 In the January 22 , 2006 issue , columnist Frank Rich used the term seven times , with credit to Colbert , in a column titled " Truthiness 101 : From Frey to Alito " , to discuss Republican portrayals of several issues ( including the Samuel Alito nomination , the Bush administration 's response to Hurricane Katrina , and Jack Murtha 's Vietnam War record ) . Rich emphasized the extent to which the word had quickly become a cultural fixture , writing , " The mock Comedy Central pundit Stephen Colbert 's slinging of the word ' truthiness ' caught on instantaneously last year precisely because we live in the age of truthiness . " Editor & Publisher reported on Rich 's use of " truthiness " in his column , saying he " tackled the growing trend to ' truthiness , ' as opposed to truth , in the U.S. " 
