Declaration of War Against Salon

BEGUN AND HELD IN THE TRANSOM'S TINY MESSY OFFICE AT 915 BROADWAY, 9TH FLOOR, ON THE FOURTH OF MAY, TWO THOUSAND AND SIX.

WHEREAS, for too long, beer-sharing, staff-crossover (we're looking at you, Rebecca Traister and Suzy Hansen) and mutual liberal head-nodding has taken place between the staffs of the New York Observer and Salon.com, and;

WHEREAS, Salon.com Editor in Chief Joan Walsh thinks that Observer D.C. correspondent Chris Lehmann eats babies, or at least is one of the "apologists for the status quo" for his story in this week's paper which roasts D.C. and its press corp lifers, and;

WHEREAS, Ms. Walsh also calls Mr. Lehmann's wife, Ana Marie Cox, one of the "pathetic prisoners of the Beltway" (she's actually allowed to pathetically venture up and down the seaboard, let it be known), and;

WHEREAS Ms. Walsh's piece is the third attempt by Salon--on the heels of "Colbert's Smart Bomb" and "The Truthiness Hurts"--to argue for what is supposed to be a self-evident proposition, thereby undermining itself by its own being, and;

WHEREAS, Salon's interstitial ads confront would-be users with the message "Good commercials are as rewarding as the Salon journalism they support," with which they must choose to "Agree" or "Disagree," leaving the user in a desperate Tron-world binary conundrum of surely unintended ironies in which disagreement loops back around to agreement, and;

WHEREAS, Ms. Walsh cannot perceive what Observer senior editor Tom Scocca has since dubbed The Inverse Dean Scream Effect—the inverse part being that the Dean Scream made total contextual sense to those in attendance at that long-ago post-caucus rally in Iowa but only appeared ludicrous in endless media transmissions, whereas Stephen Colbert's White House Correspondents Association Dinner routine was hilarious and sense-making in transcript yet not, according to attendees such as Mr. Lehmann, really at all funny in person, and;

WHEREAS, we are all equally fucked now that the Washington Post's Richard Cohen has finally arrived to the party to complain about Mr. Colbert's "rudeness" toward Our Commander in Chief, thereby retroactively conjuring into being that same thin-skinned and comedy-deficient Washington Press Corps Reaction whose existence had been the subject of dispute, thus leaving this topic as dead as a minimum of 34,711 Iraqi civilians, still, then;

NOW therefore be it resolved that The Transom hereby executes an Authorization of Use of Military Force against Salon.com.

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Comments
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Frank Sagevsal (not verified) says:

Declaration of war seems a tad bit extreme, couldn't we just get a congressional resolution and then do what we want and classify everything? P.S. when do we get to start torturing detainees?

Marshall M (not verified) says:

Now THAT wasn't funny.

You're in good company with Richard Cohen.

Ale (not verified) says:

you suck

Alexandro (not verified) says:

WHEREAS you, transom, manage to come off like both a smug prick and a broken record.

Jonathan (not verified) says:

"Tad" and "bit" are synonyms in this context. Please choose one or the other, not both, to modify "extreme."

jocutus (not verified) says:

"Authorization of Use of Military Force"? That is not the same as declaring war. C'mon guys, you'd just declare war if you had the Balls to do so. Well, Do you? Have the Balls?

Guess not.

molehill (not verified) says:

You can add Porter Goss to the list of the dead: Bush's a 'uniter' not a 'decider'.

Bush declared war on the middle class just before The Pet Goat incident.

JenniP. (not verified) says:

Didn't come around after the punch quick enough? Sour grapes?

epistemology (not verified) says:

Stipulated: Colbert wasn't funny.

That really wasn't what was remarkable about his performance. It is that, for a Whitehouse that has labored mightily to prevent anyone, even the American voters, from popping Bush's unreality bubble, someone got this close to Bush with a criticism.

And, no, Colbert was not rude. If making jokes about WMD's and jerking off horses, as George and Laura did at last year's dinner, isn't off base, neither is critiquing Bush's ineptitude and the press's docility.

Colbert: speaking truth to truthiness.

litbrit (not verified) says:

I'm still waiting for someone to explain how anyone--anyone--can deem Colbert's performance "rude" or "inappropriate" after The Great Decider put on that infamous Gee, I Can't Find Those Darned WMD's Anywhere video clip at the very same event, even as soldiers and civilians alike were dying as a result of his lies.

Stephen Nodvin (not verified) says:

When Richard Cohen says "anyone can insult the president of the United States. Colbert just did it, and he will not suffer any consequence at all.", he should have a talk with Joe and Valarie Wilson.

Stephen Nodvin

ghostrider (not verified) says:

", he should have a talk with Joe and Valarie Wilson"

The consequences of their criticism being a photo spread in Vanity Fair and a host of talk show and other speaking engagements. Or maybe you didn't mean beneficial consequences?

Ra (not verified) says:

What is this incoherent nonsense? Colbert was genuinely hilarious, Dicky Cohen was at least unintentionally funny..This is just lame, boring and dumb. Oh well at least all these no-talent hacks are getting *some* attention thanks to Colbert. Honestly who even knew who/what Chris Leeman was before this?

Jay Kuten (not verified) says:

Aside from the personal loss of her job the loss to the nation of Valerie Plame's outing was of the analyst with the broadest coverage of -- guess where? --
Yes. IRAN. Thus setting up the next play in which faulty intelligence is blamed for faulty leadership. Sorry to spoil this food fight with serious stuff but my guide book to world disasters is picking Sept. 15, 2006 as the rollout date for this new Iran model. I guess it won't be Andy Card to make the announcement but we'll all hear it loud and clear, nonetheless.

Caty Tota (not verified) says:

You guys are the 11685 best, thanks so much for the help.

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