BIG BRASS ONES

Bushy had his comedy writers deliver him a very cute little skit at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner Saturday night. He's gone for self deprecation before (don't they all?) but this year's skit verged on truthiness with Bush's Id speaking beside him (in the form of the Bush impersonator seen on Leno's Tonight Show).

Like I said, it was cute:




Then Stephen Colbert came out and wiped the floor with Bush.

He ripped Bush a new one so raw and bloody that at times the audience could do little more than cover their mouths to hide their laughter/shock.

The often fawning Washington Press Corps were frequently less than amused as Colbert did not spare them or the man whose approval they crave. Editor & Publisher reported that the "blistering comedy 'tribute' to President Bush...left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close."

A video of the last half of Colbert's performance is available at Crooks & Liars.

If you're not familiar with Colbert, his The Colbert Report on Comedy Central is a pitch perfect satire of the Bill O'Liely School of Faux Journalism. It's often brilliant.

But performing a version of the show in front of Bush and his minions is more than brilliant -- it's fucking guerilla art. It's speaking truth to power and the MSM couldn't have been less comfortable as they became part of a performance art piece (and the punch line to many jokes).

Of course they deserved it if only for laughing at George's bit at a previous dinner where he "amusingly" looked under desks and seat cushions for the "missing" Weapons of Mass Destruction as our troops died on the battlefield for his lies.

If you don't like spoilers: read no further.

TrueBlueMajority at Daily KOS captured some of the jokes which include:

The government that governs best is the government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq.

...reality has a well-known liberal bias.

I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things, like aircraft carriers, rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong mesasge that no matter what happens to America she will always rebound with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world!

The greatest thing about this President is you know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday!

Fox News gives you both sides of every story, the President's side and the Vice President's side.

Write that novel you've 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!

[Jesse Jackson] is a very challenging interview... It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor by the way because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is.

Mayor Nagin is here from New Orleans, the Chocolate City... Mayor Nagin, I'd like to welcome you to Washington D.C., the Chocolate City with a marshmallow center... and a graham cracker crust of corruption.

Colbert also accidentally outed Valerie Plame's name:



But this time, she didn't mind (he called Joe Wilson "the second most famous husband next to Desi Arnez"):



In his "demo tape" for the job of White House Press Secretary, he presented some methods for turning down the heat at a press conference:



He showed what Karl Rove doodles on his pad:



He showed the Press Secretary's worst nightmare (the best reporter in the room: Helen Thomas):



And, he managed to get in the line "why are we in Iraq?" over and over again. For that alone, Colbert deserves a medal.