While "fact-checkers" cry "False" at right-leaning satire sites like The Babylon Bee, somehow the late-night leftist comedians don't get "checked" for taking Republicans out of context. On Tuesday, CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert spread some fake news about Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Colbert used this argument, such as it was, on his Tuesday show where he helped spread some fake news about Sen. Mitch McConnell, "Leading the charge against these businesses is Senate Minority Leader and guy gleefully not holding the elevator for you, Mitch McConnell. McConnell threatened punitive legislative action against the protesting corporations, warning that if it continues, it would "Invite serious consequences."
Colbert then played a very brief clip of McConnell saying, "My advice to the corporate CEOs of America is to stay out of politics." There's a lot of context edited out, just like CBS did with Ron DeSantis.
Here's a larger quote:
"Corporations will invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order," McConnell said in a statement. "Businesses must not use economic blackmail to spread disinformation and push bad ideas that citizens reject at the ballot box."
"Wealthy corporations have no problem operating in New York, for example, which has fewer days of early voting than Georgia, requires excuses for absentee ballots, and restricts electioneering via refreshments," McConnell said. "There is no consistent or factual standard being applied here. It’s just a fake narrative gaining speed by its own momentum."
Neither in that clip nor in the full statement that Colbert quoted from did McConnell threaten "punitive legislative action." In fact, the full context of McConnell's remarks were that it was "quite stupid" for business to take sides on non-business related controversies because "Republicans drink Coca-Cola too, and we fly and we like baseball."
Colbert did not care about the whole context. Using the leftist group Public Citizen as his source, Colbert declared, "Yes, corporations, Mitch McConnell wants you to stay out of politics, which is why I’m sure any day now, he’s going to return the $4.3 million he's accepted from corporations in the last five years. And I'm being told he's not going to do that and he made an additional statement."
To prove his point, Colbert then played another quick clip of McConnell at another press conference saying, "My warning to corporate America is to stay out of politics… I'm not talking about political contributions."
He then made a crude comment treating corporations like a sex object: "you're so much prettier when you don't talk. Now, spread open that wallet, baby, and give ole Mitch a peek at that bottom line." I'm going to (bleep) your wallet.”
Colbert then tripled down on his charge of hypocrisy by playing a clip of McConnell from 2013 at the American Enterprise Institute praising the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. "The court decision was actually fairly unremarkable. All it really said was under the First Amendment, every corporation in America should be free to participate in the political process."
The comedian shamelessly edited out the second half of that sentence: "....not just the ones that own newspapers and TV stations. In other words, there shouldn’t be a carve-out when it comes to political speech for folks who own media companies. It was a good and fair decision aimed at leveling the playing field."
Colbert retorted "I'd call that a self-own, but he's already 100% owned by corporations," but the real self-own was Colbert. He styles himself as a comedian, but by smearing Republicans with out-of-context clips to spin a false narrative, he's really no different than CBS News!
This segment was sponsored by Lincoln.
Here is a transcript for the April 6 show:
CBS
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
11:43 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Leading the charge against these businesses is Senate minority leader and guy gleefully not holding the elevator for you, Mitch McConnell. McConnell threatened punitive legislative action against the protesting corporations, warning that if it continues, it would "Invite serious consequences." And to drive the threat home, the CEO Of Aflac woke up next to a severed duck head. Then McConnell said this:
MITCH McCONNELL: My advice to the corporate CEOs of America is to stay out of politics.
COLBERT: Yes, corporations, Mitch McConnell wants you to stay out of politics, which is why I’m sure any day now, he’s going to return the $4.3 million he's accepted from corporations in the last five years. And I'm being told he's not going to do that and he made an additional statement.
McCONNELL: My warning to corporate America is to stay out of politics… I'm not talking about political contributions.
COLBERT [McCONNELL IMPRESSION]: "No, no, I'm just sayin' shushh darling you're so much prettier when you don't talk. Now, spread open that wallet, baby, and give ole Mitch a peek at that bottom line." I'm going to (bleep) your wallet.” [Laughter]
COLBERT: Cash isn't the only way McConnell's being a hypocrite here. Back in 2013, he defended the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling that corporations are people thusly.
McCONNELL: The court decision was actually fairly unremarkable. All it really said was under the First Amendment, every corporation in America should be free to participate in the political process.
COLBERT: I'd call that a self-own, but he's already 100% owned by corporations.
