I've been reading bits about her in Broadsheet and Shakespeare's Sister, but I did not fully comprehend the horror that is Caitlin Flanagan until I saw this clip. (I usually watch the show, but I missed this episode.) Dear God. I'd love to think she's a female Colbert, so successful and brilliant in her satire that no one even guesses the truth, but oh my God, she seemed sincere.

I can only hope that beholding the naked evil of the chauvinist movement will make some people think about what it really means.

And fie on her for ruining my name.

It occurs to me that Flanagan probably was trying to play along, to be more outrageous than Colbert. At least, I'm hoping that's the case. But if so, she didn't carry it off. Her strongest turn was when flirting with Colbert. Otherwise, she sounded a bit too earnest and unsure of herself to be doing effective parody. It would have been better if she'd gotten herself permed and hairsprayed up like a Dallas church lady, worn one of those retro pastel-colored dresses with the full skirts and the little waists, pearls, and heels, and spoken in stentorian Barbara Bush tones. Then, maybe, she might have outgunned Colbert.

If people now believe that she condemns date night at the Olive Garden (shudder), well, that's her own damn fault.

And she's still a fraud.

"savvy businesswoman who saw a gullible market and sold to it."

Oh totally. She's like a freakin PT Barnum.

I understand what Caitlin was doing. She tried to get a rise out of Stephen, did it poorly, and it certainly wasn't as heretical as is being claimed. Sure, she's a little galling, but how many times did the Dean Scream get bandied about the interweb?

Or is that it? Conservatives run roughshod over liberal quirks and pecadillos, so turnabout is fair play? I don't want to deny the commenters their outrage, but overreaction is best left for the Fox News windbags.

I'm so amused -- you Americans do the American Gothic genre like no other group!

thank you for that clip and the excellent preamble.

just, thank you.

Sorry, I can't seem to bring up my rage to the boiling point where I can bring my intellect to bear on the falsehoods of Flanagan. It's Saturday and I'm sleepy. Besides, this is about television, so superficiality is to be expected.

So here's my thoughts: 1) Was I the only one wondering if some of the (male) audience wasn't getting the satire? and 2) Why do all conservative women seem to have such fugly hair?

Im starting to think more and more it is aconspiracy,makes her look crazies and you cant focus on what she says. Sometimes you can listen towhat people say and agree but when you actually think about it, its ridculous. You cant focus on what she says, she can't allow that, because otherwise you would realize how pathetic it is that this woman preaches about being a happy housewife on one income yet works, hires help, and spends time away from the kids touting her book. Though that might necessarily not be a bad thing, her hypocrisy makes me wonder how great she is as a parent,she should know better consdiering howmuch offense she obviously took when her own mother went to work. At this point her kids see her less than I ever saw of my own mother who divorced sharing equal custody with my dad and had a full time job.

I think Colbert dialed it way down when he realized how truly unintelligent she really is. Its like every time she opened her mouth he paused, turned it down a notch, and then proceeded, only to watch in horror as he realized he needed to dial it down again. He is probably the quickest man on TV, and luckily for her, and other guests, he seems to have a conscience.

Caitlin Flanagan is Joanna Eberhart – post stepford!

So why hasn’t the New Yorker caught on yet?

She does live in the valley of the dolls!

Stepford wives (2004):

Claire Wellington: I asked myself, "Where would people never notice a town full of robots?"