Stephen Colbert Testifies Before Congress

Earlier today, comedian Stephen Colbert testified for the House Judiciary Subcommittee for Immigration.

For those that don’t know, Colbert hosts the Colbert Report (pronounced ‘kole BEAR Ree pour’) weeknights on Comedy Central. Following the lead-in from The Daily Show, it continues the fake news concept with Colbert playing an over-the-top “Conservative” pundit, loosely modeled after Bill O’Reilly. Since the show began, starting life as a simple skit on the Daily Show, Colbert has done numerous appearances, but never is seen out-of-character. And what a character: loose with the facts, assumptions without evidence, self-absorbed, and refusing to consider ‘liberal,’ positions, or, in other words, everything the left believes about conservative pundits such as O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, and Beck.

From CSPAN, here’s the video of his opening statement. Mostly in character, but I admit he seemed a bit humbled by the venue as well.

As a general rule, I’m leery of any so-called ‘celebrity’ testifying on almost any topic. If you make movies for a living, what expertise could you offer on cost-benefit analysis of targeted tax cuts?

That being said, however, it is the right and responsibility of all citizens to let their opinions be known, either through direct testimony, letters to your congressperson, conversations with neighbors, and most importantly, at the ballot box. I don’t begrudge anyone the chance to address a Congressional Committee, especially when they were invited by a congress member. I just don’t want to see someone who has an opinion be touted as some “expert” on a subject simply because they hold some degree of fame.

While there is some publicity-stunt mockery going on, this little display wasn’t so nearly over-the-top that I has suspected it might have been. No doubt we will be seeing and hearing reference to this on both The Daily Show and Colbert for days and weeks to come.

Actually, now that I think about it, how better to address a joke of a Congress than by using a comedian.

Update: Michelle Malkin passes on a new challenge for Colbert.

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/27/a-grieving-americans-invitation-for-stephen-colbert/