"Suck it, Washington, D.C. Suck it dipped in Tang." Yep, that just about sums up how we're feeling after Newt Gingrich figured that a moon colony was more deserving of statehood. more ›

Rick Perry, the Texas Governor who recently celebrated his decision to run for the Republican presidential nomination by "deep-throating" a vegetarian corn dog, has placed the responsibility of accounting for his campaign finances in the hands of the individual who had been doing the same job for Stephen Colbert. more ›

Yup, Stephen Colbert is allowed to form his political action committee. more ›

The last time he was in town, an impromptu crowd chanted his name and delivered a stirring rendition of "Happy Birthday" -- but this time around, Stephen Colbert's trip to the Federal Election Commission is all business. (Okay, maybe not all business.) more ›

That's right, the District's long-serving congressional Delegate turns 74 today. In lieu of cake, we thought we'd share one of our favorite moments in basic cable history -- Norton's appearance on the July 27, 2006 episode of The Colbert Report, in which she tried to explain the District's unique condition to the titular anchorman. more ›

Hey, did you see? Stephen Colbert is in town today. (That's one itchy TweetDeck trigger finger you've got there, Mr. Colbert.) The funnyman will be spending his afternoon in the District to file paperwork related to his "super PAC," which he hopes will allow him to raise and spend innumerable amounts of cash on election-related efforts, while simultaneously becoming the first person in the history of the world to make jokes about campaign finance regulation hilarious. (The idea of Colbert running ads without politicians' permission has some serious legs, you have to admit.) more ›

She didn't detail this whole business about reportedly going to work for incoming governor Rick Scott in Florida. But former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee appeared on The Colbert Report last night -- and Colbert got right into it, breaking out Rhee's infamous Time magazine cover and asking about to her fall from her perch as "King of Reform School Mountain." more ›

If there was one thing that deserved special attention at Saturday's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, it was the signs. It seemed like every single attendee brought at least one with them: some of them silly, many of them incredibly funny and all of them containing sentiment that would certainly not be out of place in the comments of any given DCist post. While "I Thought This Was The Line For Georgetown Cupcakes" gets our choice for best effort of the day, there were several strong contenders. Here are a whole bunch of our favorites. more ›

Just like the Restoring Sanity rally back in August, we could have spent tons of words on what the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear said about about mainstream media, tomorrow's elections or America today. (Though Kid Rock's involvement kind of cramps our ability to come up with anything enlightening, to be totally honest.) We could prattle on about the long lines, Metro delays and most people's inability to see or hear anything when they got to the Mall. But there are plenty of people who get paid a lot more money than us to make such sweeping statements about such things (not to mention, there are plenty of people who would do it for free) -- so we'll just show you all the visuals from Saturday's rally and let you make your own conclusions. more ›

Well, it's finally here: the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. It appears, even at 8:30 a.m., that the crowds are already starting to pack in along 3rd Street and on the Metro. So will the crowd, estimated at 200,000 people, actually be that huge? Will there be a Bruce Springsteen performance, as many have rumored? And for the love of all things holy -- will there be enough portable toilets to go around? DCist will have a crack team of correspondents on the scene today -- including, but not limited to myself, Heather Goss, Eddie Kim, Brett Gellman, Alicia Mazzara, Martin Austermuhle, Ian Buckwalter, Kyle Gustafson, Missy Frederick, Elisabeth Grant, Kelly Rand, John Fleury and Valerie Paschall -- to record, via the magic of Twitter, the things that they are seeing, hearing, and feeling, as well as any other sensual experience which the Rally will provide.

Want to join in? Tweet along with us -- use the hashtag #feardcist and your tiny communiques will appear alongside ours in the real time ticker below. Don't forget to check out our basic primer if you haven't already -- and everyone have a sane and/or fearful day. more ›

Look, we know you're all probably suffering from a serious case of Rally fatigue. So are we, to be totally honest -- after all, this event alone has fed the pundit machine for the last two weeks almost on its own. But if we didn't provide you with this information, then we wouldn't really be doing our job, now would we? We swear this'll be quick, like ripping a Band-Aid off a particularly hairy patch of skin. more ›

If there is one aspect of the Stewart/Colbert rally which hasn't yet been examined under an electron microscope by the Washington and New York media, it's what part D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton will have in tomorrow's ceremonies. Sure, I imagine that she's one of the many "to be announced" in that schedule which leaked the other day -- but given Norton's long history of playful sparring (and her friendship) with Stephen Colbert, I had figured that there would be something bigger in store. Turns out I was kind of right: Norton has challenged Colbert to get his drink on. At The Passenger, no less! more ›

Metromix reports that they've gotten their hands on a very preliminary schedule for Saturday's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear -- and while we're working on confirming if any of the reported details are true, we thought you might appreciate knowing what is being floated out there. There are still a ton of performers and "special guests" listed as "to be announced," but what details are on the schedule sound promising if they pan out to be true: The Roots warming up the crowd between noon and 12:40, a poetry reading by actor Sam Waterston, a musical performance from Jeff Tweedy and something called the "Sanity and Fear Awards," which we can only imagine will be uproariously funny. more ›

So DCers, lest you forget that next weekend will be a mess of Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally goers, Halloween revelers, and general madness, we have a round-up of what people are talking about a week before: more ›

On Wednesday, I highlighted a report by WTOP which stated that organizers for the Stephen Colbert/Jon Stewart "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" were having issues getting enough portable toilets for the October 30 event. Little did I know that there was already an intrepid D.C. reporter on the Stewart/Colbert port-a-john beat! I admittedly missed this report by Ryan Kearney, in which Kearney confirmed with a Comedy Central spokeswoman that the rally would have its "own Porta Potties" and that they were "all good." So I hereby apologize, dear readers, for any confusion I may have caused you concerning where you'd be able to relieve yourself on the Mall come the 30th. Though, if I can be blunt: I got the chance to use the phrase "potty problem," and the commentariat got to make a whole lot of poop jokes -- so, it kind of feels kind of like a win-win to me. more ›

Remember back during the preparations for the Obama inauguration, when we were all really, really concerned about where we'd be able to relieve ourselves on the Mall? (Eventually, Inauguration organizers were able to wrangle up 5,000 portable toilets.) But the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on October 30 is experiencing a similar problem, albeit on a much smaller scale. more ›

It's not even clear whether or not Stephen Colbert's people had even applied for a permit to hold the "March to Keep Fear Alive" on National Park Service property, but that's a moot point now. Colbert showed up on The Daily Show last night to ask Jon Stewart whether he could mooch off his permit, which came through last week and affords Stewart space between 3rd Street and 7th Street on the Mall. more ›

Jon Stewart's Rally To Restore Sanity now has a place on the National Mall. In the Frequently Asked Questions page of the rally's website, the location for the event is revealed as "the far eastern end of the National Mall between 3rd Street and 7th Street, known as East Seaton Park and Henry Park." D.C. residents will be really familiar with the location -- it's where Screen on the Green happens every summer. (Though we imagine there will be a bit less HBO Dancing at the Stewart rally.) more ›

When I got the chance to sit down with Eleanor Holmes Norton last weekend, I knew that I'd end the interview with a question about Stephen Colbert and the rumors that he'd host a rally on the Mall in response to Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally. Norton's a titan of the D.C. political scene and probably one of the most interesting people I've ever sat down and talked with -- the stories she has at her disposal: incredible -- but there's no denying that there's a significant slice of America that knows her as that lady that Colbert made fun of in his "Better Know A District" series. And Norton loves Colbert, even stating that Colbert had "done more for voting rights than anything we have ever done." more ›

• David Ferriero has been named the new Archivist of the National Archives, the tenth such figure to hold the position. As such, he must regularly square off against Nicolas Cage, keep an eye out for Tom Hanks, and stay abreast of Ben Stiller's whereabouts.
• This sure is the most horrifying story I've read in ages.
• The macaron is the new cupcake. If Metrocurean says so, I will believe it. Then I will continue to favor my dessert of choice, the half-smoke.

We were getting set to remind everyone that time is running out to catch the wildly popular Stephen Colbert portrait hanging at the National Portrait Gallery, but a spokesperson at the NPG has just told us they've decided to extend the run of the "painting" until April 1 - April Fool's Day. The portrait was hung on Jan. 16 between the 2nd floor bathrooms of the museum as part of a lengthy three-part gag on the Colbert Report that the NPG agreed to play along with. Since then, record crowds, especially of young people, have visited the Portrait Gallery to catch a glimpse of the cultural icon. more ›

The Colbert Report has been blissfully, if not nearly at full speed without its striking writers, back for a little more than a week now on Comedy Central. For three nights straight they've been running a series showing Stephen traipsing all over Washington with a portrait of himself strapped to his back, trying to convince one of the Smithsonian museums to actually hang it up. Without dwelling on how we managed to miss out on catching this spectacle up close and personal, the real news is that as of last night, Stephen Colbert was successful in his quest. The National Portrait Gallery confirmed this morning that Colbert's portrait is in fact now hanging above the bathroom on the 2nd floor, just outside of the America’s Presidents exhibit. more ›

>> Maryland police apprehended the prisoner who stole an officer's gun and escaped from custody from a Laurel hospital. [WTOP] >> Shortly after abandoning his run for the White House, Stephen Colbert ended up in a three-way tie for a seat on the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District Board in Williamsburg. Sadly, he won't be able to serve if selected by a hat draw (seriously), because he's not a registered voter in the... more ›

Another classic installment of the 434-part Better Know a District series from the Colbert Report last night saw host Stephen Colbert question whether Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) realized that when he voted for the D.C. Voting Rights Act, it applied to Washington, D.C., and not his home state of Washington. Just another example of how Colbert is doing his part to keep our disenfranchisement in the public eye. Smith was also willing to admit... more ›

Last night Fairfax's Rep. Tom Davis (R) sat down with Stephen Colbert to better know Virginia's "Fighting" 11th District. While it was great to see another local politician step up to the plate, Davis seemed a little befuddled by Colbert's style. For example he likes the Doobie Brothers, but has no idea what a "doobie" is, and probably won't be participating in any program to tag and track Republicans. Whew! Maybe Davis's performance just... more ›

Attending Saturday's White House Correspondents dinner continues to get less and less appealing. First, it was announced that Rich Little, a comedian whose popularity peaked in the 1970s, would host. Compared to Stephen Colbert's able hosting last year, we weren't terribly excited about seeing Little's famous Richard Nixon impression. Now it turns out that American Idol's latest cast-off, the adorable yet dubiously talented Sanjaya Malakar, will be there too. In an apparent coup by People... more ›

As you make your way to lunch, why not scrap the salad and go for a scoop? In an effort to make tax day a little easier, Ben and Jerry's is offering a free scoop of ice cream to customers between noon and 8:00 p.m. today. Maybe it's to time see if Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream inspires feelings of patriotic pride while you fork over cash to the IRS. more ›

The owner of Backwards Bush says he uses the clock as "a coping mechanism," and doesn't mean any disrespect. The trinkets have been appearing in the hands of Democrats all over the country. Stephen Colbert has the $9 item. This week Sen. Barak Obama pimped them on "The Late Show with David Letterman". Democratic Congressmen passed them out. Even the ultimate Washington power couple, Bill and Hillary Clinton, have one. more ›

Back in the day, people would gather to lobby, write letters and protest for a cause. These days, all it takes is access to a computer and a creative approach to using online tools. And while the fight for District voting rights has involved a good amount of old-school tactics, online activists have more resources at their disposal than ever before. Newly-elected Shadow Representative Mike Panetta has been leading this fight in recent years, employing... more ›

>> We realize it's been a while since we stirred the pot on Butterstick mania, but there's a new way to celebrate your love for all things panda. Keds has their own (surprisingly cute) panda shoes. No, they're not made of real pandas, but these canvas creations might be some comfort after Tai Shan is ripped from our grasp and shipped off to China this fall. more ›