Please note that Stephen did it right next to Bush himself.
My favorite lines are:
"I don't believe polls. Polls are reflecting reality, and reality is well-known liberal bias." "He (Bush) believes the same things in Wednesday that he believed on Monday no matter what happened on Tuesday."
it wasnt a big deal because the whole point of the White House Correspondent's Dinner is to poke fun at the politicians. Even Bush was making fun of himself.
And, all major newspapers cover the event as an annual funny story.
Sameer> it wasnt a big deal because the whole point of the White House Correspondent's Dinner is to poke fun at the politicians. Even Bush was making fun of himself.
I disagree. The impersonator did a good job, but he did not criticize Bush using his jokes (and of course, he did not intend to do so). On the other hand, Stephen's performance clearly criticized whole Bush policies and media reporters using marvelous jokes. This was a big deal and unusual even in the Whitehouse Correspondents' Dinner, I think.
And not only the media but also people did not take "the event as an annual funny story" either. Bush apologists are attacking Stephen saying that he was not *funny* but also he ignored the Washington rules. Liberals are complaining that mainstream media (in particular TV media) ignored his performance.
So Stephen's performance is not considered "as an annual funny story" regardless of your political position.
Colbert just repeated what he says on his tv show nightly. It's not all that newsworthy. But, when the president is poking fun at himself in a sketch, now thats something to write about.
My point about all newspapers cover the event is that they all do have an article about it. Some people thought Colbert went too far, but if you look back at previous year's events, the lead speaker does make fun of the president every year.