Just in time for Halloween, Stephen Colbert treats PR trickster Rick Berman to a smack down for his ludicrous campaigns against Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and other public interest groups. Last night on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, Stephen forced Berman to admit that consumers aren't asking him to defend their freedoms. It's corporations like the alcohol companies that are begging him to protect their profits.

Colbert: What do you do for the Center for Consumer Freedom?

Berman: I defend consumers' rights.

Colbert: So do consumers come to you and say, "Defend my rights"?

Berman: No, I figure out what's wrong with people's rights, and I -

Colbert: But who comes to you and says, "Here, here, defend our rights"?

Berman: I get up in the morning and I see crazy stuff and I say, "We gotta do something about that."

Colbert: Who's paying you?

Berman: Ah . . . lot's of people.

Colbert: Who?

Berman: Ah, actually consumers; actually businesses, and then of course -

Colbert: Businesses whose consumers are being denied the freedom to use their product?

When not wearing his Center for Consumer Freedom hat, Berman leads another front group, the Center for Union Facts, which mounts smear campaigns against unions in a similar fashion to his crusade against MADD. Last night's interview confirms that with Berman, it's all about money at the expense of safer roads, public health, and decent jobs.  Colbert appropriately makes us laugh at Berman instead of taking his rhetoric seriously. Check out the full interview.

Learn more on why you can't trust Rick Berman at the Anti-Union Network.