Ruth Marcus on Stephen Colbert's Congressional Appearance

When I first saw the title for the Washington Post opinion article "Stephen Colbert becomes another circus of Congress's making," I assumed it was going to be some Republican with a hot head complaining about Colbert's humor. After I started reading the article, I was surprised to see that Colbert was invited to testify in front of Congress regarding immigration issues. Of all people I'd invite if I were having a party, it surely wouldn't be one that was notorious for picking on and making a mockery of my friends and myself. But maybe that's just me...

Ruth Marcus writes about what she seems to think are mistakes made by Congress of having celebrities come in to testify, or simply to peak the interest of the Representatives on various issues. She gives a few other examples of these instances, and one that I found particularly hilarious was Elmo from Sesame Street coming in to talk about music education. She makes a valid point that although bringing in celebrities in hopes of piquing interest and raising ratings or coverage, it doesn't do much good for political interests in the end.

Through subtlety and lingering hints throughout the article, it is obvious to me that Ruth Marcus is no rookie in the game of politics, and probably wrote it in hopes of reaching not only the common public, but probably some of the members of Congress as well. If things in our government are going to change for the better, then inviting a guest speaker in that you know is going to be overly satirical and obnoxious for the setting, probably isn't going to help. From the article, the author reports Colbert saying "Maybe this ag jobs bill would help, I don't know. Like most members of Congress, I haven't read it." Although this is funny, I’d agree with Ruth that this kind of presentation and mockery probably doesn’t need to be included in our law making process.

Source:
Marcus, Ruth. "Stephen Colbert becomes another circus of Congress's making."
     Editorial. The Washington Post 29 Sept. 2010: n. pag. The Washington Post.
     Web. 30 Sept. 2010. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
     article/2010/09/28/AR2010092804802.html?nav=hcmoduletmv>.