ABSTRACT
When an institution loses trust and respect in the popular culture it is hard to regain its legitimacy. Individuals are willing to say things under the protective canopy of humor they would be hesitant to express as statements of fact. Recipients of biting humorous attacks often fi nd themselves caught in a dilemma between attempting to refute exaggerating or misstatement and coming over as someone who cannot take a joke. With evidence of general audiences, and particularly the young, moving toward entertainment venues for news, 1 understanding how Congress and its members fare in non-traditional news sources looms increasingly large.
