Yep, it Was a Circus; and Yep it Distracted from the Real Story

So Stephen Colbert testified, not as Colbert the regular guy who has a few thoughts on illegal immigrant workers and just wants to share them but as “Stephen Colbert” who is so buried in parody it’s sometimes hard to figure out where the joke ends and the man begins.  And it was as bad as I suspected it would be.

Going by the Daily Caller’s rush transcript “highlights” we get this string of thoughts:

America’s farms are presently far too dependent on immigrant labor to pick our fruits and vegetables. Now the obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables....

Unfortunately, my gastroenterologist Dr. Ikener has informed me in no uncertain terms that there are [consequences]....

As evidence, I would like to insert a video of my colonoscopy into the congressional record.

Now I admit that last line is kind of funny.  But its wildly inappropriate.

Stephen Colbert should have had enough class and respect for the institution of Congress to drop his act and speak in serious tones.  I am not saying there is no room for joking, but this display was just disrespectful.  But then the committee disrespected itself first by calling him.

And of course all of this distracted us from the real story, which was the testimony about the Black Panther voting rights case.  I already linked to the apparent prepared remarks.  You will see an Ike Brown case being mentioned, here is a link to that.  Having read it, my big takeaway, besides the direct contradiction of prior testimony, is that this problem of the voting rights act being enforced in a racially discriminatory fashion predates the obama administration and often the career officials are as much a part of the problem as political appointees.  I joked the other day that “the Democrats do not judge whether you are a racist by the content of your character, but by the color of your skin.”  The Civil Rights Division judges whether racial discrimination has occurred by a similar standard.  The ideas that any of our laws should be enforced according to race is an anathema.

The irony is that by doing so, they threaten the very law they wish to enforce.  If it is found that the Voting Rights Act has the effect of violating the 15th Amendment, then that presents a very real danger that the law will be actually struck down.  So if only out of self-interest, organizations like the NAACP should insist on colorblind enforcement of that law.