Did dinner host open up too wide?

THE “debate” over Stephen Colbert’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner misses the point [“The Report on Colbert: No Smiles From Scribes,” by Scott Collins, May 2]. Colbert’s aim wasn’t to please the attendees; there was no trace of anxiety when a “zinger” was received in silence. His real audience was at home, and his aim was to make his allegiances clear. On that, it was no flop.

If his performance wasn’t funny, perhaps it was because he wasn’t joking and it was all too true.

LEE MENTLEY

Los Angeles

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AN equivalent attack on President Clinton would never have been tolerated or aired by the gatekeepers of the liberal media. Could you imagine Colbert attacking Clinton with the same kind of vitriol for using the Oval Office to gratify his sexual perversities -- betraying wife, family and country, then shaking his finger at us and lying into the camera?

Bush was a gentleman for taking it on the chin. He’s a bigger man than his critics and will go down in history as a great president, regardless of the currently dismal popularity polls.

JIM GOLDING

Costa Mesa