Stephen Colbert: What will he say in congressional testimony?
It鈥檚 true 鈥� Stephen Colbert is going to testify before Congress in character. He鈥檚 scheduled to appear Friday before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.
The hearing is titled 鈥淧rotecting America鈥檚 Harvest," and it鈥檚 supposed to start at 9:30, but Congress generally runs a bit behind schedule and Mr. Colbert is listed fourth on the witness list, behind a political science professor from Vanderbilt. So you probably don鈥檛 have to look in until 11 or so if you want to catch him on the webcast.
And a lot of people will want to watch, which is the point of having him, after all. We鈥檙e sure all the other testimony will be very, uh, interesting, but don鈥檛 you want to know what a fictional blowhard TV pundit will say about 鈥淧rotecting America鈥檚 Harvest鈥�? He鈥檒l probably start off by asking Congress to organize militias to help guard America鈥檚 crop of butternut squash.
Actually, there apparently is a real connection here: Colbert had the head of the United Farm Workers, Arturo Rodriguez, on his show in July, and accepted the 鈥淭ake Our Jobs鈥� challenge from Mr. Rodriguez. This challenge called for Colbert to take the job of an immigrant farm worker for a day or so, to demonstrate how hard that work is. The UFW posits that American citizens don鈥檛 want to have to underake this kind of labor anymore.
As Colbert said on his show Wednesday night, 鈥淚s farm work something Americans will do? Depends. Do corn fields have WiFi?鈥�
So Colbert went to the Gill Corn Farm in Hurley, N.Y, to investigate. And if the stuff he鈥檚 broadcast so far is any indication, the Democrats who invited him to testify don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e getting into.
Yes, he鈥檒l get lots of attention. But he鈥檚 a comedian 鈥� you don鈥檛 know what he鈥檒l say.
鈥淭he immigrant job I was hoping for was Mexican wrestler,鈥� he said Wednesday night in his first report on his Gill Corn Farm experience.
Let鈥檚 just hope he doesn鈥檛 bring a costume. Later on he interviewed Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D) of California about the immigrant farm challenge.
鈥淭his all seems fairly archaic to me,鈥� said Colbert. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 get our food from farms any more. We get it from grocery stores.鈥�
As you might expect, not every lawmaker is happy about fictional characters giving Congress expert advice.
鈥淲hat a joke. All the serious issues [we have], and we have Colbert as an 鈥榚xpert witness,鈥� 鈥� said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R) of Utah on his Twitter feed Wednesday.
