>>Colbert did nothing for the issue but did lend support to the notion that those who support migrant workers (and the reform/upending of current immigration laws) are arrogant elitists<<

Yeah, I hope U R Kidding is playing character as well.  Wow, thanks to FireDogLake for making available the whole transcript, even if that is a slap in the face of our MSM punditry model of properly shaped “news” and requires viewers to actually think.  At any rate, Stephen is a brilliant observer of our current corrupt government and media, who are the mouths of fake outrage trying to draw attention away from his critical analysis, and into bought and paid for elitist agenda. 

I also hereby refuse, as a Progressive to call myself a Democrat, and to be associated with members of a party who would mock Colbert’s cause here, in pointing out the inhumanity going on in America daily (and who would typically rather “righteously” bemoan poor abused Chinese workers).  Such Corporatist Dems are a dangerous virus overtaking the Party in the name of securing Corporate money and solidifying their power.  So go ahead and vote Democrat regardless of the scumbags in this toxic brew.  Next year and beyond you will be rewarded with ever more sellouts and further twists to the Right.

Colbert did nothing for the issue but did lend support to the notion that those who support migrant workers (and the reform/upending of current immigration laws) are arrogant elitists.

gerard - as to our ‘national characteristic’ I read
the following:  Puritans were possessed of the
haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy. 
(The author went on to say that among conservatives
there is a haunting fear that someone, somewhere may
be getting social insurance.)

If true then and if still true today, I’d call this
possession/obsession a pathology (since I’m unable to
connect it to any underlying reality.)  And, if it is
our national characteristic…(fill in the blank.)

Having lived through the horror of the Nam War, most
of us felt that well, at least we’ll never do that
again. And here we are repeating the inanity in Iraq
and Afghanistan and (a developing) Pakistan. Which
begs the question, when does repetitive behavior go
from being a habit to a medical diagnosis. Perhaps
our ‘national characteristic’ is a full-blown
pathology?

S. Colbert’s celebrity status doesn’t change the fact that he made an honest,
unpretentious presentation about the nature of farm work and the condition of
immigrant workers. He is not a hero. He cannot save the US from itself but he did
something positive.

Felicity:  Not only the Right, unfortunately.  Power doesn’t “do” humor either, whether left or right.Yet, stop to think about it,  half of the left is all wound up in making fun of Palin rather than figuring out ways to defeat her at sthe polls.
  (On the between-laughter-and-tear point:  Current national instability has created a situation where tens of thousands are in deep mourning. Having a son or daughter killed in Iraq or Afghanistaon takes all the humor out of war, for sure.  Or having the banksters come and kick you out of your house, or haveing FBI kick in your door because you are working for peace. Or losing your job, and having hungry kids.
  Of course there is a crucial difference between being able to laugh at oneself for one’s own stupidity, and laughing at others. For many (maybe most) Americans their sense of self-worth is so frail that the least bit of parody threatens their frail egos.
  The expressions on the faces shown in the Colbert audience are studies in thinly masked scorn—scorn, that is, of Colbert, not of themselves.  Yet these same faces probably have no trouble laughing boorishly at even very cruel jokes about others less favored than themselves (minorities, etc.) on TV, at a movie. or in the clubhouse or living room..
  Sadly, Americans are known abroad for this particular boorishness, but most Americans don’t even care—which is another form of boorishness!
  Has anybody done a serious study on this national characteristic?  I’d like to know.

gerard - The Right doesn’t ‘do’ irony, sarcasm, double-
entendre, farce, satire, paradox - in a nut shell, just
plain wit. Which leads me to the possibility that the
Right could be just plain witless?

There seems to be a point that is being missed in all this. Stephen Colbert did something that none of the people who have demeaned his performance in front of Congress have ever done themselves, go out and do a days work in the fields with these people. Instead they have their staff meet with so called Patriots who are concerned about terrorism while they themselves meet with corporate lobbyists who don’t want to be handcuffed by the laws of humane treatment or the payment of decent wages.

As a kid growing up in a farm community during the summer I picked cotton, tomatoes, corn, and melons. I worked in the packing sheds. I was surrounded by people of all colors and all of them Americans. They made their living by following the harvests. By the standards of those days they made decent money. But then came the legal importation of Mexican workers and all those jobs went south. Then came the flood of illegal immigrant workers. One thing and one thing alone drove this, greed. Why pay a worker a living wage when you can pay him a pittance and if he is illegal, you may not have to pay him at all. There is this notion that we have farms in this country. If we do, I don’t know where they are as everything now is agribusiness and they run the show!

Imagine that it was possible to round up and export all these illegals back home. The first thing is all our human gathered crops would rot in the field. Americans will do these jobs if they paid a wage that allowed people to live on. That would mean the cost of a head of lettuce would be $5. A pound of peaches, $20! And Americans are addicted to cheap food and rich people don’t care what it costs because they will always have enough money.

It is time to realize that we need these people and we need to put a stop to the racism and exploitation that is driving this issue!

Well, done to you Colbert! The man who skewered Bush to his face skewered Congress and most of them don’t even realize it!

Just as Jon Stewart, whose fake news show contains more news than most “news” organizations, so Colbert’s testimony contains more truth about migrant labor in this country than these miserable excuses for politicians want to hear.

Colbert did not further the cause.  No one is talking about the plight of migrant workers.  I have yet to hear of one of Colbert’s defenders rushing out to become an activist for the cause.  Most of the praise for Colbert is that he poked his finger in the eye of the institution in desperate need of more credibility, not less. 

His appearance and those who praise him so lavishly have achieved one important thing.  They’ve reinforced why we are in the mess we’re in and how far away from anything better we actually are.

Chris Hedges this morning puts Colbert’s performance into the proper perspective.  It is certainly a sad state of affairs when a comedian with no expertise in a matter is praised for his testimony before Congress.  This was show, not substance. 
Nor will Colbert’s appearance do any good because the fundamental problem has not changed: our political system is completely corrupt and dysfunctional.  Colbert has only corrupted himself by taking part in the farce.  You can’t clean up a cesspool by jumping into it, no matter how clean you are!  It would have been better if he had stayed on the outside.

Bravo Colbert—-the Will Rogers of his generation! (Steny Hoyer might carry Colbert’s lunch in his dreams).

Again, somewhere between laughter and tears!  Seems that’s precisely where the entire country is at.