So Funny

Richard Cohen has an essay, So Not Funny, on why Stephen Colbert's act at the White House press dinner wasn't funny. I'm not really sure who Richard Cohen is, but he is dead wrong. Here's the meat of his argument:

"Why are you wasting my time with Colbert, I hear you ask. Because he is representative of what too often passes for political courage, not to mention wit, in this country. His defenders -- and they are all over the blogosphere -- will tell you he spoke truth to power. This is a tired phrase, as we all know, but when it was fresh and meaningful it suggested repercussions, consequences -- maybe even death in some countries. When you spoke truth to power you took the distinct chance that power would smite you, toss you into a dungeon or -- if you're at work -- take away your office.
But in this country, anyone can insult the president of the United States. Colbert just did it, and he will not suffer any consequence at all."

Where has Cohen been for the past 6 years? The reason Colbert was funny isn't that he ran some huge risk, but that he was one of the first people to be on camera with Bush without a script in hand, and he took it to the motherfuckin house. Bush's idiotic leadership has rarely been criticized to his face, and never in such an unexpected way--even the "debates" are scripted. If the things that Colbert said weren't funny in themselves, and I think they were, the sheer randomness of the situation was.