You may not know Stephen Colbert. He has a politically oriented comedy show on cable TV. But whatever your views – if you have any – of Colbert, it was ridiculously frivolous when a Democrat member of the U.S. House of Representatives invited him to bring his comedy routine to a meeting of a House immigration subcommittee.
Colbert’s “testimony” was a satirical rant that may be appropriate for his TV show but was a waste of time for a congressional committee that is supposed to be dealing with an important subject.
Though Colbert is a liberal and was invited to “testify” by Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, other Democrats joined Republicans to express disappointment, if not disgust, over his flippant remarks. He sarcastically claimed, for instance, that he had “vast” knowledge of immigration issues from having worked one day on a New York farm.
The routine was so distracting that even liberal Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., asked Colbert to “leave the committee room completely and submit your statement instead.”
And the second-ranking House Democrat, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said on “Fox News Sunday,” “I think his testimony was not appropriate.” He called it “an embarrassment.”
We agree.
All Americans are entitled to their views, but Congress need not give a comedian a congressional platform for silly remarks.