Stephen Colbert Nancy Pelosi Screengrab - H 2012
Comdey CentralYears after she told him she would never appear on his show, Nancy Pelosi finally paid Stephen Colbert a visit on Wednesday’s Colbert Report.
The House Democratic Leader made a surprise appearance during his “Better Know a District” segment on California’s 8th. The two kept the sparring relatively friendly, with Colbert playing devil’s advocate on matters like Super PACs, recent abortion legislation and the DISCLOSE Act.
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“You said you’d never come on here,” Colbert said, greeting his guest. “Do you often break your promises?”
Pelosi spent the bulk of the interview advocating the DISCLOSE (Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections) Act, which would require more transparency in corporate-funded Super PACs — not unlike Colbert’s own, Making a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.
“I just want them to disclose. People have the right to know,” she said. “If they’re going to have tens of millions of dollars that they’re putting up for a candidate or a cause, the public has the right to know by whose authority this is coming to them.”
Colbert responded by telling the representative she has a “fetish for transparency,” further prodding her when the topic turned to recent developments in reproductive rights legislation: “Why are women so obsessed with controlling their own body?”
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On the matter of Pelosi’s bill, however, they seemed to reach an agreement.
“If I throw my weight behind the DISCLOSE Act,” he said, “will you encourage the Democratic members of the House of Representatives to do the Better Know a District series?”
Watch the two shake on it — and the rest of the interview — below:
