I Did No Lobbying

There was a lot about politicians tonight, mostly those who tend to be somewhat overweight and older and with white or whitish hair. Actually, it was mostly about two politicians, Newt Gingrich and Barney Frank. They seem to have at least one thing in common. They have the same opinion of each other.

There was just a short bit about Newt Gingrich, and thus he gets the title of the post. Newt Gingrich charges $60,000 for a speech and he gives a lot of speeches. Hopefully using one of his quotes for the title here will make him feel like he got equal time on the show tonight.

Stephen stopped for a quick taste of Bud Light Lime. And then a few more sips. He had a good reason for doing so, but I wonder if he was trying to send a message to Newt Gingrich to lose some weight. It seemed a little bit pointed to me to be drinking light beer immediately after talking about Newt Gingrich.

Barney Frank is retiring. Stephen talked about Barney Frank, about his acting career as one of the stars in Wizard of Oz, and then we really lucked out tonight. Stephen showed an encore presentation of one of his first segments of Better Know a District. It was the one with Barney Frank. This was one of my favorite BKD segments. For one thing, both men were much younger then. Basically, more abs, less flab, if you know what I mean. And Stephen was more serious back then.

We got to hear Stephen ask Barney Frank, an admitted left-handed liberal, if he thought Bush (that would be George W. Bush) was a great president or the greatest president. Barney Frank answered, "I think he's been a disaster," which is code for great.

"I'll put you down for great," is what Stephen said. There was more talk and then at one point Stephen apologized and then felt compelled to apologize for apologizing. That is interesting. First, because Stephen apologized. Usually it's the guest that apologizes and Stephen always accepts the apology. But, isn't apologizing for apologizing similar to using a double negative in a sentence? I don't not know the answer to that puzzling question.

As a real treat tonight, we got to see Stephen and Barney Frank walking down a hall, perhaps the halls of Congress, I'm not sure. But I am sure that just the simple fact of walking in the halls of Congress automatically makes a person more dignified. When I think of Stephen Colbert, I think of dignity.

The guest tonight was Stephen Sondheim. He wrote the book, "Look, I Made a Hat," which is most likely not an instructional book on hat making. The two Stephens have some history together. Stephen invited Stephen and Stephen accepted Stephen's invitation to be in "Company." Stephen asked for Stephen's opinion.

"My performance of Harry, --- great interpretation of Sondheim or the greatest interpretation of Sondheim?"

I don't remember what Stephen told Stephen, but Stephen said, "OK, I'll put you down for great."