Ever since Stephen Colbert opened his mouth at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner and pointedly mocked Bush in front of Bush, online buzz on the fake newsman has reached scalding temperatures. The response started with a kind of did-he-really-do-that shock. Then it escalated into furious takes on whether Colbert was funny or not, why the mainstream media blew it off, and how the great blogosphere struck back—or just seized another opportunity to parade its own virtues.
There's a boulder-coming-at-Indiana Jones quality to the story now. Searches on the eyebrow-raising comedian are up 5,625% this week and picking up speed. Trajectories for "Colbert speech" and "colbert video" are racing off the chart. And "The Colbert Report," its fan site Colbert Nation, and the newly created ThankYouStephenColbert.org also launched upward in Buzz.
In one corner of the Search ring, we saw gratitude toward the Comedy Central smarty-pants. What's in the opposite corner, looking to cuff him? We noted searches for "colbert roasts bush," "colbert bush," and "bush dinner." But no DamnYouStephenColbert.org or "bush looks ready to throttle colbert" (although he did).
Two of the characters wielded by Colbert that night also jumped in Buzz. Veteran reporter and Bush haranguer Helen Thomas, who costarred in the performance-closing video, leapt in searches. And outed CIA agent Valerie Plame spiked 262%. So, will the White House get revenge against the fake pundit and his phony news show? Let's just hope his wife is no undercover spook.
Filed under: Politics, George Bush, Stephen Colbert
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