That's the count on Google News' leads of the coverage of the testimonies of comedian Stephen Colbert and Dept. of Justice official Christopher Coates. Colbert testified before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. Coates appeared before the US Civil Rights Commission. Here are the print-screen grabs, click to enlarge.
These grabs were taken at 5:45 p.m., Sept. 24 CDT. One thing I find informative is that the top three news leads of Colbert's testimony (abc7news, WaPo blog, CBS News) do not state the name of the subcommittee Colbert spoke to. It's just identified as a hearing on immigration. I had to drill down through Huffington Post to get the name.
Note that the major media covered Colbert exhaustively, but were conspicuously absent from covering Coates. That was left almost completely to online media, especially blogs. From curiosity, I watched NBC News primetime broadcast. Colbert was the lead story. There was no mention ever of Coates. And they wonder why their viewersehip is plummeting?
Fortunately and commendably for Colbert, his "testimony" was dripping with all the sober gravitas it deserved.
As one of Instapundit's reader, Trent Nix, emailed,
I’m hearing lots of reporters and members of the intelligentsia bemoan Colbert’s testimony as “making a mockery” of the hearing, but I can’t say I see it that way. It’s certainly unfortunate that he’s distracting a few talking heads from the DOJ-Black Panther brouhaha, but he’s also doing an important work as well. He’s exposing the ridiculous nature of these hearings and the circus that our political class indulges in. I’ve got a feeling that even Colbert thinks it was absurd that he’s testifying and is fully committed to exposing how deeply absurd it really is. I’d like to say the man and his bit is a work of genius if all of this weren’t so obvious what would happen from the outset.Which is about what I thought myself. Coates' testimony, however, "is a bombshell," wrote Scott at Power Line.
Coates's testimony is a bombshell. It exposes a couple of Obama administration scandals at once. One involves the Obama administration's attempt to cover up the rationale for burying the case against the NBPP [New Black Panther Party]. The other involves the Obama administration's support for the racially based administration of justice. Coates's testimony is suggestive of other scandals as well. You probably won't be hearing much about it on the broadcast news tonight or in the papers tomorrow, but we all should do everything we can to get the word out.Done and done. But at least the WaPo and the CSM have covered Coates.
- WaPo: "Justice official says bias led to 'gutting' of New Black Panthers case."
- CSM: "New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case: 'Bombshell' for Obama?" The CSM's summary of the case is better than the WaPo's:
On Friday, Mr. Coates testified before the US Civil Rights Commission, a bipartisan oversight group, alleging that under President Obama, the dismissive attitude of that civil rights staff attorney toward white claims of disenfranchisement at the hands of blacks has essentially become Justice Department policy. He said he had seen evidence that Obama appointees in the Department of Justice had created a "hostile atmosphere" toward attorneys pushing to prosecute blacks for voting-rights violations – a charge the Justice Department denies.Coates told the commission that he was testifying as a whistle blower since he had been instructed by his DOJ superiors not to speak.
You know, some more "zero tolerance" that this administration has for speaking truth to power, especially when the power is them and the truth is, well, the truth.
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Huffington Post has, "The 7 Funniest Lines From Colbert's Testimony To Congress" with photos. Worth the click thru.
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