Television: The American Bald Ego

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Stewart has an inherently likable role, our bemused Virgil in the Inferno of media clichés. Colbert plays the devil himself: the millionaire pundit pretending to stand up for the little guy. He can even demagogue astronomy. When astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson told him Pluto should not be considered a planet, Colbert debated him thusly: "Isn't that just East Coast liberal intellectual ... did you go to an Ivy League school?" "Yes, I did." "... Ivy League-- educated people telling us what is or isn't a planet?"

There's an obvious political spin to that caricature--recall the 2004 election, when the Bush campaign positioned itself against ivory-tower liberal élites. Colbert's persona has a conservative bent: in his words, he's a reflexive "Blame America last-er" and has a dog named Gipper. But Colbert is also spoofing the general trend in news to pander to emotion, to value graphics over thinking, gut over brain. "That, I think, is the nutmeat of the show," he tells me. "Enough mind. We tried mind for a long time, and what has it gotten us? You know, except for vaccinations." Credit Colbert's gut or his head for The Colbert Report, but his pontificating deserves a standing bloviation.