In a fawning interview with liberal comedian Stephen Colbert on Friday's NBC Today, fill-in co-host David Gregory gushed over the Comedy Central host being a factor in the 2012 presidential race: "What a treat for me to be in for Matt [Lauer] today....Stephen Colbert is a man who has had a loud and influential voice in this political season."
Gregory began the farcical exchange by proclaiming to Colbert: "You have a super-PAC and you have a character on television. And you have a real impact on this race." Colbert himself was skeptical: "How do I have an impact on the race?" Still, Gregory urged the fake newsman to share his supposed wisdom: "What are you exposing about the race and about the political system in 2012 that you think the rest of us miss?"
Stephen Colbert
Can you imagine a liberal comedian demeaning the appearance of a physically handicapped, Pulitzer Prize-winning, liberal syndicated columnist?
On Thursday, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert called Charles Krauthammer "Count Chocula" (video follows with commentary):
Plugging his new book, The Crisis of Zionism, on Thursday's The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, the Daily Beast's Peter Beinart - formerly of Time magazine - advanced the irrational view that it is the Israeli government and those who support the existence of Jewish settlements in the West Bank who are the obstacles to peace with the Palestinians. (Video below)
In an attempt to mock Rush Limbaugh, yet again, Stephen Colbert on Thursday compared the conservative radio host to the Taliban. Highlighting advertisers who have pulled out of Limbaugh's show in the wake of the Sandra Fluke controversy, the comedian insisted that the U.S. Army would no longer buy commercials.
Colbert smeared, "Yes, the Army is pulling out of Rush. Meanwhile, they're staying in Afghanistan to negotiate with the Taliban who evidently have a better track record on women's issues." [MP3 audio here. See video below.]
Appearing as a guest on Thursday's The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, ABC's Christiane Amanpour characterized conservatives as several years ago "frog-marching" the U.S. to war with Iraq as she and host Colbert discussed the likelihood Israel will soon attack Iran to prevent the Islamic state from producing nuclear weapons. (Video below)
MRC-TV captured video of a Stephen Colbert event in South Carolina where he sang "This Little Light of Mine" with a gospel choir. Which message does this send? Does this send a Christian message? Or is it much more likely that Colbert is using this Christian song as a typical rock for his character's bottomless pit of self-regard? Perhaps he's just being an entertainer.
The video also features a nice version of the national anthem, although Colbert gets a little goofy with a bass line near the end. Are you charmed or annoyed? Video below:
Late-night comedians historically have relished the opportunity to poke fun at politicians. Sometimes they savage them. In the Obama era, they haven’t been so enthusiastic about any of it. A recent study of political jokes on three late-night shows (Letterman, Leno, and Jimmy Fallon) by the Center for Media and Public Affairs found that Barack Obama’s joke count is “substantially lower than any other president.”
Some of the Obama jokes are actually bipartisan slams. Jimmy Fallon joked that “Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton are more mature than President Obama and John Boehner.” This is the classic comedian’s pose, and the safe one, that all the politicians are ridiculous, squabbling poseurs. Still, it’s every bit as much pandering to the public as the politicians are.
While Brian Williams warned of "those lethal weapons known as super-PACs" in the GOP primary race on NBC's Rock Center, he and correspondent Ted Koppel failed to recognize their own network's routine advocacy on behalf of liberal causes and in favor of Democratic candidates. Not to mention the barrage of negative coverage directed toward conservatives and Republicans.
The report itself on the Monday night broadcast was pushing the traditional liberal cause of greater government regulation of campaign finance. Koppel interviewed comedian Stephen Colbert, whose farcical super-PAC in South Carolina has begun running ads calling Mitt Romney a "serial killer." Koppel praised it as "proving how ridiculous this system has become."
Dean Reynolds filed a glowing report on Tuesday's CBS This Morning promoting comedian Stephen Colbert's mock campaign against super PACs. Reynolds led the segment by stating, "Before we say that a comedian could have no serious impact on a presidential campaign, let us remember that six days after a poll came out here showing Stephen Colbert slightly ahead of Jon Huntsman, Jon Huntsman quit the race."
After inflating Colbert's supposed impact, the correspondent continued by claiming that "so far, Colbert's effort is not displaying what you would call a light touch." Reynolds then played a clip from an ad released by the comedian's "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" super PAC, which blasts GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney as a "serial killer. He's 'Mitt the Ripper.'"
At the top of the 8 a.m. ET hour of NBC's Today on Monday, fill-in news anchor Tamron Hall promoted a fake campaign attack ad created by comedian Stephen Colbert which argues that if Mitt Romney believes corporations are people, "Then Mitt Romney is a serial killer. He's Mitt the Ripper." The ad follows with a woman screaming. [Audio available here]
Hall explained to viewers: "Colbert is using his fake bid for the White House to call attention to unlimited spending by anonymous super-PACs." After the news brief, fill-in co-host Natalie Morales declared: "I love Colbert. What he gets away with." Weatherman Al Roker joked: "He's a great American." Co-host Savannah Guthrie argued: "...it's only slightly more over the top than some of the ads we've seen." [View video after the jump]
ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sunday proved once and for all what a joke he is.
Not only did the This Week host give twice the airtime to faux political candidate Stephen Colbert as Texas governor Rick Perry, he did so after the Comedy Central star called him "a political operative" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, ABC's George Stephanopoulos responded to host Stephen Colbert's question of why he - as debate co-moderator last Saturday - asked GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney about whether states have the constitutional power to ban contraceptives, as he argued that the question revolved around the "right to privacy."
He then suggested that a bet with co-moderator Diane Sawyer motivated him to be so persistent in asking Romney followup questions on the subject. After Colbert asked what it felt like when Romney called it a "silly thing" for Stephanopoulos to ask such a hypothetical question, the ABC anchor responded: