord knows they had an abundance of material to work with....:spank:

What a team!