When Colbert Roasted Bush at D.C. Dinner

The 2006 classic, plus our usual cartoons and new music from Ringo.

Yes, it’s still somehow free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of four films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

With the pathetic White House Correspondents Grovel still on for tonight, despite calls for a boycott (we’ve covered this all week), we thought we’d bring back one of the political and comic highlights of the century, when the now toothless group dared to invite Stephen Colbert and his Colbert Show persona as host. I was editing Editor & Publisher at the time and we had our ace Joe Strupp in the room. He called in a story minutes after it ended and I managed to post it that night, earning record traffic for our site.

Couple nights ago, Colbert mentioned the uproar on his show, recalling the daggers coming from Bush’s eyes and possible order to set a Seal Team 6 squad on him. With cameo by the great Helen Thomas in a film at the end. A legend in its time:

More on this year’s dinner, from Ann Telnaes:

For a new story in Vanity Fair, CBS News staffers sound off about pretty boy Tony Dokoupil, who they say was Bari Weiss’ “seventh or eighth choice” as anchor….Anonymous staffers refer to Dokoupil as a “useful idiot” and “deeply lacking in self-awareness.” Says one producer, “Tony has the biggest case of imposter syndrome out of any anchor or correspondent I’ve ever worked with. And they’re filled with it, because they’re all full of vanity. But Tony knows he wasn’t ready for the chair.”

The article opens with Dokoupil’s first night. Weiss asked to change the script at the last minute to add a line fluffing Trump, leading to an on-air boo-boo. “Of course she writes it in the wrong place,” says a producer. A former anchor adds, “Honestly, I would’ve fucking killed her. Are you serious? On the first night?”

And at The National Press Club yesterday:

The firing of the ombudsman at Stars and Stripes is deeply alarming and demands immediate answers.

The ombudsman is a role established and charged by Congress to provide independent oversight and protect the paper’s editorial integrity. Removing that voice raises serious concerns about potential interference in a newsroom that is meant to operate free from government pressure.

Music Pick

Two selections from the new Ringo album. The first with plenty of images of the other moptops.

From Tunes to Toons

Rowe:

Danziger

Bramhall:

Brodner:

de Adder:

Bennett

Lucas Varela/The Economist

Sack:

Zyglis:

Photo Finish

For all you fans of my earlier series out there….Super Calla, fragile-istic.