During the opening monologue of Tuesday’s Late Show on CBS, David Letterman channeled his inner Chris Matthews in professing his admiration for President Barack Obama following his appearance on Monday’s program by declaring that “you can feel the electricity in the room” whenever he’s on the program.
Letterman began his brief aside by bringing up the President’s appearance and remarked that “[p]olitics notwithstanding, what an impressive man [he is].”
With CBS Orchestra leader Paul Shaffer and the audience voicing their agreement, Letterman gushed: “I mean, my goodness, he walks out here and you can feel the electricity in the room, and the people in the audience jumped to their feet and it's very impressive. Smart, handsome, charismatic guy.”
Before moving on, he capped it all off by declaring how Obama is simply “just tremendous.”
Later in the show, actor Nathan Lane was one of the guests and thanked Letterman for having him on the show the night after the President.
In praising Letterman for having the President on, Lane took a swipe at Fox News: “You – thank you for squeezing me in here at the last minute. You know, and great show last night with Obama, or as Fox News put it, a socialist comedian interviews Muslim extremist.”
Letterman then replied: “Yes, that's right. You can't really go wrong with the President.”
With Letterman set to retire on May 20, it seems that the liberal late-night comic has stepped up his praising of liberals in addition to his ridiculing of conservatives.
In March alone, Letterman attacked GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz as anti-immigrant on March 23 while he whined to the audience on March 16 about how the media and Republicans had been focusing on Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal.
The relevant portions of the transcript from CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman on May 5 can be found below.
CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman
May 5, 2015
11:43 p.m. Eastern
DAVID LETTERMAN: Hey, listen to this. On the program last night, we had the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
PAUL SHAFFER: Yes.
LETTERMAN: Now – [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] Politics notwithstanding, what an impressive man.
SHAFFER: Oh, yeah.
LETTERMAN: I mean, my goodness, he walks out here and you can feel the electricity in the room, and the people in the audience jumped to their feet and it's very impressive. Smart, handsome, charismatic guy.
SHAFFER: Yes.
LETTERMAN: Just tremendous.
(....)
May 6, 2015
12:16 a.m. EasternNATHAN LANE: You – thank you for squeezing me in here at the last minute. You know, and great show last night with Obama, or as Fox News put it, a socialist comedian interviews Muslim extremist.
LETTERMAN: Yes, that's right. You can't really go wrong with the President.
