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Posted on 09/25/2010 9:45:03 AM PDT by Qbert
Amid a high stakes struggle to connect with voters, House Democrats turned Friday to celebrity comedian Stephen Colbert to highlight the plight of migrant farm workers.
He promptly returned the favor by turning Congress — specifically a Judiciary subcommittee — into his personal comedy club.
Ditching his “prepared” testimony, Colbert delivered a punch-lined discourse on his chief qualification as an expert on the issue: A 10-hour stint working the fields. Staying in the character of a faux TV newsman, he also threw in a few one-liners more suitable for a late-night show on Comedy Central or Cinemax than morning C-SPAN.
"No doubt we just locked up the Comedy Channel vote," Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis chided. "My opinion, we should forget social satirists. Given Congress' low approval, maybe we should invite the 'Glee' cast to perform next."
Colbert's antics certainly brought national attention to the hearing room, though it’s unclear whether anyone will remember the real point of the hearing — migrant workers in America — as much as they’ll remember the day the Colbert Circus came to Congress.
Colbert delighted in asking whether he could "submit video of my colonoscopy into the Congressional Record," talking about getting a Chilean to give him a "Brazilian" wax — a delicate-area hair-removal procedure. And he apologized to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) for using the term "cornpacker" because it is "an offensive term for gay Iowans."
While Colbert might have killed it for his "nation" of TV followers, he bombed with political strategists and analysts in both parties.
For a Democratic majority that has had difficulty demonstrating to voters that its policies are addressing their needs, Colbert provided another day off message and, perhaps, an emblem of a party that has lost its footing as it limps toward a preelection adjournment.
David Corn, who writes for the liberal Mother Jones magazine, tweeted "Colbert is making a mockery of this hearing."
Republicans were more harsh.
"I thought top libs were out of touch elitists. Colbert's visit to Congress proved me right," Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture for the conservative Media Research Center, told the world from his Twitter account.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who was apprised ahead of time of Colbert's planned appearance by Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), praised his performance — and some lawmakers and aides were quick to defend the decision to bring him in as an expert witness, noting that it is consistent with past efforts to use celebrities to bring attention to an issue.
"Of course I think it’s appropriate. He's an American, right? He came before the committee. He has a point of view. He can bring attention to an important issue like immigration. I think it's great," Pelosi told reporters.
But there was division among Democratic lawmakers and aides — even in leadership circles — over whether he should be allowed to testify before the subcommittee. While some were quick to point out the positive aspects of his testimony, no one POLITICO spoke with claimed it was a brilliant or graceful stratagy.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers seemed to be onto Colbert’s shtick before the comedian started delivering his one-liners, asking whether Colbert would be willing to simply submit his statement for the record instead of actually talking.
"No hablo Ingles" — "I don't speak English," — Colbert replied.
That should have tipped everyone off to what they were in for.
Colbert asked Lofgren if she’d prefer that he leave the room.
She wanted him to stay.
Colbert began speaking after Conyers withdrew his request — quickly moving past his somber prepared remarks — handed out to the media — in favor of the sort of comedy featured on his show.
“Please don’t make me do this again; it is really, really hard,” Colbert said of spending a day in the fields at the invitation of the president of the United Farm Workers union. “Most soil is at ground level. If we can put a man on the moon, how come we can’t make the earth waist-high. Come on, where is the funding?!”
News that Colbert would be testifying on the Hill had some fans lining up as early as 6:30 a.m. for a seat in the committee room. Code Pink protestors turned out, as did a slew of TV cameras.
Lofgren warned the audience to “maintain decorum” — and noted Capitol Police were on hand to remove hecklers.
Not surprisingly, the conservatives whom Colbert pillories nightly were unamused by his presence, with some complaining that it was a waste of government resources.
“A few years ago, when debating himself on his show, he asked ‘Don’t we want to have cheap labor for all the jobs we don’t want to do?'” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) recalled. He responded, “Yeah, unless you’re an American landscaper or an American construction worker.” Then Colbert added, “But I am an American TV host. My job is safe.”
“Millions of Americans wish they didn’t have to compete with cheap foreign labor and had such a safe job,” Smith said.
The performance was a hit with most members of "Colbert Nation," though Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), himself a fan and former guest of Colbert's, told Roll Call on Thursday that he thought it inappropriate for the host of Comedy Central's "Colbert Report" to testify as an expert witness on an immigration issue.
Several terms associated with Colbert's testimony were among the top trending phrases on Twitter Friday afternoon, so the comedian achieved the goal of attracting attention to his testimony.
Marin Cogan contributed to this story.
The Dems have a 'message'??
They brought him in and hyped up all this faux outrage to distract people from the DOJ scandal...
If I didn’t know better, I would say we have a mole inside Zoe Lofgren’s staff...
Colbert knocked the Dims off message?
Uh, what other plausible reason is there to turn a taxpayer financed, mulit-million dollar meeting into a circus, at the Democratic leaderships invititation?
If the RNC were in charge, and they brought in a comedian in to testify, would the DNC be outraged? Would the DNC have called a press conference to call the RNC out as time-wasters, power-hungry idiots?
Just another example of the RNC being dumber than the average person who rides the “short bus”. They are too stupid to realize when they are being insulted, and too cowardly to call the DNC on it.
Craven, spineless idiots, the entire lot of them.
Colbert fits the dems like a glove. He’s one big joke.
“If I didn’t know better, I would say we have a mole inside Zoe Lofgren’s staff...”
:-)
Democrats keep this kind of garbage up, and the GOP will be totally unable to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, per usual.
I am sure Big Bird and Scooby-Doo will get their say on the matter too.
Wow. Talk about a circus act.
And provided himself faux ‘balance’ credibility going into the campaign season.
MSM will use this as proof he “picks on everybody”, which is of course B.S.
Never thought I'd live to see a day when I strongly agreed with David Corn.
However, he is still a smug asshat.
Does anyone think my idea in Post #9 will have any affect?
Colbert didn’t make a mockery of the hearing, the dimwitted committee chairwoman who invited him to testify did.
It highlighted, as if it were not already obvious, how irrelevant Congress has become when they waste time like this and on things like whether or not athletes are on steroids but fail to pass a budget or address the tax rates.
Clean them ALL out!!!!!
America is in shambles. Colbert and his butt buddy, Stewart, think it’s a laughing matter. Unreal. These two pixies are not Americans, they are morons. America really doesn’t need the Colbert/Stewart/Maher circle jerk right now. We’ve got big problems we’ve got to fix.
If that passes for comedy these days (fans were lining up early????), then I guess a LOT of people will easily laugh at watching grass grow & paint dry, because Colbert's "performance" was easily on par with that. I suppose further that if these same people laugh at literally anything, they voted the same way & gave us O-bomb-O.
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Rush said that the whole purpose of the Colbert circus was to create a distraction from the testimony about the Justice Dept and the Black Panthers.
Yes, I have read a couple posts to that effect here. I grant that RATS are fully capable of such a tactic, but have a hard time believing it in this case. Coates only agreed to testify two days before the hearing on Friday. Hard to believe that Zoe Lofgren could have arranged for Colbert and his act on such short notice.
“Yes, I have read a couple posts to that effect here. I grant that RATS are fully capable of such a tactic, but have a hard time believing it in this case. Coates only agreed to testify two days before the hearing on Friday. Hard to believe that Zoe Lofgren could have arranged for Colbert and his act on such short notice.”
Yeah, but- just doing a quick scan here- I think it was only officially announced that Colbert would be testifying two days ago, as well:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2594357/posts
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Could the public's opinion of Congress go any lower? They allowed this guy to come in and show absolute contempt for the institution of Congress. I applaud him for doing it; they deserve it.