The Colbert Retort

Stephen Colbert's announcement that he's running for President--but only in South Carolina and as both a Dem and a Rep--gives me the inspiration to write about him, which I've never done before.

In short, I don't get it.

Jon Stewart I understand. He's mocking people in power and occasionally tries to give viewers the real goods--he'll interview writers, politicians, etc. and trying to get to some point that most mainstream media morons don't have the time, guts, or intelligence to ask. Good on ya.

But Colbert...he's just playing a mean-spirited caricature that I don't find fun or edifying. What's left once you've sorted your way through the meta-concept? What separates watching him from watching sewage like Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly? That it's all supposed to be some kind of a joke? I'm not laughing, anyway.

Maybe it's that I personally find it useless to watch a show so expertly parodying, or is that parroting, mean-spirited right-wing bigots. Don't we have enough of them in power right now? And it's supposed to be must-watch TV because it's all a joke?

This is hard to say, because I know someone who works on the show, but the inside-jokiness of Colbert, the tail chasing its own tail, just drives me batty. People love the guy, but...you'd better count me out. I guess on a basic level, I don't feel a need to watch a parody of something I'd never watch in real life--especially if that thing is so harsh and hectoring.

Peace.