We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
— Anais Nin

More pics here.

If you put tomfoolery into a computer, nothing comes out of it but tomfoolery. But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine, is somehow ennobled and no-one dares criticize it.

-Pierre Gallois

Stress Canary - noun

1. the person on a team or project that feels the effects of stress well before anyone else
2. a modern version of a canary in a coal mine, someone who reacts to stress as an early warning signal

Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

– Calvin Coolidge

Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert’s political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion.

The title of the original research paper was “The Irony of Satire“. It would certainly be ironic if The Colbert Report actually made conservatives more entrenched in their opinions.

This might also explain how Colbert was able to perform at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner back in 2006 without any of the event organizers thinking it was a bad idea…