News pundits, especially on the right, pretended not to grasp the meaning of Steven Colbert’s testimony before congress.  Yet all one needs to know in order to understand the intent of Colbert’s testimony is that his approach to politics is one of satire.  Colbert assumes the role of a conservative in order to present what he believes to be inconsistencies.

Perhaps the most pungent statement from the “expert testimony” was:

I don’t want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan, and served by a Venezuelan in a spa … because my great-grandfather did not travel across 4,000 miles of the Atlantic ocean to see this country overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland.

Many politicians and pundits, ever ready to score a few points with their constituencies, were quick to insult Colbert, by calling him insulting. Fox News anchors treated this supposed non-story with great attention, appearing to be shocked and offended that a mere comedian would be asked to testify.

Even Republican House Leader John A. Boehner was happy to add his “outrage” to his daily talking points for Fox News Sunday.

They’ve got time to bring a comedian to Washington, D.C., but they don’t have time to eliminate the uncertainty by extending all of the current tax rates? I think that’s irresponsible.

While Congressman Boehner shows great concern for the nation’s wealthiest, he has little regard for the middle class, for whom tax cuts could have already been preserved had the Republicans demonstrated a willingness to pass the legislation proposed by the Democrats which did not include the wealthiest taxpayers.

And of course, he apparently has even less concern for the ultimate victims of uncertainty — the hundreds of thousands of US citizens whose value is challenged daily as demagogues threaten them with the loss of their legal status and deportation due to their parentage.

Perhaps these US born and bred children of undocumented immigrants could be added to the list of “the least of these”, who have no voice in our land.

This, interestingly, is the principle articulated by Mr. Colbert when asked why he came to congress to speak on behalf of the migrant workers. Stepping out of character, Colbert responded:

I like talking about people who don’t have any power, and it seems like one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come in and do our work, but don’t have any rights as a result.  And yet, we still ask them to come here, and at the same time, ask them to leave. And that’s an interesting contradiction to me, and um… You know, “whatsoever you did for the least of my brothers,” and these seemed like the least of my brothers, right now. A lot of people are “least brothers” right now, with the economy so hard, and I don’t want to take anyone’s hardship away from them or diminish it or anything like that. But migrant workers suffer, and have no rights.

The migrant workers with whom Colbert briefly worked were not located in the Southwest, but in upstate New York.  The truth is that the country is full of migrant laborers functioning in many roles, and upon which a good economy depends.

Unfortunately our history is that when times are good we accept the rewards of their labors; when the economy sours we are ready to ship them out.

It’s clear that many of the congressional representatives did not grasp what Colbert had told them. Or for that matter that concern for the “least of these” is a reference to a teaching of Jesus Christ.