Someone Get That Man a Sandwich

It takes courage to do a great many things: build an igloo using crushed ice, view a Michael Bay movie, run naked during a freak razor-and-broken-glass storm. Above all, though, it takes the most extreme form of courage, something I call Xourage (the X makes it x-treme), to tell the harsh truth to a room full of powerful people who don't want to face it. Today, and every day, Stephen Colbert is my hero for just this very reason.

This past Saturday, Mr. Colbert spoke at the White House Correspondents Dinner, mere feet from the President and the entirety of the mainstream press. Did he dial it back, did he soften it up, did he play to his audience with gentle civility? No. He spoke his mind as he does always, and showed us that in the world of modern journalism, it is the satirist who is often the most truthful. Like a comedic Murrow, he mockingly called attention to the faults not only of the present Administration, but a press who have let so much go by unquestioned. And yet, despite the awkwardness, despite the cold looks he received from some, he killed. The mainstream media, once again fearful of the truth, reported almost nothing about Stephen Colbert even being there, instead choosing to focus on yet another staged and phony routine with the President and his hired doppleganger, or comedy-whore as I prefer. When they do mention him, its usually in a single line refering to his edgy comedy playing to muted laughs. Watch the video, those are not muted. Those are hearty laughs, the true laughter of people who have been punk'd, satirically speaking, who have had their own faults reflected at them and found that, you know what, yeah, we are pretty stupid. That is funny. And yes, the President is probably tapping our phones right now...what a riot.

Stephen, you are a beacon of hope to a generation. You don't pull your punches, even when people may not get the joke. You say what needs to be said, and you do it jovially. Let us not forget that it is humor which often allows us to confront the most awful truths about ourselves. President Bush, however, cannot laugh at himself. Not really. He doesn't get the joke, so sadly...the joke's on all of us.