Andrew has posted a few links to Stewart ethering fools. But seriously, nothing beats the sonnage Colbert brings to Dinesh D'souza. Wow.
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one of the best verbal beatdowns of D'Souza that I've ever seen came at the hands of Bryant Gumbel.
Yes, that Bryant Gumbel.
Oh man, how I would love to see that clip on Youtube.
It's the people like D'Souza and William Kristol who set up best for Colbert's style of comedy, because his whole act is to take the crazy positions these people hold and then practically dare them to accept the implications of those positions. Of course, the key is that Colbert is playing this part of the unthinking idiot, and that really depants the so-called intellectuals like D'Souza and Kristol. They can't acknowledge the absurdity of their opinions and back away, but they can't go where Colbert leads them either--they're stuck. Which is why they don't show up on his show anymore.
Lately, I think the only conservative crazy enough to go where Colbert might even get nervous would be Glenn Beck. That guy is certifiable.
I can't believe I missed that one. The best part about the interview is how slowly Colbert builds up to D'Souza's insane denouement. That whole time, D'Souza senses the buildup and tries to wriggle free, but he can't.
Love it.
I also thought Colbert's takedown of Debra Dickerson was pretty great, too.
Ouch.
Having Glenn Beck on Colbert would be f'ed up. It would go something like this:
Colbert: *says something ridiculous that is intended to be a parody of Beck*
Beck: *agrees, says something even more offensive*
Audience: *laughs nervously*
I hadn't seen that before.
Wow. Just...wow.
Could not have happened to a more deserving guy. Books like his are why we only have one functioning political party.
This atheist likes his liberal america.
I don't have the link to it, but Stewart, in a very different way, completely owned D'souza as well. It was, possibly, the most silently furious I had seen Stewart up until the Cramer showdown.
Anyone care to hazard a guess why tools like that go on Colbert Report in the first place? Are they that desperate to sell books? Because you only need to watch his show once to know that he's going to cut through your B-S no matter how fast you think you can shovel it.
Am I the only one who thought "The Takeover" was much better than "Ether?" I'm a Nas fan, and I think he got killed on Takeover:
I think it would be much more rough to be a guest on Colbert's show than on Stewart's.
Colbert has the power of his fake persona. Apply that to an interview setting, and it can be devastating. The guest may go along thinking Coolbert's just clowning before he realizes he's stepped into the trap of the joke. Whoever was responsible for booking him as the speaker at the White House correspondents' dinner learned that lesson all too well.
"Am I the only one who thought "The Takeover" was much better than "Ether?" I'm a Nas fan, and I think he got killed on Takeover:"
You might not be the only one, but I think you are definitely in the minority.
"Anyone care to hazard a guess why tools like that go on Colbert Report in the first place?"
They believe they're right, and can't see the fact that they've bought into their own BS. Colbert won't be able to de-pants them, since they're obviously right.
Either that, or they're looking for the Colbert Bump.
Hey, where do we go to talk about this morning's The Takeaway? And were they for real with those questions? I hate that show. (And yet, listen to 15 minutes of it every day because I am apparently not together enough to change the dial on my clock radio...)
I can't remember the woman's name, but early in the Obama campaign Colbert had on a woman who was arguing that Obama wasn't Black enough. I'm not sure I ever laughed so loud in my entire life.
"Am I the only one who thought "The Takeover" was much better than "Ether?" I'm a Nas fan, and I think he got killed on Takeover:" - dwhite
Eh, you're probably in a class of 5 people that think "The Takeover" was better than "Ether" - that one line you quote above is notable, but every word from Nas was a cut to the throat. Delicious. And that's coming from someone with the bulk of Jigga's albums.
As to the D'souza video...just daayum *smh*
KevDog, I think that was Debra Dickerson, mentioned above.
"Anyone care to hazard a guess why tools like that go on Colbert Report in the first place?"
They probably think they're playing along and poking fun at themselves while simultaneously getting their message out there. I don't think they quite comprehend how viciously they're being mocked.
But Douthat doesn't threadjack. Deleted.
"Douthat's D'Souza without the street cred of having banged Coulter."
I rather think that is to Ross's credit, HumboldtBlue.
I just had an idea. As part of Bernie Madoff's sentence he should have to be mocked/lectured by Stewart in a special hour long Daily Show, than serve the 150 year prison sentence. The prison by itself lacks the public catharsis.
Screw it. I'm done watching little pissy cable news fights about the economy or the culture wars.
T
Hulu just put up the entire A-Team catalogue.
http://www.hulu.com/the-a-team
See y'all in a couple weeks.
"At least someone has the courage to say they agree with these radical extremists!"
Colbert's ability to keep a straight face while he's channeling the logical consequences of his guests' arguments, is amazing. And really, "guests" doesn't at all get at his relationship with these folks. Maybe "targets" or "sitting ducks."
Reading this thread I went back and watched the Debra Dickerson video and it is actually - with the hindsight of knowing what would happen two years later - quite sad to watch her make these arguments.
I would love to hear her make that case now.
Where's D'Souza been lately, anyway? I haven't seen him on anything in a year or so.
The D'Souza interview is pretty great, but when it comes to the best of the best, I think it's got to be Jon Stewart's 10th McCain interview.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=85762&title=Sen.-John-McCain-Pt.-1
Hi -- long time lurker here.
Colbert and D'Souza both went to Dartmouth College in the 80's. I think they ran in some of the same circles with Laura Ingraham. If I'm right about this, then D'Souza may have been foolish enough to think that the was (1) going into friendly territory or (2) going to be able to outsmart this guy he knew way back when.
I was at Dartmouth too -- I remember D'Souza but not Colbert. Let's just say that D'Souza has not changed much, and has only gotten more ridiculous with age. I almost wish I knew Colbert back then, but maybe not...here's a "profile" of Colbert from the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. It's a weak attempt at parody, but you'll get the picture: http://www.nofactzone.net/wp-content/images/dartmouthalumni.pdf
--iriedc
Colbert didn't actually go to Dartmouth. He's playing a character. Duh.
I just watched that Debra Dickerson clip. I thought her book "The End of Blackness" was too self-referential and dumb, but she came off looking even more clueless in that clip. Now on the other hand, I am watching it using my retrospectroscope, but he still made her look silly.
"Colbert didn't actually go to Dartmouth"
Well that would explain why I couldn't remember him. LOL.. at myself!
Colbert is a Northwestern alumnus. Never been prouder to be a Wildcat :)
So when are people going to stop using bad history to support bad arguments?
That's what kills me about this guy, and others like him. There should be a law against using any sort of historical analogy if your argument won't stand up on its own two feet.
D'Souza's been peddling this same tired rhetorical pantsuit since the '80s. He tied himself to the intellectual pop-cult misread of Alan Bloom's gaseous eruption early on and never let go. Kind of a propeller-head fascist, in a way. It gets weaker with age. In fact it's started to look downright sad -- or would if I didn't know there has to be a fat sinecure waiting for him someday at Heritage or the Manhattan Institute.
As to why these clowns go on shows like this, it's because they want to raise their profiles with the right-wing philanthro-propagandist elite so they can score sinecures at Heritage and Manhattan. I'm halfway convinced they don't believe a word they say themselves, they just know there's a market and there are solid careers in meeting it. (Bill Kristol at the New York Times, anyone? When was the last time that guy was right about anything?) D'Souza has always seemed particularly opportunistic to me. There's no there there. He's a series of correctly politically incorrect positions in a good-schoolboy suit. As someone above noted, he got started in this biz at Dartmouth. He's been loud but he's never been particularly good, and yet he hasn't had to do an honest day's work since. Getting toasted by Colbert just gives a bump to his declining stock in that world.
sonnage by the tonnage, acres of ordinance