Colbert Report

Lots of serious political commentators viewed the unexpected Monica Lewinsky essay in last week's Vanity Fair through the frame of how it will (or won't) affect Hillary Clinton's possible 2016 presidential run. On the Fox News side of the political spectrum, noted Stephen Colbert on Monday night's Colbert Report, the lens was more narrowly focused on why Hillary got Vanity Fair to run the Lewinsky essay now.

Colbert ran through the most-voiced conspiracy theory — that Team Clinton wants this rehashed now so it will (again) be old news by next year ("Because if there's one thing the conservative media is known for, it's letting things go") — but then he delved into an increasingly silly list of ways the Clinton cabal is manipulating the news media. Speaking of old news, this would have been timelier last week. But nation, good comedy writing has a long statute of limitations. --Peter Weber