Stephen Colbert

Since we haven't seen much of each other since December, Stephen asks, "What've you guys been doing?" ("Me, I've been busy," he says.) Here he shaves off the beard he adopted after finding it by the highway, which helped earn him the cover of Homeless Sea Captain Monthly. The beard had to come off, he explains, because on CBS, it turns out, "Tom Selleck's moustache has a noncompete clause."by KenI know I just saw a post somewhere by someone who couldn't believe he'd only just discovered that Stephen has started a podcast.

Like we pointed out yesterday, of the 34 conservative Democrats who voted with every House Republican against the Affordable Care Act, 31 were subsequently defeated or forced out of politics, many in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse that decimated that Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

Like Rick Perry, Gavin Newsom is certain new glasses make him look seriousGavin Newsom presents well. When he still thought he was running for governor, he called a meeting of L.A. political bloggers in some sleek West Hollywood hotel and did a free-flowing Q and A. He was as sleek as the hotel and everyone swooned. Except me. Having recently exited the corporate world, Newsom's glitz and studied expertise in everything didn't impress me. Good hair, yes...

Why do progressives worry so much about Hillary making a deal with Wall Street to buy her the White House? What difference does it make? What can Wall Street do to hurt America anyway?

I'm not wondering if Rubio is still a cocaine user because he supported Florida coke dealer, teabagger, hate talk radio sociopath and ex-congressman Trey Radel (not to be confused with another kind of GOP sociopath, Trey Gowdy; still in Congress). I'm asking because the Tallahassee party house he and another disgraced former Republican congressman (and his ex-best friend), David Rivera, own, was once a notorious for free-flowing drugs, women and dirty cash. But maybe Rubio cleaned up his act.

Last week a new name started popping up on my Twitter feed: Cliven Bundy. Before I had even processed it, he was in a standoff with federal law enforcement officials over unpaid taxes and fees and Harry Reid was calling him a domestic terrorist, Sean Hannity was egging him on to start an armed rebellion and Ted Cruz seemed to be angling to get him to run on his ticket in 2016. It looked too silly/ugly/predictable to pay any attention to. So I didn't. But it didn't go away.

Rush asks over and over, do we really care what he thinks about it? Great point, Rush! Who in his right mind could possibly care? Except for the fact that you've got still got a lot of people listening to you who aren't in their right mind.by KenIt really seems as if some note should be taken of the news that Stephen Colbert has been named to succeed David Letterman as host of CBS's Late Show -- at some date to be determined next year after Dave finally packs it in.Two things occur to me -- both good, let me hasten to say. I'm certainly not claiming that they're profound.

The Colbert ReportGet More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video ArchiveBack in 2006, Stephen Colbert was regularly skewering Members of Congress. His Lynn Westmoreland episode (above), for example, is probably better known, certainly nationally, than anything else about the reactionary Westmoreland.

Says Nathan Flomm: "Apologies don't have to be sincere. It's just the act of the apology itself.