Stephen Colbert plays a character that satirizes conservative jingoistic "patriotic" mouthpieces of the Republican party, the kind typically found on Fox News and some talk radio stations.

With that said, the fact that he rips NSA doesn't mean he (or his alter ego) supports Snowden: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57619771-83/colbert-turns-h...

Ah, yes. Satire may survive dictators in totalitarian regimes intact, but it perishes in the webpages of CNET News.

I assume that means you didn't actually read to the end where the Q&A was discussed...

He was still in character as any Colbert viewer could tell by his responses.

so I suppose it's his character being paid by the criminals at RSA, rather than him himself?

That's reassuring.

Look at this way - everyone who still went to the RSAC were okay with RSA putting a backdoor in for the NSA. So you can probably imagine they're not exactly fervent supporters of Snowden.

I'm unsure if this is Colbert's character speaking, but during the Q&A he figured the logical end for Snowden would be his return home & pardon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-ZGlKw6-hk#t=45

He did the entire Q&A out of character as Colbert -- with the T. Was a nice juxtaposition to his prepared remarks which were obviously in character.

It's not shocking that a crowd of government contractors wouldn't support Snowden.

At least not when being filmed.