The Colbert Bump Quantified

Ha, ha… this is great. The Colbert bump has been quantified, and guess what, it’s real… at least for Democrats:

Democratic candidates who appear on the Report receive a statistically significant “Colbert bump” in campaign donations, raising 44% more money in a 30-day period after appearing on the show. However, there is no evidence of a similar boost for Republicans. These results constitute the first scientific evidence of Stephen Colbert’s influence on political campaigns.

Colbert’s White House Press Conference Speech

I’m testing a new video pluggin, and what better video to test it with than with Colbert’s kick ass speech at the White House Press Conference… here it is:

Colbert: Greatest Living American

It’s official: Steven Colbert is the “Greatest Living American.” Official because Google.com tells me it is.

Colbert’s “Man Root Essence”

Stephen Colbert has acknowledged that he may or may not have "donated" or "sold", er, contributed, to Mary Cheney’s impending motherhood:

Colbert Roasts Bush and the Press

Over the weekend Steven Colbert was the final speaker at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and he took everyone present, including Bush and the so-called Liberal Media, to the woodshed… all in jest, of course — wink, wink. Colbert was funny and biting… it was simply great to see.

Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “If anything, they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”

[...]

Turning to the war, he declared, "I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."

He noted former Ambassador Joseph Wilson in the crowd, just three tables away from Karl Rove, and that he had brought " Valerie Plame." Then, worried that he had named her, he corrected himself, as Bush aides might do, "Uh, I mean… he brought Joseph Wilson’s wife." He might have "dodged the bullet," he said, as prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wasn’t there.

[...]

Observing that Bush sticks to his principles, he said, "When the president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday - no matter what happened Tuesday."

Also lampooning the press, Colbert complained that he was “surrounded by the liberal media who are destroying this country, except for Fox News. Fox believes in presenting both sides of the story — the president’s side and the vice president’s side." In another slap at the news channel, he said: "I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the No Fact Zone. Fox News, I own the copyright on that term."

He also reflected on the alleged good old days for the president, when the media was still swallowing the WMD story.

Addressing the reporters, he said, "Let’s review the rules. Here’s how it works. The president makes decisions, he’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know–fiction."

You can see Colbert’s entire speech, courtesy of YouTube.com, in three parts. Well, it looks like YouTube.com caved and removed the clip. No worries, though. Nearly the entire presentation is available here:

Update: It’s unanimous, Colbert has the biggest huevos this side of King Kong. Read what others are saying:

• Shakespeare’s Sister: If you didn’t see Colbert at the White House Correspondence dinner, you missed something truly amazing.
• Peter Daou: The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was televised on C-Span Saturday evening. Featured entertainer Stephen Colbert delivered a biting rebuke of George W. Bush and the lily-livered press corps. He did it to Bush’s face, unflinching and unbowed by the audience’s muted, humorless response.
• Crooks and Liars: Stephen Colbert spoke tonight at the dinner and lampooned pretty much everything he could think.
• News Hound: The man has guts, folks, because right now in Right Wing Land thousands of fingers are frantically clackety-clacking away, writing insults to post on their favorite conservative websites. They are also dialing right-wing talk shows to call Mr. Colbert every name in the book, threaten him with death and accuse him of besmirching and disrespecting the office of the President of the United States.

Update II: Sadly YouTube.com has removed the videos, and this is the only partial video I’ve been able to find:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/04/29.html