Comedy cop Alex Christy isn’t the only Media Research Center employee to lash out at Stephen Colbert. Justine Brooke Murray — who is mostly appearing on TV these days and getting away from blog ranting at NewsBusters — continued the MRC’s complaining that it fell into Colbert’s narrative on his interview with Texas senatorial candidate James Talarico in a Feb. 18 TV appearance (on Fox Business, natch):
MRC Video Content Creator Justine Brooke Murray joined The Bottom Line on Fox Business Tuesday evening to deliver a blistering takedown of Stephen Colbert’s latest meltdown — one that wasn’t just sloppy comedy, but a blatant lie aired to millions of viewers.
Colbert recently claimed that CBS and the FCC blocked an interview with Texas State Rep. James Talerico, who is currently running for U.S. Senate. In reality, CBS said its lawyers provided guidance on FCC equal-time rules, which require broadcasters to offer comparable airtime to all political candidates. The FCC did not prohibit the interview from airing.
Co-host Brian Brenberg observed, “It seems like every time we hear from Colbert, it’s some political diatribe.” Murray added, “This is also the same guy who cheered when President Trump was banned from all social media platforms.”
Colbert tried to spin the story into a false narrative of government censorship, exposing a clear example of left-wing media hypocrisy. Murray said of Colbert, “He thinks he is above the law. Our left-wing journalists apparently think that if they identify as so-called journalists, they can…violate FCC law.”
In fact — as the MRC itself has admitted — there is an exception to the equal-time rule for talk shows like Colbert’s, which the FCC is thinking about voiding. Further, Colbert moving the Talarico to YouTube had the desired effect of generating millions of views, something the MRC doesn’t want to admit it was suckered into by Colbert. But Murray wasn’t done whining:
Colbert’s meltdown is just the latest example of a broader trend the Media Research Center has repeatedly documented: elitist media bias and a lack of accountability. Late-night shows increasingly put partisanship ahead of comedy. As Murray said, “Now the late shows are all therapy sessions.” Americans deserve late-night hosts who entertain, not turn current events into partisan theater over public airwaves.
Meanwhile, the MRC has never held Fox News accountable for its behavior, and it exempts Fox News late-night host Greg Gutfeld from the same scrutiny it hands out to non-right-wing hosts.
Tim Graham continued the Colbert whining in a March 15 post:
The Hollywood trade publication Variety has demonstrated a dramatic anti-Trump bias – they’d call it an anti-fascist bias. So it was shocking that they published an articleunder the headline “Stephen Colbert’s Long ‘Late Show’ Goodbye Has Gone From Resistance to Ego Trip.”
TV reviewer Daniel D’Addario — who just weeks ago trashed the new CBS Evening News anchorman Tony Dokoupil as an untalented but ambitious man with his finger in the wind — could not abide Monday’s episode, where actor John Lithgow read a Colbert-ogling poem titled “The Mighty Colbert.”
Lithgow honored the “sublime masterworks” that are Colbert’s monologues, and asked, “So why is he canceled? Why trash all that pleasure? Why yank off the air this beloved national treasure? Stephen’s tale is a lesson for all who come after: Beware of a boss with thin skin and no laughter.”
D’Addario declared “by this point in his lame-duck tenure, Colbert is likely accustomed to endless fawning from his guests!” He declared the news of his cancellation “seismic,” but added “What has ended up making it to air has been an increasingly puffy tribute to the show’s own host. The endless bouquets being tossed Colbert’s way have started to make the studio smell a bit cloying.”
Graham failed to mention that CBS itself set up this situation by canceling Colbert nearly a year in advance while CBS’ owner sought to settle a lawsuit with President Trump with a large payment of millions of dollars. CBS claims the two aren’t linked, but nobody actually believes that. Instead, Graham huffed: “Clearly, boosting Colbert as both a legend and a victim is an important part of Colbert’s next chapter.” Of course, CBS made Colbert into a victim — not that Graham will admit it, of course, since it cheered his cancellation.
More comedy-cop stylings
Christy made sure he wasn’t forgotten, and he sounded a tad bitter in a March 10 post:
As his time as host of The Late Show winds down, CBS’s Stephen Colbert was awarded the Writers Guild of America’s Walter Bernstein Award on Sunday in another example of liberal celebrities giving other liberal celebrities awards for their liberalism. Introducing Colbert, Robert Smigel hailed Colbert as someone who speaks “truth to power,” by which he just meant that Colbert mocks Republican presidents.
Smigel, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live and as the voice of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, recalled Colbert’s appearance at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner, “And as I watched Stephen bomb and bomb and bomb, it occurred to me: Anyone else I’d ever seen do this gig would have ‘read the room,’ would have done something to break the tension, a self-effacing, improv quip, or an exaggerated wipe of the brow, anything to get the crowd on their side. But Stephen just kept going. And I know at some point, he clearly read the room. And he just said to himself, “Fuck the room.’”
Colbert’s attacks on President Bush led Smigel to add, “And he just kept tearing into the president three feet to his right, never breaking character. Stephen Colbert was not going to sell out Stephen Colbert. And that’s the night Stephen went from being my comedy crush to my comedy hero.”
As if Presidents Obama and Biden never happened, Smigel fast-forwarded to the present day, “And we all know what’s going on now. Things are so messed up that now they’re clearly our tangible consequences to speaking truth to power. But Stephen, you’ve always led with integrity.”
Christy can’t prove Colbert or Smigel wrong, so he continued to whine:
Sunday’s WGA ceremony illustrated one thing perfectly: whether it is Smigel, Colbert, or the WHCD, the idea of speaking truth to power means attacking Republicans. The WGA was not going to give anyone an award for their biting satirical critiques of Obama or Biden, but there are millions of dollars to be made and awards to be earned if you attack Bush, Trump, and presumably whoever the next Republican president will be.
Christy huffed again in a March 13 post:
CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed comedian Wanda Sykes to Thursday’s taping of The Late Show for a conversation that was as ridiculous as it was wide-ranging. In the span of just a few minutes, Sykes urged Colbert to team up with Pope Leo and “burn this bitch down” on the night of his final show, demanded that TSA agents be paid while omitting that the reason they go unpaid is because of a Democrat shutdown, and helped Colbert resurrect a wildly misleading talking point about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s food spending.
Sykes implored, “So, the last show what you going to do? You’ve got to go the hell off the last show, like, burn this bitch down. You got to—I mean—”
She also quipped, “I heard they turning it into a Walmart, so don’t worry about it. So, yeah—I mean, you always bring the fire every night. But that last show has to be like, like destruction. Like, yeah.”
Chriwsty ranted in a March 31 post:
The latest chapter in late night comedy’s degeneration into liberal group cathartic therapy was written on Monday as CBS’s Stephen Colbert led The Late Show audience in a “Yes, we can” chant after hyping a balloon at a No Kings rally that featured President Trump defecating fire on the Constitution and wondering if such things could help prevent the rise of fascism in America.
During his ode to No Kings, Colbert hyped some of the signs, “There were protest signs and they were just great. ‘They came for Minnesota and we said, ‘Ope, no, you don’t.’’ ‘Does this ass make my country look small?’ ‘No faux king way,’ ‘The Turd Reich,’ and, ‘Jimmy Kimmel has higher ratings than you.’ I like that one. I really like that one.”
Colbert would reveal that the Kimmel one was actually just a graphic his team made of Kimmel sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez holding a sign. Meanwhile, “The Turd Reich” sign not only featured President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, U.K. Reform Party leader Nigel Farage, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Nazi uniforms—which is one of the hallmarks of anti-Semitism—but also lumped them in with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Christy went on to complain further that Colbert talked about creating “an angry balloon that looks like it’s pooping fire,” which prompted yet another rant from him:
To call the Trump-fire-defecating balloon childish would be an insult to children. Colbert, his audience, and the protestors may think they are clowning on a fascist with a fragile ego, but they are really simply outing themselves as profoundly unserious people. When the history of the Trump presidency is written, nobody will write that democracy was saved because of that balloon.
Christy seems to have forgotten that Trump posted a video to his social media account showing him dumping poop on No Kings protesters — or that the MRC had no problem with him doing so, and it certainly didn’t call that childish.
April attacks
Christy continued playing comedy cop against Stephen Colbert during April:
Meryl Streep Spreads Voter Suppression Conspiracies With Colbert
Colbert, Daily Show Try To Claim The Pope While Promoting Abortion
Christy melted down over Colbert and a guest pointing out that ICE was effectively chased out of Minneapolis in an April 8 post:
CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed singer Brandi Carlile to Tuesday’s taping of The Late Show, where the duo looked back on a concert she gave in Minneapolis. According to Carlile, the concert was meant to honor the people there who showed the country how to “defeat something so oppressive.”
Colbert recalled that “in February, you played a show in Minneapolis. Raised $700,000—raised $700,000 for the families affected by ICE, and the show was live-streamed globally.”
He then wondered, “And I’m just curious, with that big platform, what is the message that you wanted to send?”
Christy then defended ICE:
Throughout ICE’s time in Minneapolis, they never actually took over governance from the state or city. There was no “occupation,” but state and local officials do not have the right to declare themselves immune from federal law. Ultimately, Minneapolis proved that there is ultimately no such thing as a sanctuary city, and that is what Colbert and Carlile had a hard time accepting.
Christy didn’t mention that ICE killed two people in Minneapolis who didn’t deserve to die.
The next day, Christy used Colbert to take part in his employer’s pro-Trump narrative on the Iran war — namely, complaining that others weren’t as pro-Trump as his side:
CBS’s Stephen Colbert reacted to the ceasefire with Iran for the first time on Wednesday’s edition of The Late Show and was ready to declare the war a failure. A sarcastic Colbert claimed the only thing the war accomplished was providing President Trump with a distraction from the Epstein files, while his cold open also attempted to throw cold water on the idea that the U.S. accomplished its goals.
Colbert introduced a parody clip of John Lennon by declaring, “Finally, the war was over for a bit. Realizing John Lennon’s dream.”
In the clip, a fake Lennon sang, “All we are saying is peace for two weeks.”
Moving on, Colbert broke out his Trump voice when he added, “Trump announced the deal on social media, calling it a ‘double-sided ceasefire.’ Okay, that is cool, but aren’t all peace deals double-sided? I believe there’s a word for a single-sided ceasefire, and it’s ‘murder.’ ‘I’m done shootin’ you now.’ Trump explained that he agreed to the ceasefire because, quote, ‘We have already met and exceeded all military objectives.’ It’s true. This war reached all of its objectives. It’s been weeks since anyone mentioned the Epstein files.”
Christy then repeated pro-Trump propaganda:
Gen. Dan Caine reported on Wednesday that Operation Epic Fury has, among other things, led to the destruction of 90 percent of Iran’s weapons factories, including every one that used to produce Shaheed drones. He also said that 90 percent of Iran’s regular navy and 50 percent of its IRGC mosquito fleet have been destroyed. Additionally, 450 ballistic missile and 800 one-way attack drone storage facilities are gone. Most importantly, roughly “80 percent of Iran’s nuclear industrial base was hit, further degrading their attempts to attain a nuclear weapon.”
To say distracting from Epstein was Epic Fury’s only accomplishment is simply to ignore reality.
Christy unleashed a fact-check on a Colbert guest in an April 22 post:
CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed former Secretary of State John Kerry to Tuesday’s edition of The Late Show to discuss the latest developments with Iran. However, what was intended as an informational segment for the audience turned into a segment that featured Kerry misrepresenting two crucial facts and acting as if he were the comedian.
Kerry was giving the Trump administration some unsolicited advice when he urged them to “take time to be reasonable in ways that will not encourage them to say, ‘Oh, you just, you know, you took a ship over and we, on the other hand, said we are going to open the Strait of Hormuz,’ which, by the way, have never been shut in any conflict that we’ve had or difference we’ve had with Iran.”
First, despite Iran saying the strait was open, it was still demanding vessels pay a toll, so it was not actually open in the way it must be. Second, to say the strait has “never” been shut or disrupted is untrue. The U.S. Navy had to run escort missions in the area during the Iran-Iraq War after several attacks on oil tankers. Iran also mined ships during Trump’s first term.
Nevertheless, Kerry rolled on, “So, today Donald Trump, by ripping up the agreement and pulling out, has actually put us in a worse place than we were previously because the one thing we feared by pulling it out is no agreement; war is probably almost inevitable, and literally, they have made it inevitable by giving Iran no freedom to move in a different direction.”
Colbert was not interested in correcting the record.
in fact, it has not been shown that any potential Trump agreement is any better the Obama agreement he ripped up.
Obama derangement joins Colbert derangement
As Stephen Colbert’s late-night show would down, the Media Research Center continued to play comedy cop. Alex Christy groused that Colbert did an interview with former President Obama in a May 6 post:
As CBS’s The Late Show prepares to wind down operations in less than three weeks, host Stephen Colbert traveled to Chicago for a lengthy interview with former President Barack Obama to hype the opening of his presidential library and museum. Amid a flurry of other softballs, Colbert would suggest that in contrast to President Trump, Obama was a pillar of executive restraint, and recall the old liberal idea that the worst thing Obama ever did was tear a tan suit.
One softball Colbert lobbed was, “Fifty to 100 years from now, when somebody comes to this center, what do you want them to take away from the experience? What do you want them to learn about you and the legacy of your administration?”
[…]
Colbert then moved on, “There’s often a conversation about the restriction or the need to restrict certain executive powers. I might have asked you this when you were running for president back in the day. Like, is there any power that President Bush has taken that you would say, ‘No, I don’t want that power,’ because it keeps accumulating. Now that you’re no longer in office, what powers do you believe the president should not have?”
The man who was always bragging about his pen and phone and threatening, “If Congress doesn’t act, I will,” replied, “There are a couple that I followed even though they were law. And I want us — we’re going to have to do some work to return to this basic norm, and we probably now have to codify it. The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants prosecuted.”
He also claimed, “The idea is that the attorney general is the people’s lawyer. It’s not the president’s consigliere.”
What about a wingman? Again, any reference to the IRS and Tea Party was conveniently ignored as Obama rolled on, “There’s a bunch of stuff that, you know, we can overcome. We can’t overcome the politicization of the criminal justice system. The awesome power of the state. You can’t have a situation where whoever is in charge starts using that to go after their political enemies or reward their friends, right?… I would consult with Eric Holder, with my attorney general, all the time, around broad policy issues, but that’s different than who do you charge, what case do you bring?”
When current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth talks about woke-ism in the military, the Obama era stands out. Nevertheless, Obama added, “The second thing is the military. Don’t politicize our military. As president, you are commander-in-chief. You are responsible for directing our military. But there had been a whole series of norms that were in place to ensure that you weren’t trying to make that military loyal to you as opposed to the constitution and the people of the United States. We’re going to have to find mechanisms to restore that.”
Christy continued his fit of Obama derangement:
Later, the duo went on a tour of the museum, and Colbert sarcastically wondered, “Is there a wing dedicated to greatest blunders? Is the tan suit here? I’m asking if the tan suit is here.”
of Obama derangement:After Obama declared that “I own that suit proudly,” Colbert pulled out a photo and wondered, “We have this if you want to put it on display someplace. A shattered nation looked up and saw that. When you look back at the tan suit, what occurs to you?”
Obama simply wondered, “Fly”
The real question is why do Colbert and media types insist that the tan suit was the most controversial thing Obama ever did?
Because the MRC and its fellow right-wing travelers freaked out so much about it at the time? Christy didn’t mention that part.
Curtis Houck further complained about this interview:
The still far-left CBS Mornings began Wednesday with five minutes of fawning over soon-to-be-ex-colleague Stephen Colbert teaming up for Tuesday’s Late Show with former President Barack Obama ahead of the latter’s Presidential Center to attack President Trump through a series of serious projections about norms.
In other words, they treated water being wet as breaking news.
[…]
Sadly, CBS gave senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang the task of dressing up this blatant corporate synergy and partisan pandering as legitimate news.
“[H]e had plenty to say about the presidency and how the Oval Office has changed since he was in charge…During a taped interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Colbert asked former President Barack Obama about the expanding powers of the executive branch, and what powers he believes whoever is the president should not have,” Jiang stated in part.
[…]
The show shamelessly had a second segment about this interview with chief Washington analyst Robert Costa, who had the gall to tell featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers that former presidents “don’t always want to weigh in on current affairs,” but Obama chose to given the opening of this so-called “Presidential Center”[.]
Houck didn’t explain why he dismissed Obama’s presidential center as “so-called,” as if he was also trying to deny that Obama was, in fact, president. Instead, he whined:
First, Obama has made endorsements in nearly every election since leaving office. Secondly, he spent months appearing in ads for the Virginia Democrat move to gerrymander the state from a six Democrat-five Republican map to 10 Democrats to one Republican.
And finally, this is not a library, thus breaking a norm set by every presidential center going back to Herbert Hoover.
Houck failed to explain why a library musts be part of a presidential center and be the only part that matters..