I have no idea who Cohen is.
I have no idea whether he is right or left.
What I believe, however, is that he did not uderstand what Colbert wasy trying to say.
Colbert is a character
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dan Froomkin
as the bombastic, over-the-top, right-wing cable TV host
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By playing this character (i.e. going overboard with the right wing stereotypes) he pokes fun at the right.
Colbert did not take a "shot at the news corps for purportedly being nothing more than stenographers recording what the Bush White House said" as Cohen suggests.
What Colbert did was , i character, suggest that the press SHOULD be nothing more than stenographers.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Stephen Colbert
"Listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works:
the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home.
Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know -- fiction."
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He is saying that the press should be stenographers. That they should just write down and report everything verbatim.
He is suggesting that they are doing much more than this and should just stick to typing things down.
He is not saying the press are stenographers now, he is saying they should be stenographers.
I don't get where Cohen is coming from on this.
Whether or not Colbert was unfunny or innappropriate is a completely seperate issue.
[quote=host]My answer is "yes", Cohen's criticisms of Colbert is weakened by this ridiculousness at Time, and Colbert has wrongly and repeatedly been taken to task by the "altered state" in the parallel universe of the right of center POV[/host]
host, why is this a right left issue?
Why is whether or not the right or left can take a joke (coming from Colbert or not) an issue to discuss?
I would considermyself right of center and I think Colber is hysterical.
I think a more interesting issue to discuss here is what is the role of the press?
- Is the press supposed to just write down and report what is happening?
- Should the press be providing opinion on current events?
- What is their responsiblity as an entity?
- Is their preceived responsiblity as an entity in direct conflict with their responsibility as a business? If so, is there a way to fix this?