On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

Illinois’ 17th congressional district (the fightin’ 17th) is about to get exposed to the nation.

The real nation. Colbert Nation.

U.S. Rep. Phil Hare’s office said Wednesday the freshman congressman is going to be on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report.

The Report features a segment called “Better Know a District,” a bit that pokes fun at congressional districts across the country — and, to boot, puts the local congressman in front of Colbert.

It’s a hot seat, too. Colbert’s accused congressmen of taking orders from Barbara Streisand, taking bribes from a lobbyist and getting a Democrat to ”admit” he’s a Republican.

Did I mention the one where he asked one congressman whether he’d feasted on human flesh?

We don’t know what’s in store for Hare. Do you suppose the Republican opposition machine will tune in?

Soon, these questions should be answered. Tim Schlittner, a spokesman for the congressman, says he’ll tape the show March 9. Still waiting for word from Comedy Central when it might air.

When he was first approached about going on the show, Hare wasn’t sure whether he should do it and said he hadn’t really seen the show that much. It airs at 10:30 p.m. locally.

He’s apparently changed his mind. Schlittner says Hare’s been watching the program a little more and is ready to have a little fun, even if it’s at his own expense.

“I think one of the things Cong. Hare says is he takes this job seriously, but he doesn’t take himself too seriously,” he said.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 at 3:21 pm and is filed under On The Campaign Trail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.