Poor Richard Cohen, he's been receiving hate mail ever since he said that he was funny, and Colbert isn't.

His proof Colbert isn't funny? Colbert doesn't have the ratings of American Idol.

What to make of all this? First, it's not about Colbert. His show has an audience of about 1 million -- not exactly "American Idol" numbers.

Oh, and if you disagree with him, you will extend the war in Iraq.

But the message in this case truly is the medium. The e-mails pulse in my queue, emanating raw hatred. This spells trouble -- not for Bush or, in 2008, the next GOP presidential candidate, but for Democrats. The anger festering on the Democratic left will be taken out on the Democratic middle. (Watch out, Hillary!) I have seen this anger before -- back in the Vietnam War era. That's when the antiwar wing of the Democratic Party helped elect Richard Nixon. In this way, they managed to prolong the very war they so hated.
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Now, though, that gullibility is being matched by war critics who are so hyped on their own sanctimony that they will obliterate distinctions, punishing their friends for apostasy and, by so doing, aiding their enemies. If that's going to be the case, then Iraq is a war its critics will lose twice -- once because they couldn't stop it and once more at the polls.

Sorry Richard, we don't think you're Bush's lap dog because you don't like Colbert. We think so because you unapologetically supported the Iraq war, and because all you do is bitch and moan about a liberal movement that has left you in the dust. And helping elect Richard Nixon isn't an apt comparison, Bush is about as popular as Nixon after watergate. Your argument might have applied to the 2004 election, not the next. And, let's be clear. You're not our friend, that's why you're getting hate mail.

Colbert wasn't there to make you or anyone else in that audience (yeah you weren't there) laugh. As an astute commenter has pointed out, it was a beautiful act of Dada genius. He was there to screw with the audience, and have his own laugh at your (as in the media's) expense as he always does, every night. His response reminds me of those hysterical interviews of the audience members of the wrestling matches Andy Kaufman went to as a fake Hollywood anti-woman villain wrestler. They couldn't seem to wrap their minds around the fact that Kaufman wasn't there to be loved and play monkey for the audience, quite the opposite. This seems to be the big disconnect. The audience at the correspondents' dinner expected some nice safe old-fashioned comedian to prance about for them and make them feel good about themselves by prodding gently at their egos. Sorry, Colbert wasn't going to be your monkey boy, he was there to kick you all in the pants for his and our benefit. Not yours.

Cohen feels victimized because so many people disagreed with him that he couldn't open his email up and read fawning love-letters to his outdated and boring mealy-mouthed mediocrity. I'm crying.

Here's some advice to Cohen and all the other so-called liberal op-ed writers out there who don't get what's happening. You guys have failed us, failed us all. We are creating a new system; a new political operation through the netroots. Our favorite shows exist to mock you and your ineffectual coverage of the biggest presidential failure in U.S. history. Get with it, join us, we'll forgive all and welcome you back into the fold. Don't be complacent and expect your print op-eds to be the dominant form of liberal discussion for all time. Log in to Daily Kos and find out what your liberal brethren are doing. Don't shit on it, it's the future, and it will leave you in the dust if you don't adapt.