The real victim is Jasmine Crockett.

I'm reading "The Colbert-CBS spat is about overregulation/Keeping the equal-time rule in place is a political choice" — gift link. That's by the Editorial Board of The Washington Post.

I remember writing about FCC regulation when I was a law student — I graduated in 1981 — and even back then the argument was made that times have changed and the basis for regulation — the scarcity of the airwaves — was being overtaken by technology — then, cable TV. I remember using the phrase "based on a future that has not yet arrived," because cable TV was expensive and it wasn't even available everywhere. But now, it's 45 years later, and the FCC is still pressuring broadcast media avoid the most egregious sort of political imbalance.

The equal-time rule hasn’t been vigorously enforced in recent years, reflecting its obsolescence. But as with many outdated business regulations, Congress hasn’t bothered to revoke it. The Trump FCC, headed by Chairman Brendan Carr, has eagerly taken the opportunity to tweak liberal media companies. Last month, it released a notice declaring that “a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption” from the equal-time rule. On Wednesday, Carr doubled down on his authority to enforce it. This flap was made possible by overzealous regulation, which Congress could set aside at any time. The American people don’t need bureaucrats to vet their news or entertainment, but that’s exactly what the equal-time rule encourages. Keeping it in place is a political choice.

This "flap" sounds like a right-versus-left problem, but the real victim is Jasmine Crockett. The candidate Colbert sought to boost was James Talarico, her opponent in the primary to determine who will be the Democratic Party's candidate in the Texas Senate race this fall. It seems that mainstream Democrats want to shunt Crockett aside and push Talarico forward, and Colbert is there to help. If the equal-time rule kicked in, it would just mean Colbert would have to do an interview with Jasmine Crockett too. Why wouldn't he want to do that? She'd be a much more interesting and entertaining guest than Talarico, so to reject her is to highlight what I assume is the show's real purpose, to win the nomination for Talarico.

Here's Colbert's interview with Talarico, which didn't air but was put on YouTube, where it's getting lots of views. I'm watching it because I want to see if Talarico had much to offer as a good talk show guest:

 

ADDED: From the transcript. Here's the part where they refer to Jasmine Crockett... without saying her name. This begins at 9:54:

COLBERT: Now, there's been some attention on your race in recent weeks after a TikTokker that you met in person says that you privately said to them, and I want to get this quote, they attribute to you, right? They uh this person says, you said, "I signed up originally to run against a mediocre black man, not a formidable and intelligent black woman" supposedly in reference to Colin Allred being the black man and um you've denied this....

The possibly fake quote has Talarico disrespecting Allred as "mediocre” and acknowledging Crockett's strength —  she’s “formidable and intelligent."

COLBERT: ... you denied that you ever said that.... Allred continues to talk about it even though he's no longer running for the Senate.... So where does that stand? How do you as someone who this person says this about you, you say it didn't happen. How do you imagine this gets adjudicated? And what would you like to say to people? 

TALARICO: Yeah. I mean, we know that misinformation spreads on the internet and it's sometimes like a game of telephone. As I said in my statement, I did critique Colin Allred's campaigning as mediocre, but I would never attack him on the basis of race. I respect Colin Allred deeply. Even though we have disagreements on the best way to campaign and the best way to win Texas, my job in this moment is to try to lower the temperature, is to try to remind us that we are all on the same team trying to change the politics of our state and change the politics of our country because we are seeing the consequences of losing elections as we speak. And we have a moral imperative to win in November in Texas and to win across this country because that's how we're going to get things back on track. And so I know things get get tense in a primary. I know stuff flies around on the internet. I understand that. But I'm trying to get us all to keep our eyes on the prize, which is remembering we're on the same team and getting out there doing the organizing work so that we can win in November....

Well, that's a lot of words, but whatever Talarico said or did not say, it's still true that he's opposing the "a formidable and intelligent black woman," Crockett, and Colbert is helping him get ahead and specifically rankling at the idea of giving Crockett equal time.

But was Talarico a good talk show guest? The meat of what he had to offer was about politics and religion. So let me give you that part of the transcript:

COLBERT: Now, one of the things one of the things that's come up in some of the conversations you've had on the Texas state house floor, which some of the videos I've seen you do, and one of the things that gotten you attention out there is that you are a Presbyterian seminarian. Presently, you're a seminarian.... The right attempts to co-opt Christianity to say that, you know, you can't you can't believe in God, you can't believe in Christ. I think that Donald Trump might have said something like that at the National Prayer Breakfast, like you can't actually be a Christian and be a Democrat.

Trump's actual statement was "I don't know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don't."

COLBERT: But the religious right is a largely a political movement that references spirituality, but it's political. What... is your... um heartfelt hand out to the people who want to use religion as a tool of political power? 

TALARICO: Well, for 50 years, the religious right, a political movement, that is a the the perfect description for it. They convinced a lot of our fellow Christians that the most important issues were abortion and gay marriage. Two issues that aren't mentioned in the Bible. Two issues that Jesus never talked about. Jesus in Matthew 25 tells us exactly how you and I and every one of our fellow believers how we're going to be judged and how we're going to be saved. By feeding the hungry, by healing the sick, by welcoming the stranger. Nothing about going to church, nothing about voting Republican. It was all about how you treat other people. Don't Don't I I've I've said I've I've said before, don't tell me what you believe. Show me how you treat other people and I'll tell you what you believe. And and I think in our in our faith, we've got to get back to those fundamentals. My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas. And when I was little, he told me that Christianity is a simple religion. Not an easy religion, he would always clarify, but a simple religion because Jesus gave us two commandments. Love God and love neighbor. And there was no exception to that second commandment. Love thy neighbor regardless of race or gender or sexual orientation or immigration status or religious affiliation. And it's why I have fought so hard for the separation of church and state in the state capital in Texas because 

COLBERT: Well, I want to I want to ask you about that. Yeah, please. Because you did as a as a state rep, you fought against the uh a a bill requiring the 10 Commandments to be displayed in schools.... Why even on that level do you think it's important to keep the separation not just for the state but for the church? 

TALARICO: Well, because we are called to love all of our neighbors, including our Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, seek, agnostic, atheist neighbors. And forcing our religion down their throats is not love. And it's why I have fought... so hard for that sacred separation in our first amendment. Because my granddad, he raised me to believe that that boundary between church and state doesn't just benefit the state or our democracy, although it certainly does, but it also benefits the church. Because when the church gets too cozy with political power, it loses its prophetic voice, its ability to speak truth to power, its ability to imagine a completely different world. And so this separation between church and state is something we have to safeguard. It's something we have to fight for. And I think we need someone in the US Senate who is going to confront Christian nationalism and say and tell the truth which is that there is nothing Christian about Christian nationalism. It is the it is it is the the worship it is the worship of power in the name of Christ. And it is a betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth. And I just want to thank you, Stephen, because I know you're not a politician, but you have really shown people in this country what Christianity should be and what it means to to actually live out the teachings of Jesus, even in a talk show. 

COLBERT: Well, I I uh I'm going to push back a little bit on that. Uh that's very nice of you to say. I would I would never uh lay that compliment to myself because I think I uh fall far short of what uh my standards would be. But I  will agree with you on this. I think that it is bad for certainly my church or any any religious organization to associate themselves from from a political party. How must it diminish God to be associated with something so small as a present political party. That's right. Because imagine this. Imagine that you managed to co-opt Christianity. Imagine if you managed to convince everybody that Jesus was on your side. If you then lose the election, sounds like you've got a pretty weak Jesus. 

TALARICO: Yeah, that's exactly right. And that's the key is you don't want to fit the big thing into the small thing. And God is the biggest thing there is. And so to try to fit God into a political party, whether it's the Republican party or the Democratic party, you've got it reversed. And and so it's why I think we have to remember to put those big things first, to put the love of God and the love for our neighbors before anything else. Because right now what you've got is people baptizing their partisanship and calling that Christianity when in reality your politics should grow out of your faith, not the other way around.