The Right Is Furious Stephen Colbert's 'Conservativeface' Got Him Letterman's Job
Rush Limbaugh called Stephen Colbert's Late Show promotion a declaration of "war on the heartland of America," notes Talking Points Memo, summing up the communal dread of mainstream media-hating conservatives. The fact that CBS rewarded the man behind "Stephen Colbert," his right-wing news anchor character on The Colbert Report, with the prized late night seat is a sign that the media is fully embracing liberal intolerance and going after the right with full force. Also, note several on the right, he probably won't even be funny.
Leading the pack was Rush Limbaugh, who on his radio show described CBS' assault on American values. "No longer is comedy going to be a covert assault on traditional American values, conservatives," Limbaugh noted. "Now it’s just wide-out in the open. What this hire means is a redefinition of what is funny and a redefinition of what is comedy."
Ben Shapiro, editor-at-large for Breitbart, wrote an essay for Truth Revolt comparing Colbert's routine to actual blackface. "This routine, in which Colbert plays at conservatism in order to portray it as unendingly ugly, should be labeled for what it is: vile political blackface," he writes. The actual term is "Conservativeface," which involves acting like "an idiotic, racist, sexist, bigoted, brutal conservative. He out-Archie Bunkers Archie Bunker." The best part of Shapiro's piece is that he refers to blackface in the past tense — it "was used to portray demeaning and horrifying stereotypes of blacks" — while arguing that conservative bias is alive and well today, at the hands at intolerant liberals. In other words, Colbert mocking incidents of actual racism within your ideology is as bad as actual racism.
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But not everyone was indignant. Scott Baker, editor-in-chief of The Blaze, brought up a fair point: "If he's his real self, we don't know what that's really like." Meaning, Colbert's probably a lib, but how he'll taunt conservatives is up in the air. Others are hoping the show will just flop. Salon compiled a list of conservative radio hosts and writers pointing out that Colbert is "low-rated" and not even funny. "What's funny is that Colbert's schtick is only funny when he can act a part to mock conservatives," tweeted Justin Green, web editor of the Washington Examiner. "Good luck, bro." Good luck indeed, Colbert. The #tcot definitely won't be watching.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/04/the-right-is-furious-stephen-colberts-conservativeface-got-him-lettermans-job/360500/
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