TVSquad

Annie, this wasn't just a Great TV Moment. It was a Great American Moment.

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I think you're giving Colbert too much credit, Annie. The frustrations were over republicans doing a crappy job and so all those middle-of-the-road moderates swung left this election cycle. It'll swing back and forth as it's done for as long as I can remember.

But thanks for another left-leaning article. I know politics can't be ignored on a TV site, but you guys never miss a chance to get in a dig at the right's expense, and it's quite frequent. Sure, everyone's got their political POV, but if you don't want us conservatives here, just come out and say so. It's frustrating, as you should be able to glean from the tone of my comment.

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While Colbert maintains that he was only trying to tell a good joke or two, the fact remains that this one night was a pivotal moment, for his career, for his show, and whether he likes it or will even admit to it, for American politics.

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Nick, you're a loyal commenter, so I'm kind of surprised at your comment that we're "left leaning". I wouldn't paint us with such a broad brush, considering not all of us have made political posts. As we have always said, the posts contain the opinion of the writer whose name is attached; they do *not* reflect the site's opinion as a whole (technically, we don't have one).

As far as Colbert is concerned... I can't speak for everyone on this list, but I'd imagine that if it were a Democratic president sitting to Colbert's right, I'd be just as impressed with his performance. To me, it doesn't matter who was in the chair; good and daring comedy is good and daring comedy.

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Nick, I'm going to posit that it was a big moment for reasons that have less to do with what side of the aisle you're sitting on.

If someone had done this during, say, the Bush I administration, no one would have heard of it. But, because of the myriad ways television programs can now be time-shifted and the many ways that it could be seen or heard, Colbert's speech spread like a virus throughout the land as people kept hearing about it, and what would have been written off as "Comic Insults President" on a Reuters wire became an immediate cult hit. But here's the capper: it became the ultimate symbol of how new technologies affected the political arena. By the time November rolled around, candidates had podcasts, streaming video and Facebook/Myspace profiles. And it was all because of Colbert's speech, or at least I say it was. Am I stretching? Yeah. But I don't think it's THAT big of a stretch.

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Hell we could have had Steven Colbert be Time's person of the year.

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Damn, nick, you're one of those crazy conservatives? *sigh*

Chalk another comment up to someone who's fallen prey to the myth of the "liberal media."

Hey, I got my dig in - you got yours, let's not start a flame war, after all we're all friends here, politics aside :)

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I agree with David4, Colbert shoulda been Time's man of the year, instead of their 'american people' cop-out.

And nick, I'm not sure exactly how this article itself is left leaning... she's just pointing out what she feels was a great moment in TV, and given the way the internet exploded with it shortly after it aired, she's exactly right. She even makes it a point that he didn't only roast the president, but also skewered the (liberal?) media that was in full attendance.
oh, and a p.s., nick - stay away from the studio 60 reviews!!!

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That was a well-chosen moment.

Obviously I can't speak for this site, but just as one of its readers, my problem has never been with conservatives in general - although I'm not a conservative myself - but rather with the criminally negligent and arguably genuinely criminal Bush administration. The sooner he and his guys are out of office the sooner the rest of the world can breathe a sigh of relief.

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Joel,

I didn't say the site itself was left-leaning in a purposeful manner, just that when looking at articles regarding politics the majority of them do sway to the left. I guess I should say that the site as a whole isn't purposefully liberal, but it seems either the majority of your journalists are, or the liberal ones at least make it a point to frequently review shows/subjects that allow them to further their idealogy. I should've also added, as I've done a lot in the past, that you can't mention Fox News (or anything remotely conservative) without having numerous commenters giving their usually immature snubs and/or rude comments. I stand by my assertion that there's more snubs at the right than the left, but I won't, and didn't, imply that TVSquad.com as a site has any political agenda, just individual writers.

Regarding whether it was a Democrat or Republican president sitting there, I wouldn't have been impressed either way. Colbert just doesn't "do it" for me. Never has. He's one of those people I don't find funny, just annoying.

To all you other folks who commented and disagreed with me, I'd like to thank you all for making those comments thoughtful and insult-free. It's really good to see there's some left-sided posters out there who have more to say than the all-too-frequently-emotional reactions I've referred to with such subjects as Fox News, O'Reilly, Bush, etc.

I've never been more pleased to find a situation where people have "made a liar out of me" with regards to the kinds of comments I usually see.

Tucker - No flame wars here. The closest I really want to get to that is lighting my farts, but I rarely get drunk enough to do that any more.

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And just for the record, I'd rather see Colbert named Time's Person of the Year regardless of my personal feelings towards him, than their lame cop-out. They could've at least picked someone who caused a stir, made a lot of news, was extra troublesome, whatever...just pick a "person".

Sorry, off topic, but I wanted to toss that in.

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It's *extremely* tiresome to see people throw stones about a group of people being left/right/sideways/frontways leaning, then going crazy about it like it's some sort of conspiracy. We're individuals and we don't bring people on to write based in any way on their political issues. Me, I could give a rats ass about politics or what anyone has to say about them, whether left or right. The only time I care is when I see me being accused of being on some extreme left or right of an issue. That pisses me off.

This isn't a conspiracy. We're having fun, and if you're not into seeing us make fun of ANYONE -- NO MATTER WHO IT IS OR THEIR POLITICAL AFFILIATION, SHOULD THEY HAVE ONE -- then you're definitely in the wrong place.

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Wow Keith, of all the comments it looks like you're the only one who went crazy, what with the all caps and such. Who's "going crazy about it" anyway? I gave my opinion, didn't use profanity or caps.

Maybe I *am* in the wrong place if a conservative opinion drives you nuts, or should I have shouted about conspiracies and called names? You know, like a lot of the vulgar comments I've seen in the past?

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nick -- Like I said, it's tiresome. We go over this shit with people all the time, and I just had to say something. Whether or not you meant to accuse TV Squad as a whole of conspiring, you certainly made it come out that way loud and clear. The caps wasn't meant as yelling -- consider it as regular text, only highlighted in bright, neon green so it sticks out.

Alright I'm done now.

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I'd like to see this. Is it on the web anywhere?

Maybe since I haven't seen the apperance by Colbert I shouldn't comment, but I really didn't see any political leanings - left or right - in Annie's article.

I hate labels. Left, right, conservative, liberal. I think we all have a little bit of each within us. We're all on the same side, right? I also hate absolutes like for or against, right or wrong. Just too limiting.

I'm not what you'd call "happy" with the Bush administration and sometimes I vent my frustrations; but that doesn't make me a liberal leftist.

I really enjoy reading erroneous_nick and Tucker's comments. They both bring a lot to this blog; whatever leanings they may have. It's all good.

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The whole event is available here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4973617448770513925

Colbert begins about 52 minutes in.

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if you guys haven't realized you are a primarily leftist blog, perhaps you have't actually read anything on here.
get over yourselves and then watch something. please.
thanks

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No problem Keith, we all go off, but at least you know how I feel about having to "go over this shit with people all the time". If complaints of that nature get tiresome maybe a little less coverage of politically-themed stuff would be refreshing for everyone. Compared to what's actually on TV, your site does seem to cover an inordinate amount of politics in many ways.

And for the caps, you know as well as anyone online that it's universally considered yelling and that's just what you were doing. Bright neon green underlined, or caps, the point was, in your words, "so it sticks out". Textually tantamount to yelling.

You're tired of seeing comments in the vein as the ones I've posted here. I'm tired of seeing what I've commented on. Since you guys are free to cover whatever you wish and this blog is for open commentary, then I suppose nothing's going to change unless there's more entertainment coverage with less politics in it.

I suppose you're free to ask myself, or anyone else, to leave and no longer comment and if that's what you want just say so. I can assure you that is not what I want, but I can also assure you that I will not curb my opinions. My comments will be civil, but I call 'em like I see 'em.

'nuf said.

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Um, except for the Hidenburg joke, wasn't the bit largely funny for the reactions, not the comic writing? Now that a link was posted to view it, you can all experience the poorly-shot Helen Thomas sequence that ruined a potentially funny joke, as well as Colbert's reeling confidence ruining his delivery.

...Not that I've enjoyed "The Daily Show"'s alumni since the brilliant 2000 season.

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I just put Balls of Steel on my christmas tree to honor Colbert.

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