CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Monday’s edition of The Late Show for a three-segment appearance where the duo would hurl outrageous accusations at Israel while accusing Republicans of being Russian propagandists. They would also do some electioneering as they urged President Biden to bring the Democratic Party together by appeasing those voting uncommitted in the primaries.
Colbert began by asking about Ocasio-Cortez’s use of the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions, “The horrors of the attack of October 7th and the horror people see of the innocent lives lost in the military response. Tens of thousands of lives being lost there. But you took it a further step. I think you think you were the first person to do this in the Congress. You said, you called the famine in Gaza an unfolding genocide. That is an electric term to be using against the actions of a country that was formed in the wake of the greatest genocide of the 20th century. If politics is the art of the possible, you're a politician. What did you hope to make possible by going that far in your description?”
It wasn’t Colbert’s worst question, but a better one would have pointed out that misery caused by a war that you started is not genocide. As for Ocasio-Cortez, she predictably confused misery with genocide, “And to me, what I saw in that moment is that we have been in-- on the precipice of a mass famine that would indiscriminately kill nearly a million children, adults, innocent people, men, women, and children. And this is an utterly heartbreaking moment.”
She also accused Israel, not Hamas, of endangering the hostages and genocide while defending her inaccurate use of the word, “As you mentioned, the attacks on October 7th or horrifying. The hostages that are being held in Gaza are also being endangered and imperiled by an indiscriminate famine and bombardment campaign as well and it's important that they be home. But I think in using this term, it is not to engage in a game of rhetoric, but it is for us to see what is happening for what it is.”
Later, in the second segment, the duo was discussing those voting uncommitted in the Democratic Primary when Ocasio-Cortez declared, “And so right now, these are folks who want to be seen. I think they're using this process to be seen and it's best that we do that now then for folks to stay home in November.”
Colbert then urged Biden to unite the party by listening to the protestors “So, respond to this now is what you recommend the Biden Administration to do so people can trust his judgment in the future. Before we move on to the next subject, will you be voting for Joe Biden?”
Ocasio-Cortez affirmed she will be.
Despite the earlier Hamas propaganda, when Colbert and Ocasio-Cortez returned for the third segment, the pair discussed the GOP’s relationship with Russia. Ocasio-Cortez brought up the case of Alexander Smirnov, “We just went through an impeachment attempt on the president of the United States that was started with a source that Republicans used that was in communication with Russian intelligence. So, you have not just the bottom bench here. You have the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Representative Comer, take quote-unquote ‘evidence,’ an account from someone who was working with the-- Russian intelligence and try to impeach and remove the president of the United States over it. This is serious.”
Colbert replied, “How did they not know that -- or did they know that this was connected to the Russians? Or did they not figure out because they have been translated from the Cyrillic?”
That’s not the dunk Colbert thinks it is when the person he enjoying it with previously said that Israel is the one endangering the hostages.
Here is a transcript for the April 8 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
4/8/2024
12:06 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: And we're coming up on, we're just past six months of the war between Israel and Gaza and the unfolding crisis over there and this—the the heartbreak and the horror of asymmetrical war. The horrors of the attack of October 7th and the horror people see of the innocent lives lost in the military response. Tens of thousands of lives being lost there. But you took it a further step. I think you think you were the first person to do this in the Congress. You said, you called the famine in Gaza an unfolding genocide. That is an electric term to be using against the actions of a country that was formed in the wake of the greatest genocide of the 20th century. If politics is the art of the possible, you're a politician. What did you hope to make possible by going that far in your description?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: I appreciate the extent of that question and while I was not the first in Congress to use that term, it certainly was a dedicated speech towards it before the beginning, rather the end of that session. And to me, what I saw in that moment is that we have been in-- on the precipice of a mass famine that would indiscriminately kill nearly a million children, adults, innocent people, men, women, and children. And this is an utterly heartbreaking moment.
As you mentioned, the attacks on October 7th or horrifying. The hostages that are being held in Gaza are also being endangered and imperiled by an indiscriminate famine and bombardment campaign as well and it's important that they be home. But I think in using this term, it is not to engage in a game of rhetoric, but it is for us to see what is happening for what it is.
…
OCASIO-CORTEZ: And so right now these are folks who want to be seen. I think they're using this process to be seen and it's best that we do that now then for folks to stay home in November.
COLBERT: So, respond to this now is what you recommend the Biden Administration—
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah.
COLBERT: -- to do so people can trust his judgment in the future. Before we move on to the next subject, will you be voting for Joe Biden?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: I will be voting for President Biden in November.
…
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Let's just rewind a second. We just went through an impeachment attempt on the president of the United States that was started with a source that Republicans used that was in communication with Russian intelligence. So, you have not just the bottom bench here. You have the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Representative Comer, take quote-unquote “evidence,” an account from someone who was working with the-- Russian intelligence and try to impeach and remove the president of the United States over it. This is serious.
COLBERT: How did they not know that -- or did they know that this was connected to the Russians? Or did they not figure out because they have been translated from the Cyrillic?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: That I think is a very excellent question for Chairman Comer.
