I want to revisit this for just a moment, and the video I linked to earlier.
Andrew Sullivan wrote about what a deeply moving *religious* comment this was, and I'll link to his comment below, but after reading it, I watched that video one more time. Colbert, I think, really struggles about whether to drop out of character at the end. He runs his hand through his hair, and seems to have a moment of debate as to how to answer the simple question of "why?" He decides to drop the kayfabe and just answer the question and says what may be the most honest answer given within the walls of Congress this year: an answer that subtly drops in the quote from the Bible to pays the whole thing off (and I don't like using the term pay in this case, but I don't have time to find the right term). This is the second time Colbert has entered "their" house (the first was the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner). Both times he was savaged by much of the media because he pointed out that the emperor had no clothes. In the afternoon, MSNBC.com had a huge picture of Colbert on their home page with the all-caps headline "IS THIS A JOKE?" as if there was absolutely nothing to learn from what he said or did. In my office, MSNBC is on one of the TVs with the audio off, and Chris Matthews and two other people were yapping away with a graphic that clearly indicated disgust with the fact that he had soiled their precious talking time with something that didn't fit today's narrative. Andrew Sullivan: http://sn.im/16sxv5 On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 2:17 PM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote: > Colbert's character went to a vegetable farm in NY earlier in the > year, and was invited to speak as part of the Subcommittee on > Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International > Law. > > After being asked to leave by Rep John Conyers, only to be rebuffed by > the committee chair who invited him, Colbert gave an opening statement > and answered questions from the panel, including Rep Peter King's > bizarre attempt to somehow spin a comment Colbert made on his show > into a "gotcha" moment. He dropped character only at the end, when > asked why he chose to do this (which is the video clip at the bottom). > > Chicagoist: http://chicagoist.com/2010/09/24/colbert_takes_on_congress.php > Colbert's closing statement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptZO9Kk1cWI -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
