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The Texas Blue
Advancing Progressive Ideas

WristStrong!

I'm a big fan of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. I am also a big fan of Stephen Colbert, but I sometimes think his show is just too ridiculous to keep going. I am always wrong. He continues to prove that you can use humor and satire to do some good in the world in addition to making people laugh. And he's not going anywhere any time soon.

I guess I think Colbert can't last because he has so much fun lampooning the severe talkers on the right. And the fun he has is so obvious that it seems like it can't last, like the Fun Police will show up at any moment and put him out of business. But he continues to increase his cultural reach, and everyone seems to like him. Even Bill O'Reilly did a reciprocal show swap with him, which admittedly led to some uncomfortable moments but was good TV anyways.

They let him host a White House Correspondents Dinner, although I think whoever was in charge of that one might have gotten fired. He makes most politicians nervous. A bridge is named after him in Hungary, and he even has his own hockey team mascot. He commands an army of devoted fans, called the Colbert Nation. His ongoing character is totally out of control, the bits on the show are regularly among the best political satire I've ever seen, and now there's WristStrong.

Colbert broke his wrist recently during a pre-show crowd warm-up and started the WristStrong campaign, which features red rubber bracelets not unlike Lance Armstrong's LiveStrong bracelets. It seemed like a sort of situational spoof at first, but then he started haranguing famous people to wear WristStrong bracelets (which became breaking news in its own right), got many of them to sign his cast, and then auctioned the cast off on eBay for $17,200. All the proceeds from that go to the Yellow Ribbon Fund, a charity supporting injured service members.

I think it is fair to say that Colbert isn't just a subcultural phenomenon because his reach is too great. The message is unabashedly satirical and his persona is unapologetically over the top. And now you can even get your own WristStrong bracelet and send some more help to wounded veterans via the Yellow Ribbon Fund in the process.

Fans of Stewart and Colbert

Fans of Stewart and Colbert may also enjoy some Australian parody from CNNNN: Chaser Non-Stop News Network http://www.abc.net.au/cnnnn/ These are the same hard hitting, hard news journalists who breached APEC security in Sydney. Funny stuff but oh so real. Seriously. The "latest" video is here http://www.abc.net.au/tv/chaser/war/broadband/20070905_2100/meta/hq1.asx

If you know anything about any of the parliamentary systems of the Commonwealth, you too will find this hilarious material.

Democratically yours
Mark Coomes
(Half British / Half 'Merican / theoretical dual citizen / Texas voter)
http://markcoomes.com

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