The leftist factions within the media seem to be engaging in a sort of circular firing squad as of late, amid all the chaos and division in the Democratic presidential race. The most recent opponents to square off being CBS late night host Stephen Colbert and a portion of MSNBC. All In host Chris Hayes absorbed the heat on behalf of his network during an appearance on Wednesday’s Late Show. At one point, Colbert zinged, “Some people at your network should be medicated.”
The CBS host commenced the political punditry by wondering about behind-the-scenes maneuvers following former Vice President Joe Biden’s primary victory in South Carolina:
I heard word -- I read a few things there that Obama was sending signals that he thought it was Joe…Susan Rice endorsed Joe… And they were like, "well that wouldn’t have happened if Obama hadn't given the high sign."
Hayes instead argued Biden's success came from a groundswell of opposition to Senator Bernie Sanders:
I'm not sure about that actually. I think, look, the one thing I will say about this is there's clearly skepticism towards Bernie Sanders by the -- by the kind of mainstream party elite, right, the folks that serve in the Obama administration --
Colbert quipped in response: "MSNBC… Some people at your network should be medicated."
While the press is inhabited by diehard leftists, it is apparent there are conflicting opinions from within as to who should clinch the 2020 Democratic nomination for President. Colbert not so subtly implied his partiality for Senator Sanders while hitting MSNBC over its suspicion of the socialist.
Colbert’s commentary was not a far cry from his sentiment last week that former Hardball host Chris Matthews also ought to be "medicated." Hayes responded by throwing his MSNBC cohorts under the bus a bit:
Some of my colleagues are also skeptical… I think a lot of those fears on the electability front are actually quite overstated. I actually think that the data that we have shows that -- I think Sanders and Biden would both be very competitive against Trump.
Colbert then threw down the gauntlet to political pundits and acknowledged the deceit they foster in:
And after 2016, anybody who says they know anything about anything is lying. And actually they were always lying, we just found out in 2016.
Did Colbert just concede that fake news is in fact a reality?
A transcript is below. Click "expand" to read more.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
3/5/2020
12:04:05 AM
STEPHEN COLBERT: I heard word- I read a few things there that Obama was sending signals that he thought it was Joe.
CHRIS HAYES: I don't know, I think- I mean, look-
COLBERT: Susan Rice endorsed Joe-
HAYES: Yes. There were people in Obama world
COLBERT: And they were like, "well that wouldn’t have happened if Obama hadn't given the high sign."
HAYES: I'm not sure about that actually. I think, look, the one thing I will say about this is there's clearly skepticism towards Bernie Sanders by the-- by the kind of mainstream party elite, right, the folks that serve in the Obama administration --
COLBERT: MSNBC.
HAYES: Well- yes. Clearly some people-
COLBERT: Some people at your network should be medicated.
HAYES: Some of my colleagues are also skeptical.
COLBERT: Yes. Yes. Yes.
HAYES: I think a lot of those fears on the electability front are actually quite overstated. I actually think that the data that we have shows that- I think Sanders and Biden would both be very competitive against Trump.
COLBERT: And after 2016, anybody who says they know anything about anything is lying. And actually they were always lying, we just found out in 2016.
HAYES: Yes. I mean my big take away from 2016 is just humility about the future which is just unwritten. And so what ends up happening- and there's sort of a bad pundit tendency is that whatever just happened, like, just extrapolate the line out forever. It's like Biden won yesterday he's indomitable. It's done, it's over. Bernie needs to drop out. It's like ok, everyone just calm down.
