Stephen Colbert interviews a Tea Party candidate for Congress who has a very interesting life outside of politics. These interviews where he goes off-site are some of his funniest bits.
(These clips aired on May 8, 2014. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post. If the videos autoplay, please see here for a diagnosis and possible solutions.)
I think in this one Colbert (the real person, not the character) comes across as a major jerk. It’s one thing to make fun of someone because he’s a Tea Party nut, but who cares whether he happens to get his jollies as a vampire larper, or playing D&D, or World of Warcraft, or as going to Star Trek conventions, or whatever? Would this be remotely funny if a conservative like Breitbart was doing it to a politician you happened to like? Are we really so polarized now that we’re going to stoop to kicking sand in the face of nerds, just because they happen to be of the other party? Personally, I’d like to see more gamers and imaginative people get into politics, not get driven off by segments like this.
The thing is, Colbert actually could have actually made this funny, as well as putting the real blame where it actually belongs (the hyperventilating media cretins who blew this whole story up in the first place) by pulling out his own long-established nerd cred. He ought to ask the questions that the lamestream media has been too dim to ask so far — does this guy play Tremaire, Brujah, Toreador, or what? Those are the kinds of questions that Florida voters will really need to have answered before they can make an informed decision!
Vampire larp is a bit more out there than other nerdly pursuits. Also, dude has multiple personae, which, at least in the larp communities with which I am familiar, is frowned upon, so the “who am I talking to now” stuff is probably fair game.
“Vampire larp is a bit more out there than other nerdly pursuits.”
…And?
“Also, dude has multiple personae, which, at least in the larp communities with which I am familiar, is frowned upon, so the “who am I talking to now” stuff is probably fair game.”
Still no relevance to his politics.
Living in the 3rd, and, oddly enough, registered as a republican, I’m going to vote for that clown in the primary, I have met and despise Yoho that much. No, I won’t vote for him in the general election. Worse case we get another teabagger and Yoho out of office before he can grow roots and accumulate power. If we can’t keep them out of office maybe we can limit them to one term. Not an ideal solution but maybe the best anyone can manage.
Fact is that I’ve only one vote for a Republican, ever. A congressman in Virginia. I registered as a Republican wayyyy back when Eisenhower, reasonable and far left of where even Democrats are presently, was still a role model for the party.
I think it was unfair to come down so hard on his LARP activities but you have to ask what he was thinking going on The Colbert Report. Obviously he didn’t do his homework figuring out what the show was about and anticipating the obvious questions. Which suggests that he isn’t ‘the sharpest tool in the drawer’. So, at some level, I think he deserves whatever he gets.
I read the headline and thought, “FFS, of course congress needs fresh blood!!!” And fresh meat, preferably human and young.
You don’t think all of them are human do you?
While this could be funny it isn’t. It assumes there aren’t any real Vampires or Werewolves among the GOP, facts that are not in evidence and explain nothing.
Although really, while there are Vampires, they aren’t supernatural, and they feed on money, the poor and middle classes, and economic vitality.
I don’t think this interview will harm Rush in any way and may actually help him. To me at least he came across as someone with an unusual hobby and he handled himself well.