Big Brass Balls (Updated)

The big hard drive went pushing up daisies, alright. Luckily I had copies of most of the important stuff stashed in bits and pieces on the other computers around the house. The only real headache is reloading all the programs and updates. It's gonna take a few days.

The NFL draft was fun despite the Bears' ponderous selections. My other teams did pretty well. The Pats even picked up two Gators. But in the midst of all the computer surgery and ESPN cross-analysis, I missed the other big event this weekend.

Not that you'd know anything about it if you relied on TV news, but the annual White House Correspondents dinner's host speaker was none other than the now-legendary Stephen Colbert. Talk about a ponderous choice. Whoever OK'd him to speak in front of the prestigious gathering of top media types, congressmen, representatives and the president and first lady will probably be fired before Monday morning. Colbert absolutely torched the room. It was like a politically charged roast of Bush, various politicos and the mainstream press. I mean he skewered Bush so thoroughly, the room was near silent. Jaws dropped, Bush red-faced.

My talking about it does it no modicum of justice, so try and check it out on a CSPAN rerun. Or Crooks and Liars has video of the last half of the speech. And Daily Kos has the full transscript. But, really, try and watch it. It makes a world of difference. (Also: apparently the haters are saying he bombed, which is just predictable poo-pooing from sourpusses. It was not only a brilliant speech in both content and context, but historical as far as "talking truth to power" goes.)

Indeed as is rounding the net today, Colbert does indeed win the "Big Brass Balls" award for this. Wow.

**UPDATE: New Crooks And Liars page with the entire speech in three parts. And a corny "Thank You, Stephen Colbert" guestbook.

**UPDATE: Top-notch analysis of the lack of audience chuckles over at The Whiskey Bar.

**UPDATE: The YouTube vids are now down.