Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central will testify before the Subcommittee on Immigration on Friday along with Arturo Rodrigez, president of United Farm Workers.
Remember a story back last summer involving Stephen Colbert and a the “I want to be a Farm Worker” campaign?
Arturo Rodrigez, president of United Farm Workers, joins Stephen Colbert to discuss the impact illegal immigrants have on American workers. Additionally, he discusses the difficulty of agriculture work and insists that most Americans don’t want this kind of work. The above application is on his website at www.takeourjobs.org. He had 3 applications he has placed in the fields. Colbert makes the 4th.
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Colbert worked with Arturo Rodrigez and his efforts to show that immigrant agricultural workers were not taking jobs from Americans. Colbert literally worked in the fields as part of this initiative. I expect it is those experiences he plans on sharing with Congress.
Stephen Colbert presents his point of view to Congress:
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Meanwhile, Gretchen, Doocy and Killmeade are all having hissy fits that a ‘comedian’ would be called in to testify before Congress. There is a rumor that Colbert will testify in character. They spent Thursday morning taking crack shots at Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, saying that Comedy Central was the station of the Democratic Party.
The irony was, Bill O’Reilly just interviewed Jon Stewart on Wednesday. During the interview O’Reilly remarked to Stewart that he mocked both parties and satirized President Obama. Apparently the terrible morning trio of friends doesn’t listen to O’Reilly. Gretchen was the most outraged that a comedian would be testifying. Doocy mocked Colbert and the entire Comedy Central line-up. Gretchen even remarked that some people considered Stewart to be a news reporter or something to that effect. I found that no stranger than people thinking she was a news reporter. Stewart at least admits he mocks people. Their outrage was amusing.
Certainly we will hear more from Colbert and his congressional testimony. Didn’t Kevin Costner just testify before Congress?
Today we might find out the real reason Colbert testified before the congressional subcommittee. Is there any reason anyone can think of that Colbert should not be testifying before congress? Is it, as Carlson stated, a waste of the taxpayers’ money?
Watching it now… live
where? which station?
found it but I think I missed Stephen Colbert testifying.
CNN. com streaming for free
CNN. com streaming for free
@Moon-howler
He has not had a chance to speak yet. @ 10:11am
No I didn’t/ He is on c-span 3. He has not testified yet. It should be in about a half hour or between 10:30 and 11:00.
There is a mis-conception about this whole agriculture industry… Agriculture, like most necessity industries is not limited to a corporate world… every single person here has the potential to grow their own produce at home. There is some initial investment in equiptment and the process will require some time and difficult work, but if you hold the course, you will never have to buy any produce at the store again.
If you yeild a large enough crop you can even generate profit (as long as you follow Federal Health Regulations)
You pay the high price at the store for the convienience of not having to do the work yourself.
I hear its going really well for Gilbert. Apparently John Conyers is a big fan!
Colbert
Colbert is saying very little… just little jokes now and then.
A debate has started about immigration reform…
Alright.. now he’s warming up… He was asked why he took interest in the cause of migrant farm workers and Colbert says that he’s fascinated by the plight of people who are invited to come and work, given no rights or proper compensation, are asked to leave… then are asked to come back again…
I see it as since the American slavery expieriment failed, now the trend is for the corporate plantation owners to try and trick others to be slaves so they can generate the maximum profit while sustaining minimal loss…
Want this to stop? Make for yourself what the company wants you to buy and you destroy them… and do not think for a second they don’t know that…
They will buy politicians on both sides of the isles and from the grassroots in order to do whatever they can to stop you from being selfsuficient.
I thought Colbert missed a good opportunity to make a very serious point. He should have stepped out of the funny guy role to make it.
But that’s me. I often don’t think Colbert is all that funny.
Nither do I and I think his appearance was a waste of time.
What a shame. Stewart would have been better. He knows when to be serious and when to make a joke.
Next to testify before a congressional committee……Borat.
I believe the answers he gave afterwards were more to the point. His appearanced did bring attention to the agriculture situation.
I do believe his original soliloqy to congress could have been better presented as his findings rather than as satire. Not everyone gets satire. Congress as a whole doesn’t give us the sharpest knives in the drawer.
Slow, what did you think of Kevin Costner testifying before congress?
@Moon-howler
Same as Borat, same as Colbert.
@Moon-howler
If you’re talking about Costner’s testifying during the BP oil spill, I liked it. He testified because he had a solution to removing oil that he developed with HIS money and wanted to try it.
Colbert is ok. I just don’t enjoy his humor as much as I do Jon Stewart’s. Jon can also switch to a serious side quickly. He is informed and smart.
Cargo, I liked Costner testifying also. I don’t have a problem with Colbert testifying about doing stoop work either. I just wish he had put on his serious face to convey his message.
I would like congress to stay out of baseball though.
I’d like Congress to stay out of a lot of things……
Testimony posted above.
What a debacle that was, the only person on that committee I have any respect for now after that is Rep. John Conyers.
What was Zoe Lofgren thinking when she invited a comedian to talk about a serious issue to millions of people?
What’s next is Lady Gaga going to testify on DADT? Maybe they can get Special Agent OSO to testify on covert special ops in Afghanistan. How about Go Diego Go testifying about the rain forest and the environment.
They would have been better off having Handy Manny up there testifying on this subject.
Holy bat $hit batman, still in ‘moderation’… 🙁
One of the funniest committee meetings I ever saw. That part about whether Colbert was packing corn into the crates or taking it out was hilarious. The committee member from Iowa said it looked in the video either like he was taking it out or the video was being run backwards. Colbert says he was packing it. A probable answer? Rookie Colbert was packing it wrong to begin with and had to have a do-over. Somebody forgot to turn off the camera.
Good to see that Black woman up there attempting to pursue the issue of jobs for Blacks. The last unemployment stats I have seen: Blacks 15.4%, Hispanics 12%, Asians and Whites much lower. However, we are not just talking farm jobs here. Sheila from Texas seemed to be heading in that particular direction when she talked about the inner city and the unlikelihood that transporting Blacks from the inner city to the rural areas for farm work was an answer. But, you might try that construction project right down the street.
So actually, after watching the whole thing, I think this may have been the perfect presentation for the immigration committee. So Congress goes home, without acting on the Bush tax cuts, with businesses across the nation not knowing what their tax status will be come Jan 1. Nothing causes businesses to want to expand and hire like uncertainty. Congress adjourns without leadership on this important issue, but has this spectacle to end their session. If I could hand-pick the last thing this Congress does before facing re-election, I could not have done better than this. This is…..in a word….perfect!!!
If there was ever a congress that needed to be made into a mockery, a circus, this would be the one.
Sheila who I believe is named Sheila jackson Lee was very impressive in that meeting. I hope I remembered her name correctly.
It would be a simple matter to block tax increases on businesses and allow them to go up on individuals in the upper 2%…but then that would include congress, wouldnt it. They wont like that much [best Jon Stewart voice]
I think you got the name right. Rep from Houston area, I think? She of the North and South Vietnam and the Armstrong-planted flags on Mars.
I don’t know anything about her other than I thought her comments on the topic were interesting and she showed a substantial amount of knowledge, unlike many members of congress of both stripes.
You know, regardless of what Colbert said or didn’t say, his presence brought national attention to the issue. That isn’t a bad thing, in my book.
@Moon-howler
As I said, I fully approve of Colbert’s invitation to testify and his performance. I couldn’t have done it better myself.
Well, I am going to stand by my original thought and say that he missed an opportunity to fully articulate problems involving all people who do this kind of agricultural work but especially immigrants. It’s a rough way to make a living.
I did not even think he was all that funny. He did do a decent job of responding to questions. I wish he had cut the ‘in character’ part very short and really said what was on his mind.
Apparently I am not alone. I don’t think he wasted Congress’s time. I do think he missed an opportunity.
“Sheila Jackson Lee was very impressive in that meeting.”
I think that this is the first time, in the history of “print” that this statement about Sheila Jackson Lee was ever made……..
Which says A LOT about how bad the REST of those politicians are……
I would have attributed those comments she made to either Dan Quayle or Sarah Palin. Too funny. Glad I wasn’t taking the quiz.
Maybe Sheila Jackson Lee has improved with her foot in mouth comments. She sounded fine yesterday. I haven’t followed her career. Not on my radar.