The activist talks conservative feminists and the supposed downfall of men on "The Colbert Report"
Gloria Steinem made a dazzling return to “The Colbert Report” last night — you do remember her “ice cream three-way” last time, yes? — to talk about two issues dominating discussion these days: the rise of the conservative woman and the supposed “end of men.” There is nothing like some sharp satire to cut through the insanity — behold, this choice exchange:
Colbert: “Republicans are putting all the strong ladies out there … I think there are more republican women holding office than democratic women right now.”
Steinem: ”Mmm, I don’t think so.”
Colbert: “I don’t think so either, but it sure feels that way if you look at the press right now.”
As for feminism’s supposed triumph over men, Colbert asked: “Are you happy that women have won?” Steinem shot back with obvious amusement: “The idea was never victory and defeat. The whole idea was, you should pardon the expression, equality — that we’re actual human beings and that was it. I know it sounds radical, but that was it.”
Tracy Clark-Flory is a staff writer at Salon. Follow @tracyclarkflory on Twitter. More Tracy Clark-Flory
Romney loses Iowa. Gingrich gets slammed by his ex. Rick Santorum says something weird. Just another day?
VIDEO
Last night on “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert checked in with the Republican candidates for president and took stock of the nominating contest. The verdict: It’s been a weird few days for the Republican Party, huh? Mitt Romney, who looked like the inevitable nominee after a pair of victories, found out on Thursday that he never actually won the Iowa caucuses. Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich, the man best positioned to seize the momentum and defeat Romney in tomorrow’s South Carolina primary, faces some hash allegations from his second wife, Marianne. What else? Rick Perry dropped out of the race, and proceeded to endorse Gingrich anyway. And Rick Santorum said something weird about couches.
The worst, though, might be the vicious attacks leveled against quazi-candidate Stephen Colbert — and by his former super PAC, no less.
More Peter Finocchiaro
But the comedian insists he had nothing to do with it, all right?
VIDEO
This past Thursday, Stephen Colbert handed over control of his much-publicized super PAC to Jon Stewart in order to explore a run for the Republican nomination. Over the weekend, the PAC began showing a campaign ad in South Carolina that equates Mitt Romney with a serial killer, based on his work at Bain Capital. Did Colbert go too far? Well, of course not, because, as he pointed out on his show last night, election law prohibits him from coordinating with the PAC. So, clearly, Colbert (like all the rest of the candidates who just happen to have the support of super PAC money) remains helpless to stop his former organization from continuing to air its ads about “Mitt the Ripper.” Totally helpless. Right?
More Peter Finocchiaro
The Comedy Central host hands his super PAC over to Jon Stewart, forms an exploratory committee
VIDEO
What to do if you’re Stephen Colbert? The “Report” host is surging in Republican primary polls (despite not being an actual candidate) and the temptation to explore a run for president grows larger by the day. The problem, however, is that candidates are prohibited by federal election law from operating a super PAC, which Colbert very publicly does.
The Comedy Central host solved that problem last night, when he filed the one page worth of requisite paperwork to declare his colleague Jon Stewart the new steward of the Colbert Super PAC, leaving him free to explore the possibility of higher office.
More Peter Finocchiaro
The Comedy Central host also reaffirms his commitment to hosting a "serious, classy" debate of his own
VIDEO
Donald Trump announced yesterday that he would no longer moderate of the upcoming Newsmax Republican debate, thus ending weeks of back-and-forth that saw every candidate except Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum withdraw from the event. Of course, Trump didn’t quit because his presence at the debate risked descending it into some sort of bizarre media sideshow — no, no — but because he refused to rule out a third-party run for president. Right.
OK, sure, we all probably could have predicted all this from a mile away, but it took Stephen Colbert to weigh in on the development with the poetry of the Donald himself:
Folks, I would be lying if I didn’t say I saw this coming. Donald Trump is a friend. He’s my best friend. Number one best, greatest friend of all time. We race yachts. We trade mistresses. I call him “Trump Card.” He calls me “Cold Beer.” That said, the guy is a boob. He looks like a tangelo had sex with an old dishrag. And I can say that because I love this man. And to honor the memory of Trump mattering, it is more important than ever that tonight I reannounce my Stephen Colbert’s South Carolina Serious Classy Republican Debate.
More Peter Finocchiaro
Introducing "Stephen Colbert's Serious, Classy, South Carolina Republican Debate"
VIDEO
With less than a month until the Iowa caucuses, the race for the Republican nomination is finally headed to the voting booth, where rank-and-file party members will make the choice, presumably between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. The stakes never higher, serious Republicans no doubt hoped that the theatrics that characterized the early stretches of the nominating process would recede into the background. Unfortunately for them, Donald Trump has gotten himself a debate.
Predictably, establishment conservatives like George Will and Karl Rove are incensed at the prospect of a Trump-moderated debate. Stephen Colbert, meanwhile, has his own bone to pick with the hotel tycoon, and last night he dusted off his best Donald impression to do it:
The point is: Forget Donald Trump. He’s history, rolled in “forget him,” smothered in a yesterday sauce. Tomorrow is about me, the most famous man in the history of South Carolina. The GOP wants a serious debate? They deserve it. Bar none, they’re the best party in the world. That includes space. That is why, as of this moment, I am officially announcing my own Republican debate: Stephen Colbert’s Serious, Classy, South Carolina Republican Debate. I am doing this.
More Peter Finocchiaro
The People's Action Committee: A Super PAC Bucks The Trends 
What the Media Aren't Telling You About American Protests 
Michele Bachmann and the far, far, far, far, far right 
Ricky Gervais: My conscience never takes a day off 
Lessons of a very sexy pirate costume 
America’s failed promise of equal opportunity 
Is gay literature over? 
A voice that touched us all 
Whitney Houston dies at 48 
Didn’t she almost have it all? 
Porn’s taboo transsexual stars 
The Internet makes magic disappear 
The case for a global currency 
