I’ve got Charleston’s own Steven Colbert every damn time. And the fact that we’ve got reporters and talking heads siding with Congress should tell you how warped and twisted our world has become.

Guess what boys and girls, it is impossible to mock a congressional hearing. Most of them are farces already, and all are surely theater. I assumed it was common knowledge — at least among those who hold themselves out there as “experts” on American politics — that hearings on Capitol Hill have as much stagecraft as a good Broadway show.

Panel members are fed lines by staff and there are often huge behind-the-scenes rows over who gets to recite the best lines. I kid you not. Personal staff versus committee staff, junior versus senior staff — this is very, very big stuff in the tiny, brutal world of real Washington.

Members are whisked into the hearings, handed a script, maybe whispered some last minute spin, and off they go. This explains why so many members did not react to Colbert’s bit — they probably had no idea who he was — just that he was not “their” witness, a guy they had pushed to get in the hearing — and staff saw no reason to confuse them by trying to explain what was going on.

This is how the Beltway power machine has functioned (sic) for decades now. All illusion and show, the only substance being how best to snatch away more wealth and power for the elites. Any means are permissible, including mawkish drama, unending pathos, and inventive terror. Guess Colbert’s sin was that he pulled back the curtain while a set-change was underway.

Bonus Observation: How absurd is it that Rep. Peter King (R-NY) Rep. Steve King, R-IA has never seen any of Colbert’s TV antics? What does that tell you about how out-of-touch DC is with the rest of the country?