The Late Show with Stephen Colbert just screwed the pooch

[NotHardUp1]

For those who are not online viewers or watch CBS, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been doing hard jabs at the administration, and justly so since the current fiasco began that is the Trump White House. The online YouTube version is just the opening monologue and then another longer clip that is an except usually of a guest interview. I only see it online because I'm asleep by the time it airs on weeknights.

The audience is reliably to the left and all the lampoons and low-hanging fruit barbs are well received and cheered, both online and in the studio audience.

HOWEVER, I noticed when viewing online that I took offense last night, so I dug around to see if I was alone in this or if there was something larger at work.

I was right. The show really turned a corner in turning off fans, and for exactly the reason TicTocman has been posting since long before Sec. Clinton lost to Trump. The video in question is here (at the time of posting):

For pretty much the full six minute monologue, Colbert smears Bernie on the basis of his age, his looks, and implied senility. It's highly offensive, and not just because of the categories attacked. No other Democratic candidates have faced such a smear, and it smacks of engineering the lineup just as pundits, comedians, and news shows have been doing for the past several decades.

They can't be content with respecting the process. They try to poison the well to ensure certain candidates are not even taken seriously. Whether this attack came from Colbert, his writers, the CBS producers, or all three, it was quickly denounced by a significant voicing of the show's 5 million subscribers on YouTube.

In truth, only a minute fraction of the followers have viewed most episodes, with the views ranging from only around 100,000 to upward of one million per clip. The viewers cast Like votes ranging anywhere from 1600 votes up to more than 21,000. Dislikes are tiny, and only average 1% to 2% of the Likes counts.

BUT, look at the stats under the hack job on Bernie Sanders. It has the highest views, and a high number of Likes, but over 6,000 Dislikes. that's suddenly 34% of the Likes in relation. A LOT of people felt just like I did, and posted comments to the same effect. It was a usurping of the voters rights to form our own opinion, and showed a pretty attuned set of fans highly displease. I'd be surprised if Colbert didn't apologize on tonight's broadcast, which would be unprecedented, I suspect.

As much as all this sounds like CE&P fare, I think it's more about the media today, especially the influential role that broadcast political humor has taken in the balance of power out there.

What do you make of it?

 

[seven2go]

I saw it real time.
I couldn't believe Colbert was so tough on him.
On the other hand I guess it proves Colbert can practice equal opportunity.

 

[pat grimshaw]

... I think it's more about the media today....

The media in the US and my country has gone down the toilet.

It is ridiculous click-bait as vile as Twitter.

 

[NotHardUp1]

The 2016 election run-up was a prime example. All the while ABC was yammering agog about one outrageous thing after another from Trump, they nonetheless fed the kitty almost daily with pretty deferential interviews with him, giving him the free press he fueled his campaign with.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I saw it real time.
I couldn't believe Colbert was so tough on him.
On the other hand I guess it proves Colbert can practice equal opportunity.

Respectfully offered, he isn't equal. He is not attacking every candidate that way. He actually has kudos he throws out for some of the darlings in the pack. It looks like what happened last time, where there was a concerted effort to marginalize Bernie, the real radical.

The same was done to Nader in the elections when he ran. He was literally shunned by the DNC for playing the spoiler.

The two-party system is cancer, and it quickly sets upon any healthy tissue that looks like it might grow into a third party.

 

[Alistair]

The media in the US and my country has gone down the toilet.

It is ridiculous click-bait as vile as Twitter.

The Late Show isn't media.

Easy up, it's a comedy show.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Of course it's media. The Daily Show was media.

Media isn't defined as news. It's defined as communication. It's a form of communication.

And it's a combination of news, comedy, commentary, and propaganda. It literally shapes opinions, not merely entertains.

It's literally the only broadcast some people watch that tells them what happened politically during the day.

It's infotainment, which is but one type of media.

Media encompasses billboards, bumper stickers, radio, podcasts, and art. All are media.

As for it being a comedy show, comedy has been a political weapon since before the time of the Romans.

 

[pat grimshaw]

The Late Show isn't media.

Easy up, it's a comedy show.

A comedy show shouldn't try to handle serious matters if the comedian's main aim is to bend the truth to get larfs. Politics is supposed to be a serious business.

'Infotainment' TV is turning voters' brains into mush.

I watched a few minutes of Bill Maher trying to have a conversation about serious matters and the audiences were yuk-yukking away like donkeys.

 

[roadtripboy]

Just for info...you can watch the full show for free at cbs.com.

 

[sixthson]

Who cares?

 

[rareboy]

I doubt if it really made any difference.

The interview with Andrew McCabe was excellent.

 

[NotHardUp1]

The dislikes on the video continue to grow. It represents a line the show crossed. The entire machine on the left should take notice. Sanders' fundraising is good evidence the grassroots element might tell the kingmakers to fuck off this time.

The left might get the same bitter porridge the GOP got when Trump's legions didn't follow the game plan.

It would certainly be justice, real justice, not the meaningless identity politics that has been serving as the failed agenda to get the working class to unite and oust the oligarchs.

The infotainment satirists carry a double function when they inform and are trusted than when they are demoted to mere comedians, especially when their motives suddenly become suspect.

Mocking Sanders' age would be right up there with smearing Castro for being a beaner or any other irrelevant snark. And what smart viewers are relentless about in the comments is that the bit wasn't a one-liner zing, but a six-minute hack job that didn't even work as comedy. It was too obvious.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Stephen can be abrasive even with people he likes. He lost me with the "pudding" remark.

I will have my pudding, especially banana pudding Mr. Colbert, ya hear?

 

[rareboy]

Let's be clear here.

Colbert is always respectful and supportive when Sanders has been on the show.

Just as he is when any of the candidates turn up. His interviews are always both serious and light hearted...he gives them time to explain their positions, but will also challenge them on issues that the broader media is also taking on.

Bernie is no snowflake. He can take the jests and jabs from a brief night show comic's monologue.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Let's be clear here.

Colbert is always respectful and supportive when Sanders has been on the show.

Just as he is when any of the candidates turn up. His interviews are always both serious and light hearted...he gives them time to explain their positions, but will also challenge them on issues that the broader media is also taking on.

Bernie is no snowflake. He can take the jests and jabs from a brief night show comic's monologue.

Yes, let's be clear indeed. Your reframing of what happened is effectively a lie. A zing is a point of humor. Any public figure, politician or not, gets one by virtue of the fact that he is in the news constantly and hundreds of pics circulate, some of them most unflattering. Commenting on the random bad one is fair game for satire.

Staying on appearance for a full six minute monologue is not. It is an actual attack. Colbert doesn't make his millions by merely tearing down every public figure as part of his nightly routine. It's a very specific formula. It's political satire, and the focus is, and has been, the blunders of the administration. It is a pattern TV has followed beginning with the Nixon scandals.

What Colbert did was not that. He took the frontrunner to task, not for his political policy, not for his character, but for his physical appearance. He might as well have been Telly posting about concentration camp survivors, or Fab about Florida crackers during the school shooting. It was low. And it wasn't even good comedy. It was part of the kingmaking the DNC does to try to put a moderate forward to avoid the party swinging left and losing the actual election.

But you find that too embarrassing, although odd since you're not a Democrat but a Canadian, yet your obsession is the propagandist for the DNC and the status quo there. I guess that puts you up there with our highly interested Russian "friends" abroad.

The video speaks for itself. The many comments in response also include the widespread perception that Colbert has always treated Sanders differently. The dislike votes now are at 41% of the likes, an obvious index and at a level 20 times greater than Colberts normal ratings.

Being deferential to Sanders in person is no virtue if your agenda is to marginalize him through obvious mockery. It's merely trying to put up the appearance of civility. What was done was anything but civil.

Your allusion to snowflakery is comical. You are such a practiced propagandist, you can't help yourself. No one ever implied Sanders was hypersensitive. Your attempt to portray his supporter as snowflakes by proxy is classy. When you can't stand in an argument on its logic, you constantly go for name calling, a fail in debate.

Yes, let's be very clear.

 

[CoolBlue71]

For those who are not online viewers or watch CBS, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been doing hard jabs at the administration, and justly so since the current fiasco began that is the Trump White House. The online YouTube version is just the opening monologue and then another longer clip that is an except usually of a guest interview. I only see it online because I'm asleep by the time it airs on weeknights. ...

Thanks for posting the video, NotHardUp1!

I haven’t had the chance to view it yet; but, and I mention this in general, Stephen Colbert is owned. Just like Bill Maher. I stopped watching both programs. Colbert sold out after leaving his Comedy Central series. Bill Maher sold out, perhaps, two years ago in time with Donald Trump having taken office and, of course, for the very fact Maher continues his program. They’re both hollow. They are owned by corporations which are essentially controlling what they say. This is corrupt neoliberalism.

 

[TickTockMan]

Thanks for posting the video, NotHardUp1!

I haven’t had the chance to view it yet; but, and I mention this in general, Stephen Colbert is owned. Just like Bill Maher. I stopped watching both programs. Colbert sold out after leaving his Comedy Central series. Bill Maher sold out, perhaps, two years ago in time with Donald Trump having taken office and, of course, for the very fact Maher continues his program. They’re both hollow. They are owned by corporations which are essentially controlling what they say. This is corrupt neoliberalism.

That is almost 100% what I was going to say.

I like Jimmy Dore because he is funny, but fair and will talk shit about all sides. Colbert stopped being funny or fair when he came to network TV and started taking orders from people that admit they take orders from the DNC. That is when I stopped watching him. As for Mahar he has just completely sold out and will say anything to stay in the spotlight. John Oliver and Trevor Noah are pretty much the same. They are all so rich they will say anything to stay on the DNCs good side to keep guests. That is not to say they don't make a decent point from time to time.


The smears on Bernie and for that matter Tulsi Gabbard started months ago. Sadly they are not from the right though, they can be traced to the left. Neoliberals want to bring down the two progressive candidates as fast as they can.

 

[TickTockMan]

Also a bit off topic, but still on topic. Since Bernie announced The Washington Post has had four articles bashing Bernie. The Washington post is owned by the owner of Amazon Jeff Bezos who Bernie went after to get higher wages and better work conditions for the workers at Amazon. Bezos also works for the CIA (on some board) and has admitted he listens to the DNC. Bezos is no friend to real news and neither is The Washington Post.

 

[luckynumbah7]

Personally I'm surprised he's running. The, ah, mortality rates being what they are would leave endeavors 'half finished' with colleagues & personel yet to be identified and I could see that situation going wrong very quickly. The Vice President is a 'break glass in case of emergency' thing but death of old age is expected. I'd say suddenly but due to his age, it can't really be considered sudden since bodies don't... generally last long.

Now, if he should happen to, say, have a family tree handy that shows the longevity of his particular line and his direct male relative's ages should just-so-happen to live to, oh, let's say mid-nineties, then I'd consider voting aye and takin' my chances.

 

[luckynumbah7]

- I would've said mid eighties but that job viciously sucks the years out of people. 'Before' & 'After' photos, good lord. I imagine taking the job is a bit like doing a 'lil one-man Swing number into a dragon's lair while screaming "eat me!" on the high kicks.