CBS’s Stephen Colbert might as well rename The Late Show to The Kamala Harris Fan Club because on Wednesday he and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow marveled about how supposedly everyone from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Dick Cheney and from the military to Scientific American loves her.
Colbert began with the questionable assertion that “One thing that we’ve seen this year that, again, is also unprecedented as far as I know is the enormous support publicly that Harris has gotten for Republicans.
Maddow agreed that it is “unusual,” but Colbert took it one step further, “And that's a sign of desperation, actually. Because we are a partisan country and people do pick their own teams and people tend not to leave their teams, but people are endorsing her in droves who used to be members of previous Republican cabinets and that has to be, like, no other choice but to do this.”
Insisting that Republicans for Harris is “a thing,” Maddow responded, “She’s got lots of, like, retired flag officers, so senior officers from the military endorsing the Democratic candidate, endorsing Harris. There was a group of Reagan Administration officials just a few days ago who endorsed Harris.”
The duo is probably referring to a list of over 100 former GOP officials that endorsed Harris, but the list has a few problems. First, it includes people like William Cohen and Chuck Hagel who were Secretaries of Defense under Presidents Clinton and Obama, respectively, so the idea that Donald Trump is what drove them from the GOP is not accurate. Second, it includes people whose credentials are that they held important military posts in a GOP administration, not that they were a Republican civilian official. So, some admiral endorsed Harris. Who cares? Third, it includes a lot of deputy assistant secretaries of this, that, or the other thing that most people simply don’t know enough about to care.
However, Maddow continued, “So, you definitely have the staff of Scientific American for the second time in the history of Scientific American just made a presidential endorsement of Harris, and they endorsed Harris. So, you are seeing not your typical endorsements. You’re seeing what I think is a very, very broad Harris coalition. I mean, a coalition that includes like Dick Cheney and AOC is a big coalition. Like most Americans see themselves somewhere between AOC and Dick Cheney and if you are between AOC and Dick Cheney on the number line, you’re in the Harris coalition.”
Two can play this game because Trump has a coalition ranging from Tulsi Gabbard to Nikki Haley.
As for Scientific American, Maddow mentions that this is only their second endorsement, but omits that it is their second in a row, and in 2020, their endorsement of Joe Biden was not strictly scientific. Likewise, this year, Scientific American’s endorsement of Harris reads like a left-wing manifesto, promoting everything from Obamacare to abortion to gun control because Scientific American has devolved into just another woke, left-wing publication.
Here is a transcript the September 18-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
9/19/2024
12:15 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: One thing that we’ve seen this year that, again, is also unprecedented as far as I know is the enormous support publicly that Harris has gotten for Republicans—
RACHEL MADDOW: Yeah.
COLBERT: -- in previous administrations.
MADDOW: Yeah.
COLBERT: That's heartening.
MADDOW: And its unusual too. I mean—
COLBERT: And that's a sign of desperation, actually. Because we are a partisan country—
MADDOW: Yeah.
COLBERT: -- and people do pick their own teams and people tend not to leave their teams, but people are endorsing her in droves who used to be members of previous Republican cabinets and that has to be, like, no other choice but to do this.
MADDOW: Well, we got lots of Republicans for Harris. That's a thing, Republicans for Harris. She’s got lots of, like, retired flag officers, so senior officers from the military endorsing the Democratic candidate, endorsing Harris. There was a group of Reagan Administration officials just a few days ago who endorsed Harris.
So, you definitely have the staff of Scientific American for the second time in the history of Scientific American just made a presidential endorsement of Harris, and they endorsed Harris. So, you are seeing not your typical endorsements. You’re seeing what I think is a very, very broad Harris coalition. I mean, a coalition that includes like Dick Cheney and AOC is a big coalition. Like most Americans see themselves somewhere between AOC and Dick Cheney.
COLBERT: Right.
MADDOW: And if you are between AOC and Dick Cheney on the number line, you’re in the Harris coalition.
COLBERT: Wow.
MADDOW: And if you like JD Vance, you are in the Trump coalition.
COLBERT: That’s a big tent. That's a big tent.
MADDOW: It's a different sized tent.
COLBERT: And he’s the clown.
