Awkward

Remember when Stephen was talking about Tim Pawlenty? (Also called TimMAY, Timbo, T Paw, and the Ol' T Paw.) Well it seems one of Pawlenty's first campaign decisions has turned out to be somewhat awkward. One of his aides in Iowa, Benjamin Foster, was arrested on charges of public intoxication and trespassing.

You can read about it here at CNN Politics - political ticker.

Also here at The Gazette, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa paper.

One more here at Pawlenty's home town paper - StarTribune.

Although Tim Pawlenty comes across as quite a boring person, it seems his staffer sure knows how to Par-ty.

Perhaps Benjamin Foster needs some "proper etiquette" training. Stephen is just the person to provide that service.

Update: Spelling of Ankeny in Iowa has been corrected. Thank you to An Iowan in Comments.

TimMAY Meet Timbo

For some reason, last night's show seemed longer than ever, so much so, that I could feel myself getting older as I watched. Which was somehow very strange considering that Stephen spent a small portion of the show talking about Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty likes to think of himself as the "young candidate".

Who? you might ask. And well you should. Even in his home state of Minnesota, people still ask who? Anyway, Stephen was calling Pawlenty every nick-name in the book: Timbo, the Ol' T Paw, Paw-lenty. Actually the "w" is silent, so it's just pronounced "pa-LENTY" but lots of people do call him PAW-lenty, so I guess it's just 6 dozen of one and 1/2 of the other. (Is my math right?)

Anywho, Stephen was making fun of the Ol' T Paw by making him out to be some sort of non-dynamic, milquetoast sort of fella. For example, he had footage of the guy speaking and also this quote: "For a candidate, I am relatively young. I have a more recent connection to the younger generation than some have or might have had in the past." I feel older just reading that quote.

Wow. That is right up there with "Yes We Can." (Video at dipdive song by will.i.am and others.)

Okay, now I'm really pulling your leg. "Yes, We Can" grabs your attention and wakes up your spirit more ... way, way more.

But the Timbo part of the show was just a small portion. Stephen also had Frank Jameso and his brother James Franco on. I was impressed, really impressed as, I assume, was Stephen. James Franco and Stephen had a lengthy, intellectual conversation and both men went away respecting the awesomeness of the other man. True intellectual giants.

Stephen also remarked (and I wish I had paid closer attention so that I had the exact quote) that James Franco is quite learned, having visited and attended many colleges and universities.

TimMAY, P King, Klu and Reza

Lots of guys on last night, either in news segments or in the interview. First to mention, briefly, is Tim Pawlenty, commonly known as T-Paw, the former governor from Minnesota. Stephen aired a commercial by the former gov which sure looks to be by a guy running for president. Although Timmy (TimMAY!) has been saying for years that he's not running (nudge nudge wink wink), he also has been doing everything short of announcing that he's running that does in fact make it look like he is running for president. Although to be fair, some have also theorized that he is really running for vice president or secretary of state or any number of other jobs in Washington D.C.

(On a side issue, look at the photo here back in 2008. Is his hair gray back then?)

Anyway, the commercial was awesome, until you saw the next clip of the real Tim Pawlenty giving the actual speech. Boring.

Stephen had an awesomer commercial for himself and then announced his awesomest Political Action Committee, ColbertPAC.

Also bits about Representative Peter King, who is concerned about Muslim terrorists but was supportive of the IRA. Rep. P. King is holding hearings which have generated controversy.

Another quick mention was of Rep. Dan Lungren with just a short mention he had about investigating Ku Klux Klan and various other groups. My question, and a small question admittedly, is wouldn't you think someone who was investigating that group would be able to pronounce the name correctly? He calls them the Klu (think "clue") Klux Klan, instead of the Ku (think "coo") Klux Klan. Just two simple letters - Ku - not so hard to pronounce correctly.

But then Stephen got to a real live person for the interview, Dr. Reza Aslan. He and Stephen talked about the hearings that P. King is holding. I think many people agree that we should find out what is going on with extremist groups, but focusing on only one group doesn't make sense. Dr. Reza Aslan told Stephen that since 2001, there have been more violent extremist plots against the United States by non-Muslims than by Muslims. And then Stephen took that opportunity to get defensive when Dr. Aslan mentioned Catholics.

Stephen, Stephen, Stephen. Have you forgotten that you gave up Catholicism for Lent?

But it's okay, he's fine. Stephen Colbert had one, two, three good moments at the end of his show.