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Michael Smerconish doesn’t believe you should ever wrestle a pig because, in the end, you’ll both get dirty. On Saturday, Smerconish said as much on his Saturday morning CNN program, Smerconish, stating the Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin oral sex joke Stephen Colbert made last Monday ‘crossed the line’ and and ‘went too far,’ adding that comments such as Colbert’s only lower the playing field to a place where Republicans want to take the fight.
Smerconish began the segment by referring to the Monday night monologue in which Colbert joked of Trump, “the only thing your mouth is good at is being Vladimir Putin’s c*ck holster” as crass, and all-in-all uncalled for on the CBS platform, Deadline reports:
“That line might be suitable for say, Real Time with Bill Maher, but not network television, the so-called Tiffany network, which used to be the programming gold standard,”
Smerconish added the line was against the high-road mantra Democrats have been preaching since before Trump was elected President in January:
“First, it was crass, and it was in bad taste. Quite a departure for the Sunday school-teaching Colbert. And a far cry from the Dem campaign mantra: When they go low we go high, but second, it was foolish politics.”
Smerconish argues Colbert’s comments go down a road the Republicans took during Obama’s presidency, one in which included the infamous “birther claim” in which some doubted Barack Obama was born in the United States. “Intolerance has a way of catching up with you, politically,” Smerconish later added, continuing to scold Colbert for what he considered a low blow (pun intended).
Colbert has faced a week of intense backlash on social media, as fans trended #FireColbert following the comments made on his Monday night show. For his part, Colbert has expressed remorse for his choice of words, but not for going in on Trump in the first place. The FCC is currently looking into the remarks to see if any action against the late night TV host is needed. It’s been good for ratings, though.
(Via Deadline)