Visitors to America--compare and contrast

They say that only foreigners (pronounced "ferrners") can truly understand the USA. And recently, two different gentlemen have come over from abroad to explore this country and tell Americans more about ourselves than we could ever have understood otherwise. These two men are Borat Sagdiyev and Bernard-Henri Levy. If these two have been compared and contrasted before, I stand corrected, but I believe this to be the first comparison of its kind.

The two men are similar in many ways. Both have silly accents, claim a certain degree of sex appeal, and work as journalists. Both exhibit on the one hand a sincere desire to learn about this country and a continual smirk at how ridiculous these Americans really are. That one of the men is real and other a character in a comedy show hardly matters--their tasks are essentially the same, as are their methods.

It seems that Borat's portrait of America is more successful, as he allows Americans to speak for themselves. His only interference is that he sets up awkward situations, but he allows the reactions to unfold on their own. BHL, meanwhile, takes a detail here and there and with the few scraps he bothers examining, puts together his own (preconceived?) concept of this country.

I just thought of this comparison, and haven't really had time to flesh it out. But I'm sure it's as profound as I think it is.