Nancy Cordes couldn't have made outgoing Senator Jim DeMint's conservative credentials clearer on Friday's CBS This Morning, labeling the South Carolina Republican "one of the most conservative members of the Senate." Cordes outlined that DeMint was a "Tea Party hero, who has raised more than $15 million...to help elect Tea Party senators...But he has also backed a series of losing far-right candidates."
However, the correspondent couldn't be bothered to identify Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert as a liberal, as she noted the comedian's efforts to get his fans to lobby South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to name him DeMint's replacement. She merely pointed out Colbert's persona as "one of the most conservative TV personalities out there - fake personalities, anyway." [audio clips available here; video below the jump]
Stephen Colbert
South Carolina's Jim DeMint made quite a splash Thursday when he announced he was leaving the Senate to run the Heritage Foundation.
Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, also a South Carolina native, tossed his hat into the ring hours later asking viewers to tweet Governor Nikki Haley and tell her why she should name him to be DeMint's replacement (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Stephen Colbert channeled the mother and teacher from the classic "A Christmas Story" on Thursday's Colbert Report, as he made fun of a proposed dormitory for undergraduates with gun permits at the University of Colorado. The only thing missing from his left-wing stereotypes of gun owners as trigger-happy yahoos was the famous "you'll shoot your eye out" line.
Colbert cracked that the move from the mountain state school would "forever ensur[e] that no one will think of it as a safety school." After pointing out that not one student had signed up for the dorm, he snarked, "Come on! This is college! It's time to get crazy - do shots, take shots, get shot....live a little - if not very long." As you might expect, CBS This Morning spotlighted the Colbert sketch on Friday. [audio available here; video below the jump]
In a fawning interview with liberal comedian Stephen Colbert on Sunday's Meet the Press, moderator David Gregory praised the Colbert Report host and Daily Show host Jon Stewart: "Why do you think so many people think you and Jon Stewart are more effective at exposing hypocrisy, getting to real truths, than the – than the news media is?"
Colbert replied: "I don't know if that's the case." Gregory insisted: "Well, I think there are certain people who believe that." Colbert observed: "I don't know, I mean jokes make things palatable. I would say that. Comedy just helps an idea go down, that's all."
For some peculiar reason, NBC's Meet the Press spent precious air time Sunday just weeks before a presidential election on an interview with Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert.
By far his best line was, "I don't really watch the news so much. I come in around 6:30 and I just say the opposite of whatever Rachel Maddow says the night before, and I'm usually good" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Today's Washington Post reports a firm called Experian Marketing Services has labored to find out how the political parties can locate their most loyal voters. For their category of “Super Democrats,” that list starts with -- shocker -- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
“The segments we will focus on in this post include the Super Democrats and Ultra Conservatives segments, which represent the most party loyal voters for Democrats and Republicans, respectively," they declared, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central has the highest concentration of Super Democrats of any non-news cable or broadcast show on TV." Colbert was second, and NBC's 30 Rock came in third.
The media doesn’t like food much these days. Papa John’s Pizza founder John Schnatter is the latest individual in the food industry to draw fire from the left; in his case the he made the mistake of discussing the economic effects of Obamacare on his company. Outlets from the Colbert Report to the Boston Globe savaged Schnatter for having the effrontery of publicly explaining basic economics.
In a conference call with shareholders last week, Schnatter (who is a Romney supporter) said:: “Our best estimate is that Obamacare will cost 11 to 14 cents per pizza, or 15 to 20 cents an order from a corporate basis.” He also assured listeners that, “If Obamacare is in fact not repealed, we will find tactics to shallow out any Obamacare costs and core strategies to pass that cost onto consumers in order to protect our shareholders best interests.”
On its Wednesday evening and Thursday morning newscasts, CBS didn't file one report or news brief on the controversial federal abortifacient/contraception mandate going into effect. Even worse, the only mention of religious liberty scandal over the regulation was CBS This Morning playing a clip of liberal comedian Stephen Colbert making fun of it.
ABC's Diane Sawyer heralded the mandate taking effect as "an important day for women's health" on Wednesday's World News, and forwarded the White House's talking points on the regulation: "Religious employers, like Catholic charities and hospitals, do not have to directly include free birth control under their health plans." On NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams lamented that "simply by taking effect, it started up the health care fight all over again."
Left-wing comedian Stephen Colbert smeared Mitt Romney on his Comedy Central program on Monday, hinting that Bain Capital under his helm acted like a group of 19th century settlers that resorted to cannibalism. After noting how President Obama forwarded a claim by The Washington Post that Bain owned companies that were "pioneers" of outsourcing, Colbert snarked, "Who cares? Pioneers opened up the West. Bain was just like the Donner Party. They ate the weak."
The following day, Tuesday's CBS This Morning publicized the liberal celebrity's attack during their regular "Eye Opener" segment just after the top of the 7 am Eastern hour. The morning program played a clip of the President using the "pioneers" line immediately before the Colbert soundbite [audio available here; video below the jump]:
Observers on the right and left have, for different reasons, long lamented that Comedy Central has become the main source of news for young people. But one group thinks the phenomenon is just fine. The academic left considers comedian Stephen Colbert an object of serious and perhaps even obsessive study.
The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi wrote an excellent piece on July 9, examining the academic world’s “unsettling” obsession with comedian Stephen Colbert. Farhi describes Colbert-related studies as the “academic cult of Colbert,” writing: “Yet ever since Colbert’s show, “The Colbert Report,” began airing on Comedy Central in 2005, these ivory tower eggheads have been devoting themselves to studying all things Colbertian.”
New York Times campaign reporter Trip Gabriel followed up on his vital hard-news front-page expose of Ann Romney's horseback riding with an update on Sunday that also conveniently illuminated the stereotype of the Romneys as rich and out of touch, this time with the help of that quintessential man of the people, comedian Stephen Colbert: "Romney Horse Wins Spot on Olympic Dressage Team."
MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Wednesday mocked Ann Romney for having a horse that might be heading to London to represent America in the Olympics.
I guess aside from his obvious lack of national pride, the Hardball host didn't know that the wife of the Republican presidential candidate credits horseback riding with helping to reduce her multiple sclerosis symptoms (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):