One of the things I remember most about talk show host Stephen Colbert, was the swath of conservatives that didn’t know how liberal he was. Especially capitalizing on the ultra-conservative he played on The Colbert Report. I’m still not sure if they understood that he was mocking conservatives. That’s deeper and many in the MAGA community don’t see depth. Yet, last night, by orders of CBS – and the FCC chair Brenden Carr – he could not air an interview with Texas state senate candidate James Talarico.
The reason is claimed that it would violate a rule that was never in place, the “equal time rule”. A rule that allowed politicians, or individual people, being discussed or running for office, a chance to address claims made against them. You know, like we see on debates. Conservatives wanted to get ride of this rule. Conservative radio hosts hated that if they wanted to talk trash about Democrats, they had to have them on to defend themselves. Conservatives hate nothing more than having their narratives trashed by facts.
During President Ronald Reagan’s first term, he did away with it. Allowing politicians times on entertainment shows, talk shows, and other shows to bypass the rule. This is when radio pundits like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and much of conservative radio exploded.
Stephen Colbert explained why he couldn’t appear in the main show, but he could air it on their YouTube channel.
Now, here is where you can see the full interview and it is worth the watch.
Why This is Important Giving the Current State of CBS
It is important to see why this is happening. And it is not about “gaining favor” with this administration. The new owners of CBS are Trump conservatives. That is why they are pushing Trump to get involved in their bid to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery. Even their new organization is run by a far-right blogger, Bari Weiss, who is attempting in turning it into Fox News lite.
Talarico is posing a real threat in the Democratic Primary, because he could swing votes his way. If he were to win, he would face off against Ken Paxton, a true Trump loyalist. Carr wanted to investigate The View after interviewing him on their show. It seems to only be happening to Democrats that pose a threat, but not to Republicans. Trump pulled that shit when Kamala made a cameo on SNL and NBC relented.
In the seventies, Republicans wanted to get rid of the rule to allow them to rant without consequences. Limbaugh made his whole career on that. Cable news – which falls out of the purview of the FCC – has run rampant. Now, when they are in charge, they want to institute it for their means.
During my lifetime, conservatives used to complain about how liberal mainstream media is. But charismatic Republicans would manage to make their way on mainstream television. Many of them, now, are not entertaining. They are all robots that devoid themselves of character and spew talking points. But many conservatives before knew if they did this, it would come back to bite them in the ass. Judging by the response of the people and Democrats, they have nothing to worry about.