Surely the Congress of the United States of America would be sullied by the presence of this simple teaser, the artist, this clown, apparently, fearless, not as himself but as his alter-ego of fiction, the talk show bloviating right host.
Turns out the joke was not real in Congress, but by Congress, or at least some of its members. They and their fellow travelers in the punditocracy would not or could not wrap his mind around the idea that satirists are citizens too. And they are often people with a way to reduce the right to the guts of an issue.
That does not mean it plays exactly that way. Most of Colbert is saying, and moving, even minutes before the committee was when he dropped his disguise and bombastic television as he spoke about "the least of our brothers," whose work does not always have fundamental rights fundamental.
Colbert had the opportunity, as it has in the past, pushing his fictional character in the real world. He left the two-hour meeting on Capitol Hill with only modest yucks, but with his credibility intact.
The same can not be said of Congress and at least a couple of irony-challenged hosts of cable news who insisted on doing as Colbert had attacked American workers cost taxpayers a lot of cash and threatened the, ahem, the integrity of Congress.
The roots of the audience standing in the room is only planted in late June, when the headquarters of the comedy was Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers of America in its program. Rodriguez described the "Take Our Jobs" campaign, designed to refute what the union says is the mythical wish lots of native-born Americans to run to the fields in search of jobs now stolen by illegal immigrants .
Colbert said the union leader who, despite their serious efforts had been able to find only three U.S. citizens who wanted to pick, prune, bend and sweat to their hearts content. The actor immediately agreed to sign to be the fourth seasonal agricultural workers.
Visited an upstate New York agricultural products and corn in late August to film a segment, along with the U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), who has also signed to be part of the education campaign for the UFW.
"The Colbert Report" aired segments of the farm Wednesday and Thursday night - with the host in a ridiculous hat and apron struggling to collect the beans, the theft of companion cube farm workers and, literally, on the down on the job.
Colbert distributed the required dose of nonsense, Lofgren calling a "Famous Mexican hugs" and suggesting that the whole concept of work in the field appeared "archaic."
"We have our food from farms," he said. "We have to get in the store."
The idea that Colbert could be having fun while trying to make a serious point - that has not proven to be a huge demand among U.S. citizens for agricultural work force - seemed lost on some of his listeners.
Even the idea that a comic character appears before the government sent some Fox News personalities of steam.
"Fox & Friends host Gretchen Carlson reported on Thursday the idea that" we will lose the money from the taxpayers of this type to go up in Congress that is supposed to sit there and take it. "
As far as I know the taxpayers own room and still have had the lights and microphones, not to mention the staff room to find three other witnesses - Rodriguez, owner of a farm and a political scientist (the last call by Republicans) to discuss whether immigrants are really needed to fill jobs in agriculture.
Some on the committee inadvertently proved to be almost as big as a wildcard Colbert, the laugh lines to unwanted background. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) seemed deadly serious when he opened his speech wondering if fruits and vegetables were so critical, as the Eskimos get along without them.
Republicans were not alone in your confusion about how to deal with Colbert. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) first praised the testimony of the committee, then suggested he leave before I had the opportunity to testify. Conyers said later that he had worried Colbert to turn the proceedings into a circus, he realized that Colbert said something very profound. "
Fox News Megyn Kelly soon had the King in his program and both agreed and the rest of America had suffered a serious offense. King called it "an insult to the intelligence of the American people that Congress is behaving this way."
Kelly proceeded to argue that the audience, and Colbert had a cost of U.S. $ 125.000. She came up with this figure by dividing the total budget of the Judiciary Committee - including staff and all other costs - for the number of hearings held per year.
No matter that the audience have taken place anyway, that Colbert had nothing to do with calling him or members of both parties have intervened earlier in the testimony of artists such as Bono, Clint Eastwood, Julia Roberts and Elmo .
The little people can see, nor long remember, but Colbert scored his strongest point near the end of the session when the representative Judy Chu (D-El Monte) asked him why, of all issues, which will focus on agricultural workers.
"I like talking about people who have no power," said Colbert, host of imitation vanished. "And it just seems like one of the least powerful in the United States are migrant workers who come to do our job, but do not have any rights as a result."
Colbert finished a minute later on a similar note. And when he did, for a brief moment there was silence. It was the sound smarter to leave the committee room all day.
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