Ol’ Assrocket over at Power Line reviews Colbert’s sendoff and his effect on the zeitgeist, beginning thusly:
I have never seen Stephen Colbert’s show on Comedy Central, but I take it that it consists of an endless series of anti-Republican “jokes.”
What really impresses me is the fact that no matter what happens, he hasn’t broken character for years, this guy. That’s the only way this massive, decade-long joke works, and he’s nailed it since the Bush years. His utterly oblivious cementheaded persona’s been an endless source of real humor in what’s been otherwise an ugly, partisan, political dumpster fire of a nation for quite some time now.
But enough about Hinderaker.
Open thread.
Brian R.
One day, those guys at Power Line will become self aware.
chopper
What a buffoon.
Political Realism
So according to Politico donations to the GOP are pouring in thanks to BO getting cuddly with Castro- with Jeb Bush leading the way.
Obama not only lost Florida for Hillary in 2016, he’s helping to bankroll the Florida GOP . The money is pouring in, baby, fast and hard !
Jeb Bush is going to have more money than God in 2016. Absolutely unstoppable advantages where it matters most : M O N E Y money. Make it rain, make it rain!
mai naem mobile
Any old listeners of Al Frankens show on Air America might remember when he play stuff followed by different versions of “liar” “LLLllllliar” “lying lying liars” etc. Anyhow thats how I feel about Hindraker. Hes a lying sack of shit if he says hes never watched Colbert.
Botsplainer
@Political Realism:
I got it – you’re Colbert!
pseudonymous in nc
Assrocket has been too busy watching beauty pageants.
Eric U.
@Botsplainer: thinking the same, except Colbert is funny
Amir Khalid
I know: Spanish.
I was at the bookstore today, and I had a sudden temptation to pick up a Spanish-language self-instruction pack and teach myself to habla espanol. Only 95 ringgit (thirty American bucks), a fairly cheap way to amuse myself. I’ve had good results doing that with German, and I’m working on my French.
Suffern ACE
@Botsplainer: yes. Those poor Florida Democrats. They’ll lose all the statewide offices they hold.
balconesfault
@Political Realism: Pouring money into GOP Presidential races right now is awesome, actually. Give those guys a lot more cash to rip each other to shreds during the Primaries…
Belafon
That would be like me claiming that though I haven’t seen Fox News, I understand that it broadcasts news stories.
Amir Khalid
@Political Realism:
In 2012, Mitt too had more money than God. And he was dead certain of winning the presidency, wasn’t he?
xian
souds like assrocket is pining for the Fairness Doctrine
Belafon
@xian: They did have their own comedy news show, remember?
japa21
I always loved Colbert, but you have to admit, the GOP gave him plenty of material to work with. For one thing, all he had to do was read Assrocket’s posts and then repeat them on air. That alone would come across as satire, although not meant originally as such.
Brian R.
@Political Realism:
That’s a pretty good spoof of a conservative moron, but you should’ve made some comparison to Gingrich or Romney, those other GOP candidates who were made invulnerable by all that right-wing money.
Culture of Truth
I’ve never heard of this plonker Jon Swift, but I take it he styles himself a man of humours
Mustang Bobby
@Suffern ACE: They’ve been losing statewide offices long before now. Hell, they had to get a used Republican to run for governor this year, and there’s no bench whatsoever for any statewide office. It’s got nothing to do with Cuba.
But if the GOP is counting on an anti-Obama backlash through the Cuban community, they will be in for a surprise. Second and third generation Cuban-Americans are trending Democratic, and the only reason they’re registered Republican is because their abuelo (grandfather) is.
EconWatcher
It is morally wrong to discuss Hinderaker without recalling his most famous quotation from the George W. Bush years, because there could be someone who isn’t aware of this thing of beauty, written entirely without irony:
“It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.”
Redshift
@Political Realism: Bwahahaha! Actually, that Politico article (which I notice you didn’t link to) says “affluent Cuban American donors already talking about spending big sums to challenge politicians who side with Obama.” It then goes on to quote groups saying that they’re going to raise big money for Republicans, while noting that they raised hundreds of thousands for Republicans in past election cycles and are already hosting big fundraisers headlined by Jeb Bush and Match Rubio.
Wow, what a game-changer!
GregB
@Redshift:
Looks like the power of the right-wing Cuban-Americans will be following the trajectory of the Southern white Democrats.
Buh-bye. So glad we had this time together. Now go find some other windmills to tilt at.
NonyNony
@Brian R.:
Has Hell frozen over and I didn’t get the memo?
Librarian
Assrocket is so fucking stupid, he doesn’t even know how long Colbert’s show was.
What a fucking tool.
Robert M.
Hinderaker’s logic appears to go as follows:
(1) Democrats like Colbert.
(2) Therefore, Colbert’s show must have been Democratic propaganda.
(3) Therefore, something something campaign finance.
He’d need to spend a lot of time and effort getting this up to the standards of a typical Jonah Goldberg emission.
Tenar Darell
This is to suggest one more programming resource for
@jibeaux‘s kid:
I’m going to post this in the original post, and here. I was just combing through <a [email protected]boing boing (as one does) and found a suggestion for your kid too. The site referenced seems like a good intro to writing games, which is a good way to learn anyway.
DougJ
Ha! An old joke but especially well done here.
dmsilev
@Political Realism: UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH! VICTORY!
rlrr
@Political Realism:
Jeb Bush is going to have more money than God in 2016. Absolutely unstoppable advantages where it matters most : M O N E Y money. Make it rain, make it rain!
How’d that unlimited money advantage work out for Mitt Romney?
Anya
@EconWatcher: someone said that? I always thought it was from the Onion.
Fearguth
Hindrocketeer Sez: “I have never seen Stephen Colbert’s show on Comedy Central. I have been too busy
checking the kerning of Obama’s birth certificate.”
shelley
Was this for reals? Cause it makes perfect sense for someone to review something they have no knowledge of.
Woodrowfan
Remember, Hindrocket is a tenured professor teaching our future judges about the law! Gad.
debbie
@EconWatcher:
Umm…Even Bob Ross would spin in his grave to hear that.
NonyNony
@Woodrowfan:
I .. don’t think that’s right? Isn’t Hinderaker “just” a lawyer who works for some conservative think tank?
Are you thinking of Glen Reynolds or Ann Althouse? They’re both law profs IIRC. And almost as bad as Hinderaker.
Felonius Monk
The arc of the Ass-Rocket is long, but it bends toward idiocy.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
Next up: Scottish Gaelic
kindness
I missed the last 10 minutes of Colbert last night. Will have to fire up the dvr tonight after work.
chopper
@debbie:
To be fair it’s a good looking grave. With a cute, happy little tree right there.
Just Some Fuckhead
I really enjoy your posts now that you are making a conscious effort not to whine about Obama all the time, Zandar. Thanks!
Petorado
Conservatives don’t even do derision very well because, like comedy, it takes a certain amount of knowledge to pull it off, and folks on the right like Hinderaker just can’t seem to be bothered with actually knowing stuff.
Suffern ACE
@Redshift: Yep. That’s my point. It’s like crowing about something you already have and proclaiming “Victory!”. Yay! The GoP wins the Governors Mansion in Florida!
Violet
@Suffern ACE: “Yay! The GOP has more members of the Bush family who want to be president!” That kind of thing?
Suffern ACE
@Violet: All bets are off. The republicans now have a fighting chance in Texas!
Karen S.
Open thread! Yea!
I thought some of you might be interested in this. BBC Radio is going to start airing its adaptation of Good Omens, the wonderful book by Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett, next week. Here’s a link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04knt4h
We in the U.S. can listen to it through BBC Radio iPlayer. It’ll be aired in six parts. I don’t believe you have to register to listen.
Non-sequitur alert: Also, too, Unlimited Corporate Cash!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike E
You just performed a Craig Ferguson joke, nice…speaking of, his last show is tonight. Another sad passing of a comedic gold standard.
feebog
Someone has to say it; this is good news for John McCain.
Mike in NC
Political Realism: Doug J: Face it, you’re no Stephen Colbert. Your various Balloon Juice trolls — including Veritas, Political Observer, Election Follower, and now Political Realism — just aren’t funny. You have no talent for pretending to be a wingnut asshole. Stick to your day job.
Villago Delenda Est
Ah, but Colbert DID break character, at least once.
Right around 8PM Pacific Standard Time on 4 November 2008…where he teared up a bit when the networks called the Presidential election for Barack Obama.
Villago Delenda Est
@japa21: Poe’s Law in action.
'Niques
@Villago Delenda Est: My favorite Colbert moment . . . made me cry, as well.
Villago Delenda Est
@chopper: That comment works equally well on the comment immediately below yours.
gene108
@Amir Khalid:
The only Presidential candidate, who has had more money than God is President Obama.
Mitt had enough to not get totally steam rolled by Obama.
A lot of the problem Gore and Kerry had in their campaigns against Bush, Jr, is Bush had something close to a 2:1 money advantage. They couldn’t campaign everywhere, like Bush could and couldn’t respond to every ad Bush & Co. were putting out.
If Gore had become President, in 2000, he’d have been the first and only President, since they started tracking political contributions in in 1976, to have won the office while not having raised as much money as his opponent.
Frankensteinbeck
How many of Colbert’s routines have started with ‘Now, I haven’t actually watched…’ The man is a prophet.
@EconWatcher:
That also sounds like a Colbert gag.
SFAW
@Felonius Monk:
If by “it bends toward idiocy,” you mean “he’s been a fucking idiot since before PowerSlime was named Blurgh of the Year, and he hasn’t changed, bless his tiny little brain.”
I certainly do like his “I ain’t a-seed it, but I bet it shore were bad” schtick. Reminds me of “I Heard That Was Good,” an SNL sketch from the Belushi/Aykroyd era.
Woodrowfan
@NonyNony: you are right, I was thinking Glenn Reynolds. sorry. the rw hack lawyers all tend to blur together for me…
gene108
@dmsilev:
It’s how Republicans have been rolling up victories in the state and local level, plus House races, since 2010.
It ain’t a joke, even though a troll used to toss the phrase around here about Obama’s chances to win re-election.
Frankensteinbeck
@gene108:
I counter: Mitt had way more money in PACs. That trend is likely to continue, since the GOP likes small numbers of huge donors, and those donors have strong opinions that things be done their way.
Archon
I’ve always wondered is it that Colbert is just a brilliant satirist or is that the Republicans are just so easy to satirize?
I’m sure it’s a combination of both but I do wonder what the Colbert show would have been like if we had a intellectually serious and ideologically consistent Republican party and right wing media.
gene108
@Frankensteinbeck:
Republicans had more money in PACs and Super PACs. Not all of it was dedicated to electing Mitt President.
The reason Obama has been so effective campaigning is he’s revolutionized fund raising and raised more money than anyone thought humanly possible.
No offense to folks, who think money doesn’t buy you an office, but in this country money is one of the most important factors in deciding who wins an election.
You occasionally get flukes like Cantor losing or O’Donnell getting the Senate nomination in Delaware, but those instances are few and far between.
Being an effective campaigner in American politics means by default you have to be good at raising money. The two are inseparable.
Rick Taylor
This made me laugh. Thanks.
SFAW
@Archon:
And if I had won PowerBall, plus instantaneously became 30 years younger (and good looking), plus the Nobel Peace Prize for Medicine, Physics, and Literature, plus an Olympic Gold in the decathlon, plus 12 Oscars.
Plus a Pony!
SFAW
@Archon: @SFAW:
Shorter me: ain’t gonna happen in this plane of reality.
tom
Here ya go: http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/videos/stephen-colbert-colbert-report-supercut-20141218
14 minutes of Colbert breaking character.
Woodrowfan
@SFAW:
ah, I see you read my family’s Christmas letter. 8)
Archon
@SFAW:
LOL! I take you point, my point, strictly as a thought experiment is would Colbert exist without a right wing that’s reached escape velocity in crazy?
Mike E
@Archon: Sure, he’d exist in that alternate universe, but as David Sedaris’s brilliant cousin.
Gravenstone
@Botsplainer: Nah, it’s out old buddy Unlimited Corporate Cash from 2012. His schtick then was loudly proclaiming how all that dark money was going to bury the Kenyan Muslim and elect Herr Romney in a landslide. In other words, a clueless buffoon then and a clueless buffoon it remains.
donnah
Zandar, I love your posts. I used to read your blog, but the goofball hackers kept spoiling it for me. It’s good to see you here!
JGabriel
Assrocket via Zandar @ top:
Seriously? A guy who watches Fox News and listens to Rush Limbaugh can ask that without being struck dead by lightning from the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Villago Delenda Est
@JGabriel: Well, fuckheadedness is what people like Assrocket DO.
Villago Delenda Est
@dmsilev: Also, too, “Romney will win the GOP primary in Colorado! You can take that to the bank!”
danielx
Haven’t heard much from Assrocket of late. However, his fame remains undimmed due to the never-to-be-surpassed eloquence of his paean to Shrub….
I never tire of reading that one; always reminds me that wingnut hostility and malevolence is held in balance by indecently exposed stupidity.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
At first I thought you were going to forget the pony. It’s the most important part.
JGabriel
NonyNony:
I always get those three confused too – I can never remember which one has the robot fetish and which one vlogs drunk on box wine.
.
Ruckus
@JGabriel:
In the end does it really matter? Sure it’s nice to properly attribute stupidity but in the case of these three there is plenty to go around. So other than one being more evil, one being more drunk and one being more blockheaded, what’s the diff?
JGabriel
Dammit, I wish I hadn’t brought up the robot fetish. Now I’ve got this horrifyingly foul brain image of Glenn Reynolds fantasizing about the Jetson’s robot, Rosie.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Villago Delenda Est: It was on The Daily Show (special election coverage): http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/x2j9ky/indecision-2008–barack-obama-wins (1:42)
Cheers,
Scott.
Tree With Water
Pointed humor and timely delivery almost always win out (“almost” because some humorless people have very short fuses). Believe me, that liar has seen Colbert’s show. And Colbert’s hilarious mocking burnt him like fire, which only serves to burnish the show & the man’s reputation. Humor- the gift that keeps giving.
SRW1
@Political Realism:
.
I’ll give you all I’ve got to give
If you say you love me too
Can’t buy me love, love
Can’t buy me love
Money can’t buy me love
Jamey
Please #PresidentObama, I’ve been ever so good. Make @SenMarcoRubio ambassador to #Cuba. I want to see #GOP heads explode…
Jamey
@JGabriel: Also, this is the question a LAWYER asks?
Lurking Canadian
@Political Realism: Dude. Pace yourself. It’s almost two years until the election. Trolling is a marathon, not a sprint.
Epicurus
“Shorter” Assrocket: “I’ve never seen his show, which makes me eminently qualified to critique it!” Screw off, Hinderaker, you’re a highly-paid troll. (over-paid? I don’t really know or care how much money this stiff steals from his employer. He’s still a worthless excuse for a human being.)
dance around in your bones
Whoa – clueless, thy name is Assrocket, and well deserved.
Assrocket, Assrocket, who are you?
A dude, a dude, without a single clue.
Hindrocket is my other name,
however you say it, it comes out the same.
Villago Delenda Est
@gene108: Rethugs have been rolling up victories not through UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH, but by a failure of those inclined to vote D to get to the polls for non-Presidential elections.
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
Perhaps. But UCC (no, not the Uniform Commercial Code) allows them to make a better showing of a 50-state strategy than they otherwise would. And, it seems to have paid off.
SFAW
@Lurking Canadian:
One can only hope it would be a lemming-thon.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Political Realism:
UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH?
Isn’t President Romney deserving of a second term, asshole?
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@gene108:
Political Reality is the SAME troll. That’s why it IS a joke.
My Truth Hurts
Dumb right wingers believe that no one else does anything without a political agenda because that is all they do. It’s all about “scoring points” for your “team” in the “game”. Whereas what Colbert and Stewert do is mock EVERYONE because like most rational people with half a brain they are not die hard partisans. Project much Hinderaker?
Leah
@Culture of Truth:
Jon Swift was an extraordinary blogger who used satire in a way that was a precursor of Colbert, blogging from the viewpoint of a solid right-winger whose posts managed, with great humor, his own arguments.
Tragically, he died quite suddenly, and much too early. His mother made the announcement on Jon’s blog, which is archived on line, it’s worth a visit.
Here’s a response by Tom Watson to news of Jon Swift’s death; it also has a link to the archived blog
Here’s a link to the Jon Swift archives