Stephen Colbert was in no mood to waste time soaking in the applause last night. Well, maybe just a little indulgence.
"We've got to get to the shocking news out of the Obama administration, which affects any America who makes phone calls – so anyone over 25," Colbert urgently opened Thursday night's show.
He was referring to the National Security Agency collecting millions of phone records from Verizon. To Colbert, the spying is particularly bad this time around, because it's by the Obama administration.
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The news has the super-conservative Colbert character torn on how to feel. On the one hand, it makes Obama seem like a tyrannical despot who ignores all the rules. On the other hand, that's precisely Colbert's kind of guy.
The late night host actually feels sorry for Verizon, saying, "This will lose Verizon millions of customers – or it would if their contracts ever expired."
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