Video: Colbert corners Matthews on Iraq

Many conservatives who watch the Colbert Report each night have no idea that he is actually making fun of them.  During the Tuesday night show, he tried to back guest Chris Matthews into a rhetorical corner on the issue of Iraq, using the typical right-wing tactic of turning any criticism of U.S. policy into a criticism of the U.S. itself:

Click to watch video clip

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COLBERT: "You never supported the war.  Why?  Everyone else did.  Even the Democrats did."

MATTHEWS: "I thought it would end up creating more terrorism than when we started."

COLBERT: "Boy, you got egg on your face now."

MATTHEWS: "I know.  Yeah, you got me.  This has turned out to be a real winner."

COLBERT: "Well, listen.  We're fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here, right?"

MATTHEWS: "Oh, that's how it works?  There's just a limited number of them?"

COLBERT: "Do you not listen to the President?  That's what he says."

MATTHEWS: "You know, people aren't born terrorist -- they become terrorist."

COLBERT: "Mhmm.  So wait a second.  Are you blaming terrorism on the United States?"

MATTHEWS: "No, I'm saying people --"

COLBERT: "You say we made terrorists."

MATTHEWS: "No I didn't.  I said --"

COLBERT: "Oh come on Chris.  Put it together."

That rhetorical tactic worked very well against Max Cleland in 2002 and against John Kerry in 2004.  But now that a majority of the country is against this war, the tactic of labeling people as disloyal to the United States is a losing political strategy.
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Other blogs writing about this issue: A Philistine on the Sidewalk, Craker Thoughts, Inside Zebster, These are Hard Times for Dreamers.