What's in a Name? Plenty If It's Kennedy

The importance of humor was underscored in heavy-breathing fashion after Stephen Colbert's performance at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. Some C-SPAN viewers liked his routine, and others -- including most of the media gang in attendance -- did not.

Many liberal bloggers were quick to denounce the mainstream media for not showering the Comedy Central host with publicity and praise. The reason, said these bloggers, was that Colbert had skewered Bush in a way that embarrassed the timid White House press corps.

"Colbert's was a brave and shocking performance," writes Chris Durang in the Huffington Post. "And for the media to pretend it isn't newsworthy is . . . a symbol of how shoddy and suspect the media is." Salon Editor Joan Walsh says "Colbert's deadly performance . . . exposed the mainstream press' pathetic collusion" with the administration.

Really? Or are left-wingers just so mad at the media for not denouncing Bush daily that they prefer the zingers of a fake anchor?

Colbert did take some swipes at the president in the guise of the blowhard pundit he plays on TV. ("You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday.") But it was hardly the stinging denunciation being cheered on by his liberal fans. In fact, Colbert was just as dismissive in what he described as his "contempt" for the black-tie crowd of Washington journalists. ("Over the last five years you people were so good -- over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out.")

Humor often cuts in a way that journalism doesn't, which is why Bush's late-night drubbing is serious business. Bush's detractors are convinced that Colbert drew blood, and maybe journalists were unenthusiastic because they got scratched in the process. But the jokes wouldn't resonate if much of the country wasn't already unhappy with the president.

Loose Lips Sink Stocks

The stock market dropped last Monday, thanks to Maria Bartiromo.

The CNBC anchor reported that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believed that his recent congressional testimony had been misinterpreted and that his agency might not be done raising interest rates after all, depending on future economic developments. And how did Bartiromo know this? Bernanke told her at the White House Correspondents' dinner.

"What am I going to do, walk away?" Bartiromo said the next day on CNBC.

Bernanke "never said it was off the record," network spokesman Kevin Goldman says. "She didn't agree to any conditions." Still, the Fed chief will probably curtail his dinner-party chatter.

Unmasked Blogger

Another journalist has blogged her way into oblivion. Gina Vivinetto, music critic for the free tabloid published by the St. Petersburg Times, resigned after acknowledging that she had created a fake personal page on MySpace.com. Times Executive Editor Neil Brown told the Tampa Tribune that Vivinetto used the bogus page to post mocking comments of "a somewhat sexual nature" about a county commissioner.