Anyone who calls Jane Fonda a traitor is, in fact, a traitor. The two most criminal acts in the last 100 years of the history of the U.S. are the war in VietNam and the war in Iraq. Anyone who supported or supports these wars is a traitor. You wouldn't know American values if they kicked you in the face.

Well said, frfish!! You took the words out of my mouth.

If a MALE guest showed up on a FEMALE-hosted talk show and jokingly groped or pawed at the host, gave her unsolicited kisses, etc. in a way that made her (appear to) feel uncomfortable, Traister and every other feminist out there would be not only decrying the act as shameless sexual harassment (if not assault), but calling for the male guest's misogynistic, sexist, abusive, etc. head on a platter.

But when a FEMALE guest (Fonda) does it to a MALE host (Colbert), it's a funny act of empowerment.

Yup. No hypocrisy there at all, huh?

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"And even the good guys deserve to get rocked in their socks once in a while..."

It's statements like that which are responsible for the lingering stereotype of feminists scorning/hating all men an viewing them as vile pigs.

(Btw, can you imagine the response from feminists if a man said something just as asinine: "and even the good girls deserve to get put in their place once in a while..."?!?)

I must say that I'm baffled by the reaction of most of the letter posters here. If the sexes were reversed -- for example, if a Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, or similarly-aged man spent five minutes pawing at, hitting on, or kissing a Salma Hayek or Kate Winslet -- I doubt the letter writers would be here going "Man, that was awesome the way Ford made the normally-assertive and strong-willed Hayek squirm!"

Colbert makes his guests uncomfortable by going at them in an intellectual (or intellectually dishonest) way. Wordsmith. Wit. If Fonda had come out and beat him at his own game, that would be something. Instead she kissed and pawed at him for five minutes. She used her body in place of her intellect. How is that impressive? I could flash Colbert and get him to crack up or slip out of character, and I'm a pasty, late-20s geek. Show me Tina Fey, Hayek, Wanda Sykes, Ellen, or someone like that go toe-to-toe with Colbert and get him to eat his words or get tongue-tied. That would be impressive.

I enjoyed Fonda on Colbert but missed the other items mentioned, so thanks for the update.

On a less happy note, I saw the movie (Georgia Rule) today and it's bad. Poor writing, poor directing. The acting was fine, very fine in fact but the story was all over the place.

It was hard to believe that every Salon reader who had weighed in actually "got it" regarding the Colbert appearance by Fonda. It was, that is, until I at last reached the final letter to the editor. There is was. A doofus of the first order, the sort who put Bush in power (there were five such, on the Supremes, of course).

Jack Kennedy probably benefited from dead Chicago voters in 1960. Nixon probably counterbalanced with equally deceased downstate Illinois voters in that election. Gore had no such equalizer when the Madwoman of Tallahassee helped steal the whole enchilada in 2000, disenfranchising tens of thousands of African Americans even before they got to the polls, then piling many thousands more legitimate, cast but uncounted votes on trash heaps.

Fonda, though most of the "Report" interaction was probably scripted, did herself as well as any guest of the formidable Colbert's ever has. (Eleanor Holmes Norton was recently a no-nonsense grandma who truly and awesomely deflated Stephen's cocksure persona.)

Was Jane a "traitor?" Give us a break. She said what needed to be said during that, the Democrats' war, just as she's saying the same to the Loyal Bushies four decades later.

By the way, I was old enough to vote in '60 and to have spent two years in Vietnam in the next decade, through Tet in fact.

Give it a rest, Fondaphobes.

I am surprised but not shocked that there are those still promoting Jane Fonda, who was and is a traitor to our country. I wonder how many of these letter writers were even born when Janey sat on a tank bad mouthing the country that made her rich. You sure don't have to be a Republican to become rich even though I have seen more rich Democrats than Republicans. As far as voter fraud, my feeling is the left wants to drag everyone off the street who know little about what is going on and get them to vote Democratic. I doubt any of the letter writers knew or ever heard of the dead people voting in Chicago in 1960. Of course not, liberal press sure wouldn't want to bring that up. That was different the it was Jack Kennedy who was the beneficiary of that voter fraud.

All I have to say is that if the Colbert - Fonda interview was a complete set up that he new was coming, then he gave five minutes of an Oscar worthy performance! From the stammering, to the giggling, to his left hand trembling in space after the kiss, not seeming to know whether to touch her or not, his body language was a stunningly perfect representation of a man taken totally aback by what was happening to him. Though either way, staged or not, Jane brought out a side of him that was absolutely delicious to behold. Thank You Jane!

As was Colbert's bit leading into her appearance. If it was uncomfortable at all, it was in precisely the same way Colbert's typical interactions with his guests are squirm-inducing. She turned the audience's (and perhaps Colbert's) expectations upside down and went outside of the role set for her. It was Colbert's reaction that made it work, however. While I have no idea whether or not he was in on it, seeing him try not to squirm with Fonda on his lap and struggle to get through the interview was hilarious.