CBS host of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert may have had the week of the State of the Union address off, but that did not prevent him and former White House chief of staff Ron Klain from gloating over the moment where President Biden gave the false impression Republicans are demanding cuts to Social Security and Medicare on Monday’s show.
Colbert portrayed that particular moment of the speech as if it was part of some brilliant political strategy, “Okay, so when, you know, the, you know, the Cruella de Vils out there were going ‘boo, bad, you stew, you stink.’ When they were doing all that after he accurately described the position of some of the members in the Republican Party about Social Security and Medicare, stated, multiple times stated they wanted to cut it, were you guys excited? Did you plan for that moment?”
Preferably, Colbet would have asked why they ignored proclamations from both Republican leaders that this is not the plan and chose to use the State of the Union as another partisan campaign speech. As it was Klain responded by claiming, “We did plan a little bit for that moment. We were excited.”
Klain went onto say the State of the Union was Biden doing his best impression of Harry Truman, “Look, if you don't want to be accused of trying to cut Social Security and Medicare maybe you shouldn't try to cut Social Security and Medicare. Okay, and so, you know, look, Harry Truman, you know, was called, ‘Give 'em hell, Harry’ and Harry Truman once famously said ‘I don't give them hell. I just tell them the truth about them and it feels like hell’ and that’s what that moment felt like at the State of the Union.”
Also on Monday’s program, Colbert reacted to the Super Bowl by accusing the NFL and Kansas City Chiefs fans of racism, “It was a fun night of football, if you don't count watching 30,000 people doing the tomahawk chop. Sadly, it looks like the NFL once again failed to ‘End racism.’"
Sadly, by tossing softballs to Biden officials and seeing racism everywhere, it looks like Colbert will continue to be among the most liberal of the liberal late night hosts.
This segment was sponsored by Ashley HomeStore.
Here is a transcript for the February 13 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2/14/2023
11:38 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: It was a fun night of football, if you don't count watching 30,000 people doing the tomahawk chop. Sadly, it looks like the NFL once again failed to "End racism."
12:32 AM ET
COLBERT: Okay, so when, you know, the, you know, the Cruella de Vils out there were going "boo, bad, you stew, you stink."
RON KLAIN: Yeah. Yeah.
COLBERT: When they were doing all that after he accurately described—
KLAIN: Yes.
COLBERT: --The position of some of the members in the Republican Party about Social Security and Medicare, stated, multiple times stated they wanted to cut it, were you guys excited? Did you plan for that moment?
KLAIN: We did plan a little bit for that moment. We were excited. Look, if you don't want to be accused of trying to cut Social Security and Medicare maybe you shouldn't try to cut Social Security and Medicare. Okay, and so, you know, look, Harry Truman, you know, was called, "Give 'em hell, Harry”—
COLBERT: Yeah.
KLAIN: And Harry Truman once famously said “I don't give them hell. I just tell them the truth about them and it feels like hell” and that’s what that moment felt like at the State of the Union.
