Author Matt Stoller had some choice words for Stephen Colbert’s recent interview with former President Barack Obama.
“Wow Stephen Colbert has become a banal loser,” he tweeted in response to a clip of the exchange.
As reported by The New Zealand Herald , Colbert has faced scrutiny for his interview, which some believed was “too soft” on the former head of state.
“Can we just take a moment? I just – and I want to talk,” the Late Show host said during the talk. “I just want to take a moment to drink you in for just a moment, because I’m having to get used to looking at a president again.”
According to the publication, Stoller was not the only one who voiced his displeasure with Colbert’s interview. A Washington Times piece suggested that Colbert was gushing over the politician, and others took to Twitter to criticize his performance.
Nevertheless, the author and others — such as journalist Glenn Greenwald — pointed to Colbert’s work in the past. Notably, the pair highlighted his role as featured entertainer at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner and his scathing attack on then-President George W. Bush and the American media.
“This was actually good, especially for the time,” Greenwald noted on Twitter .
“2005 WH Correspondent’s dinner speech was amazing,” Stoller tweeted of the routine.
The New Zealand Herald noted that Colbert’s recent interview with Obama is not significantly different from others with the former U.S. leader, which the outlet suggested often go easy on the Democrat.
The Daily Caller previously took aim at the left-wing media’s purported tendency to throw Obama softball questions. The publication highlighted questions that support this narrative, including queries on golf, his major accomplishments, and the dangers of being “too cocky.”
According to Fox News , President-elect Joe Biden — the Obama administration’s vice president — has thus far received the same treatment from journalists in regards to their questioning.
“Joe Biden managed to coast through the 2020 election campaign without facing a serious grilling from the press, but even now and as the president-elect, his streak of receiving softball questions from reporters continues.”
The media coverage of candidates and politicians has come under scrutiny in recent years amid Donald Trump’s attacks on coverage of his presidency. As The Inquisitr reported, supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders routinely pointed to instances in which he allegedly received unfair coverage during the Democratic presidential primary from networks like CNN and MSNBC. Backers of fellow Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang did the same.