'The Colbert Report' recap 1/19/2012 (Video)

January 19's Colbert Report started right away delving into the Republican Presidential Nominee Primary Race. Colbert showed a clip and discussed former nominee hopeful Rick Perry's withdrawal from the race, which he said was to “spend more time getting leathery,” and then discussed the most recent news out of Iowa – it was Rick Santorum, not Mitt Romney who won the Iowa caucus. According to a recount, Santorum actually got more votes in the very close call, which Colbert called a “classic Romney flip-flop.” Colbert then showed a clip of what he believed was a huge mistake on Santorum's part, saying Santorum attacked Newt Gingrich after an appearance on a news program where Gingrich shared a couch with Nancy Pelosi. Santorum was shown saying he has only ever shared a couch with his wife. Colbert quickly responded with a “damning” photo of Santorum sharing a couch with a man, which he termed an affront to “traditional sofa”.

So, Colbert said, with all the trouble the other hopefuls are having, Gingrich must be having no problems at all! That is, of course, unless Gingrich's second wife just happened to come forward with an interview saying Gingrich asked her to have an open marriage.

But, they weren't the only ones who had a tough week. Steven Colbert himself was attacked by none other than Jon Stewart's super-pac, which is definitely in no way coordinating with Colbert. In the ad, which was voiced my Samuel L. Jackson, Colbert was attacked for turning the electoral process into a circus, and ended with a nice clip of Colbert calling Rosa Parks “overrated.”

Colbert went on to interview, in his own very special way, former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, an interview which the former justice jokingly said he regretted. Colbert asked Stevens if he could bring an argument over his parking ticket before the Supreme Court, and after explaining to Stevens that he was only going 90mph in a school zone because he was drunk and wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, Stevens informed Colbert that he was in fact guilty as charged. Colbert went on to ask Stevens if Bush v Gore was a great Supreme Court decision, or the greatest decision, which did not meet with a warm response since Stevens was the dissenting vote in the case. He also asked about another case in which Stevens dissented – the citizens united decision. They discussed corporate persons vs. natural persons, and the rights of each.

The guest for the episode was Carrie Rebora Barratt, Assistant Director of Collections for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They discussed the museum, and art, and Barratt offered to give Colbert, who has never actually been to the museum, a tour.

Colbert ended the episode strong, talking about how he will soon leave for the rally in South Carolina that he will be attending, and responding to questions of why he waited so long to go to South Carolina by singing “Going to Carolina in my Mind” with James Taylor while a video montage played in the background.