Stephen Colbert at The 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner - Appraisal of Colbert

Appraisal of Colbert

Colbert's performance received a variety of reactions from the media. In Washington, the response from both politicians and the press corps was negative—both groups having been targets of Colbert's satire. The Washington press corps felt that Colbert had bombed. The Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen found that Colbert's jokes were "lame and insulting" and wrote that Colbert was "rude" and a "bully". Politician Steny Hoyer felt that Colbert had gone too far, telling the newspaper The Hill that " is the President of the United States, and he deserves some respect". Conservative pundit Mary Matalin called Colbert's performance a "predictable, Bush-bashing kind of humor". Columnist Ana Marie Cox chastised those who praised Colbert as a hero: "I somehow doubt that Bush has never heard these criticisms before". She added, "Comedy can have a political point but it is not political action".

On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart remarked, tongue in cheek, "apparently was under the impression that they'd hired him to do what he does every night on television". While comics were expected to tell jokes about the administration, the 2006 dinner was held at a time when the relationship between the administration and the media was under great strain, and the administration was sensitive to criticism. Attorney and columnist Julie Hilden concluded that Colbert's "vituperative parody" might have been unfair under different circumstances, but noted that Bush's record of controlling bad press created a heightened justification for people to criticize him when they got the chance. Media Matters and Editor & Publisher came to Colbert's defense, calling his detractors hypocrites. They contrasted the critical reaction to Colbert to the praise that many in the press had for a controversial routine that Bush performed at a similar media dinner in 2004, where Bush was shown looking for WMDs in the Oval Office and joking, "Those weapons of mass destruction must be somewhere!" and "Nope, no weapons over there!"

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News Online columnist Heather Mallick wrote, "Colbert had the wit and raw courage to do to Bush what Mark Antony did to Brutus, murderer of Caesar. As the American media has self-destructed, it takes Colbert to damn Bush with devastatingly ironic praise." Comedian and Democratic U.S. Senator Al Franken, who performed at similar dinners twice during the Bill Clinton administration, admired what Colbert had done. In its year-end issue, New York magazine described Colbert's performance as one of the most "brilliant" moments of 2006. Time's James Poniewozik noted that in the "days after Stephen Colbert performed at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, this has become the political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006—like whether you drive a hybrid or use the term 'freedom fries'".

For the 2007 dinner, the White House Correspondents' Association brought back the less controversial Rich Little. Arianna Huffington reported that Colbert told her he had specifically avoided reading any reviews of his performance, and remained unaware of the public's reaction. On June 13, 2007, he was presented with a Spike TV Guys' Choice Award for "Gutsiest Move". He accepted the award via video conference. Six months later, New York Times columnist Frank Rich called Colbert's after-dinner speech a "cultural primary", christening it the "defining moment" of the United States' 2006 midterm elections. Three and a half years after the speech, Frank Rich referenced it again, calling it "brilliant" and "good for the country", while columnist Dan Savage referred to it as "one of the things that kept people like me sane during the darkest days of the Bush years".