More on the Colbert thing

First of all, Daily Kos has a full transcript of the Stephen Colbert speech.
Dan Froomkin, in the Washington Post, says this:

Now the mainstream media is back with its second reaction: Colbert just wasn’t funny.

Yes, it turns out Colbert has brought the White House and its press corps together at long last, creating a sense of solidarity rooted in something they have in common: Neither of them like being criticized.

And this:

Once upon a time, I imagine, there was great value in throwing a party where journalists and politicians could mingle and shmooze and celebrate the things they have in common.

And indeed, if the press and this particular White House had an even moderately functional professional relationship, then a chance to build personal relationships would be a nice bonus.

But it’s not a functional professional relationship. From the president down to the freshest press office intern, this White House seems to delight in not answering even our most basic questions.

So the last thing in the world we need is a big party where the only appropriate mode of communication is sucking up.

Media Matters takes on the disgusting performance by Chris Matthews (aka “Tweety”) on Hardball:

Matthews praised Bush, Wallace, Snow, while he and Time‘s Allen panned Colbert

[…]

Later in the show, Matthews contrasted Colbert’s performance with Bush’s “unbelievable self-deprecating” comedy routine. When Allen asserted that Colbert, who skewered Bush and the White House press corps, “went over about as well as David Letterman at the Oscars,” Matthews asked: “Why do you think he was so bad?” Responding to Allen’s claim that “the standard at these dinners is singe, not burn,” Matthews assented: “The president’s our head of state, not just a politician.”

That Media Matters post has video of the Matthews segment. Vile.