WASHINGTON – There are congressional hearings and there are comedy shows, and the twain rarely meet.
So when a House panel on immigration combined them on purpose last week with testimony from Stephen Colbert (kohl-BEHR’) and his “truthy” alter ego, debate broke out on the proper roles of the many celebrities — from Angelina Jolie to Bono to Elmo — who advocate in Washington.
Debate broke out. All on its own. In no way influenced by a desire to bitch about a TV comedian rather than talk about the issues he was raising in his testimony.
I hate this, because I can see so clearly how easily the story could have gone the other way, away from the celebrity-filled Twitter ramblings and toward how Colbert’s presence shone a light on the plight of workers most people only think about when they’re demonizing them on semi-literate teawad signs. Take this story apart, see where it could have been done differently, and you start to see how and why it wasn’t.
Die already, AP. Go sue some bloggers.
A.