May 01, 2006
Scalia's virtue
Stephen Colbert's astonishing rant at the White House Correspondent's Association dinner hit so near the bone —BushCo's bone, and the bone of the lapdog journalists present— that it drew few laughs, despite its superlative excellence both as text and as performance. (Only the final "press conference" bit dragged; it was funny in concept, but not in execution.) Apparently both Bushes and Tony Snow openly snubbed Colbert after the speech.
But, as Atrios and Daily Kos both note, there was one great exception. In the course of Colbert's mock "recognitions" of distinguished guests, he greeted Justice Antonin Scalia: "Justice Scalia is here. Welcome, sir. May I be the first to say, you look fantastic. How are you?" punctuating his sentences with a series of obscene Sicilian gestures, starting with the one that drew so much unwanted attention to Scalia when he used it in church.
But when the camera pans to Scalia, it shows him laughing hysterically: not just a polite ha-ha to show that he got the joke and is being a good sport about it, but deep, out-of-control, impossible-to-fake belly-laughs. He is obviously enjoying — really enjoying — a joke at his own expense
No, that doesn't make up for Bush v. Gore. But it does make Scalia, in this one respect, a better human being than most of us. (I can promise you that I wouldn't have been laughing, or at least not laughing sincerely, in his shoes.) As eager as I am to bash Scalia when he earns it, as he often does, I would be remiss in not noting his possession of one of the rarest, and one of the most engaging, of the virtues.
Beside Scalia being, vicious, hypocritcal and hatefull he is supposed to have the best sense of humor on the bench according to the Law Clerks that work there.
I see your point.
The virtue of Scalia's that you cite is a personal one. He may also be a good husband and father. But, except to people who associate with him personally, it is of no relevance to his official conduct, and not only does not make up for Bush v. Gore, but could not, even in principle.
Posted by: Henry at May 1, 2006 06:13 AMAs Kid Oakland put it on his blog:
"One of [Colbert's] targets, Antonin Scalia "got it", and laughed along heartily as only someone with a lifetime appointment can."
The rest of the crowd had election cycles and/or jobs to worry about.
http://kidoaklandblog.blogspot.com/2006/04/colbert-moment.html
Posted by: ccobb at May 1, 2006 08:03 AMWhen you're a supreme court justice, you can afford to find pretty much anything funny.
Posted by: paul at May 1, 2006 08:12 AMExcept death penalty cases. They're not funny, dammit.
Posted by: Justice Kennedy at May 1, 2006 11:12 AMA lawyer colleague of mine died about a year or so ago, and I went to his funeral. Scalia spoke. I believe that Scalia and the deceased lawyer were friends with long Republican connections. Scalia was eloquent, heartfelt, and touching: just the guy you would want for your eulogy. I think Scalia is a mensch. But then again, it doesn't signify much to anybody but his family, friends and neighbors. De Maistre personally ministered to those awaiting execution.
Posted by: Joe S. at May 1, 2006 06:14 PMLOTS of people can convincingly fake a huge belly laugh. Who HASN'T laughed hard at a boss's stupid joke?
Posted by: at May 2, 2006 06:44 AMI'm surprised that people expected anything different than what Stephen Cobert delivered. Watching him at the dinner was just like watching his show - some really, really funny and some not so funny.
To get a good read on what he is all about all you had to do was watch his show last night when he even poked fun at himself. He showed people in the audience not laughing at him. Typical Stephen.
Posted by: rlj at May 2, 2006 08:07 AMI'm surprised that people expected anything different than what Stephen Cobert delivered. Watching him at the dinner was just like watching his show - some really, really funny and some not so funny.
To get a good read on what he is all about all you had to do was watch his show last night when he even poked fun at himself. He showed people in the audience not laughing at him. Typical Stephen.
Posted by: rlj at May 2, 2006 08:08 AMThis was the only one of Colbert's gibes that involved a moment of personal weakness, a lapse of temper. The rest was really about civic virtue. These are, despite the efforts of Joe Klein et al, very different spheres. Making fun of Scalia the way Colbert did is humor in the vein of Bush using an impersonator to smooth out his vocal tics. Shining a spot light on your ability to laugh at yourself in this way is supposed to butress your reputation and increase the legitimacy in which your other actions are viewed. If Colbert had talked about Bush v Gore or Scalia's conflicts of interest (duck hunting) in the pointed way he critiqued both the press and the president things might have gone differently.....
Posted by: benton at May 2, 2006 09:53 AMI may be completely wrong, but I interpreted Scalia's laughter more as a reflection of how much he likes being in the limelight (i.e., he's an egomaniac), and a reflection of his good-humor persona (which may well be authentic, but also serves to disguise his egomania), rather than a particularly noteworthy ability to laugh at his own expense.
He may have the latter, but, after all, the bit wasn't really so funny as to provoke the kind of laughs Scalia offered, and in any case the "self-expense" here was quite minor; being uptight about it would have been far more ridiculous and petulant-looking than the Preznit's uptightness over the jokes at his well deserved--but much greater--expense.
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