Stephen Colbert skewers ‘Bergdghazi,’ elbows Fox News

On his Comedy Central show last night, Stephen Colbert brought viewers on a tour of “Bergdghazi,” the outpouring of outrage over the terms of release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl that carries a tinge of Benghazi-esque quasi-scandal. Citing the backlash over the deal that freed the soldier in exchange for five Taliban captives at Guantanamo Bay, Colbert joked, “Once again it is a great day for our country in that it is a terrible day for Barack Obama.”

As these Colbert sessions often do, this one veered into a Fox News lowlight reel. After noting that Bergdahl has been accused of causing the deaths of soldiers who were dispatched to search for him after he left his post in Afghanistan, Colbert riffed, “And now we’re also learning that Bergdahl has a history of un-American behavior dating back to his childhood in Sun Valley, Idaho.”

That would be ballet, and Colbert showed a few clips of Fox News hosts discussing Bergdahl’s interest in this art form. “Yes, long before Bergdahl’s time with the Taliban militia, he spent years in the hands of another radical group: The Sugar Plum fairies.”

In a discussion on “Fox & Friends,” Fox News contributor Dr. Keith Ablow was asked about the significance of Bergdahl’s ballet. “I think front and center on any stage is this guy’s MO, unless it doesn’t feed him narcissistically. You can’t give him a job unless you tell him you’re going to be the star and we’re going to keep you at a throttle of 12 out of 10.”

Colbert: “That’s why he was disillusioned with the mission in Afghanistan. It lacked the full-throttle intensity of the Sun Valley Idaho ballet school.”

The final knock on Bergdahl, noted Colbert, was the fact that his father has a big beard. “Dad beard,” sneered the host. For more on that beard and its implications, watch “The O’Reilly Factor.”

Also on Erik Wemple

On 'Morning Joe,' an out-of-nowhere debate about Bergdahl parenting