Military TV, Television - Military Times

Veterans organization wants to recognize Colbert

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is trying to draft comedian and faux-conservative talk show host Stephen Colbert into its ranks.

Colbert took recently took his show to Iraq, taping a week’s worth of the Colbert Report from Baghdad, and getting a buzz cut along the way.

Since his return, he’s joked that he’s now an Iraq war veteran, but has used the punch lines to raise awareness of serious veterans’ issues.

Claiming that he’d recently tried to get help at a local Veterans Administration hospital after attaching Fourth of July bottle rockets to his feet, he noted headlines of a 1 million-deep backlog of VA claims ahead of him.

Appearing on the Colbert Report on July 13, IAVA director Paul Rieckhoff told the satirist “Your uniform over in Iraq was fantastic. The new haircut looks good — could have gone a little farther, but it looks good,” he said, pointing to his own smooth-topped head.

“We’ve actually thought about it and we want to make you an honorary member,” he said. “If you get 25,000 votes, we’ll make you an honorary member of IAVA.”

“Well, do that, please,” Colbert deadpanned to the camera, “because I have to lord my veterans status over my talk-show competition.”

Two days later, Colbert had garnered more than 10,000 votes.

“I hope they let him in, we need someone on our side besides the crazy lunatics at Fox News,” said Christopher von der Gruen, a Colbert fan and Afghanistan veteran living in the Tacoma, Wash., area.

“The response has been incredible,” Rieckhoff told Military Times. “It is clear that Colbert has a huge following, and that his trip to Iraq has made a significant impact.”

Rieckhoff said the campaign has quickly gone viral. Actor Ashton Kutcher and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark have been among those Tweeting, blogging and sharing it online.

To vote Colbert into the veterans group, click here.