I don’t like Jon Stewart. He mugs for the camera too much, he’s not as smart or cute as he thinks he is, he’s smug, and the only thing that saves his show from being a bore is his crack staff and funny correspondents. I don’t expect any of you to agree with me about this. I’m just calling it like I see it.
His ACORN shtick has to be considered one the show’s his lowest moments at this point:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Audacity of Hos | ||||
|
||||
I wonder if he’ll address it on the show this week.
rootless_e
He keeps thinking he’s gotta throw in some balance. And that’s stupid.
drew42
I agree. Craig Kilborn was better — stayed in character, rather than constantly mugging and drawing attention to himself and the fake-ness of the show. Stewart acts more like a typical talk show host.
Which is why I like Stephen Colbert. The Colbert Report is what The Daily Show was meant to be.
Guster
I like him, but he definitely wades pretty deep into ‘a pox on both their houses’ territory on occasion.
I think he probably is as smart as he thinks–and when he’s just being smart and earnest (which obviously isn’t the right tone for his show), he’s pretty great.
Ty Lookwell
Wrong. But if you don’t like him, that’s OK. (None of the reasons you’ve cited, however, make him a “douchebag” in the least.)
General Winfield Stuck
You must be feeling a little masochistic tonight slamming Stewart like that, at least on this blog, or about any on the left.
He is cocky, sometimes smug, and certainly irreverent about politics and politicians from either side, but you are wrong about not being smart and intuitive, as well as often funny.
Violet
I was disappointed that he never addressed the fact that the audio had been doctored on the ACORN/pimp video. Turns out that little punk O’Keefe wasn’t telling the whole truth. Jon Stewart should have mentioned it on a subsequent show.
LarsThorwald
Wow, is this assessment of Stewart wildly off base.
His mugging for the camera is part of the schtick.
But hey, there’s no accounting for taste.
Malron
Yeah, Stewart tends to be too glib for his own good at times. But hey, he didn’t vote to defund ACORN.
Incertus
Yeah, you’re right about the ACORN moment, but I disagree with the rest. I think he’s one of the best things on tv.
Morbo
@rootless_e: It’s totally pathetic is what it is. See also last night’s adoption of the teleprompter meme BS. His Olbermann was spot on, if a little overblown. He occasionally nails a right wing guest, but he kowtows to them (in the name of civility?) just as often. I guess I’m about 60/40 on him.
jrg
Stewart is the only “news” guy I trust at all on T.V. Fox’s news personalities are full of shit, MSNBC’s news personalities are intolerably smug, and CNN has no balls.
Redshift
I like him and the Daily Show a lot, but I think since Obama was elected he’s picked up a form of the media “I have to prove I’m not too liberal” disorder. TDS used to have quite a bit of fun with the Clinton Administration (which was one of the things that made the Fox “conservative Daily Show” so ludicrous), but they were pretty good at only hitting them when they deserved it. The ACORN bit isn’t the only bogus Fox-driven thing they’ve run with in the past few months, and the interview with the pinhead from the Peterson Foundation hawking his book a few days ago drove me out of the room.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@drew42:
When Kilborn left The Daily Show and Stewart was announced as his replacement, my first thought was WTF?! Stewart was a mediocre comedian at best and I thought he would ruin a great show. Turns out that the staff and correspondents made Stewart look much better than he was, which in turn only swelled his head to the point that he actually thinks he is funny.
While I like the show I really never cared that much for Stewart himself.
El Cid
There are times when Stewart and TDS do great takedowns which are well-researched and well-deserved; and there are times, particularly when going after liberals or Democrats, where they just lay back, don’t double-check for shit, and go with the idiot zeitgeist.
Fitzwili
I generally agree with you but
I have to strongly differ on this. Jon’s 1st appearance after 9/11 really touched me deeply as someone who had burned bits of paperwork and ash in her backyard. He has flaws but he has had a better track record than many in showcasing the failures of both politicians and the MSM. I also think he is whip-smart and funny- he does go to the glib well a bit often but when his facade cracks and he shows anger – it is a beautiful sight.
The Critic
Well, the ACORN thing was a low point as was his overreaction to the climate change emails. In both cases, there was more to the story than the surface, and for not delving below the surface, for reporting the same “news” as the straight newscasts, albeit funnier, Stewart and company failed.
Sometimes he mugs a bit too much for my tastes, but I think “douchebag” might be a tad too far.
JK
Doug,
I agree with you 100%. When Stewart did a segment on Scott Brown he ruined it by constantly pretending to be on the verge of vomitting. Stewart does this kind of thing way too often. He has a clever concept, but then ruins it by over the top spit takes, facial expressions, or affecting a lame Italian American accent.
Stewart made a complete horse’s ass out of himself in his interviews with John Yoo and Betsy McCaughey. He was totally unprepared for the segments and let both of them get away with spinning tons of bullshit.
Redshift
@drew42: Really? Craig Kilborn?
I agree he was better at playing the bubble-headed newsmodel on a parody news show, but there was only so much mileage in that. TDS changed into something else after he left, and it’s been a good thing. I can’t imagine TDS still being on the air if Kilborn had stayed. Heck, I can’t imagine it having lasted more than a year or two longer.
Alex
It helps if you understand that The Daily Show is a humor show first and a news show never.
DougJ
Jon’s 1st appearance after 9/11 really touched me deeply as someone who had burned bits of paperwork and ash in her backyard. He has flaws but he has had a better track record than many in showcasing the failures of both politicians and the MSM.
I agree. But he needs to get away from his Gen X Walter Cronkite complex. It’s destroying the show.
Milo Johnson
Nice little ad hominem post, very succinct.
LM
I agree to this extent: I hate the mugging, too, along with his “funny” voices (please may he retire the Jerry Lewis and Johnny Carson voices someday!), but that’s not usually more than a few minutes of any show. I also agree that he gets things very wrong sometimes in his rush to show he can throw punches at Dems. He was appalling about Howard Dean in 2004, e.g., and the Acorn stuff I agree was a real low point. It was painful to watch him go that far off the rails. But there’s no denying he’s hilarious an amazing percentage of the time, and he can be the best interviewer out there (though he isn’t always), and his video montage take-downs are generally brilliant.
Colbert always seems to me to the smarter of the two. It’s rare to see him get anything wrong–I can’t remember any instances of it, in fact–and he does it all while in character. Plus he can quote from the LOTR books, including the elvish parts. He’s at the top of my fantasy dinner party list.
Jason Bylinowski
It was a long time before I got over Craig Kilborn leaving the show. Him and Brian Unger. Talk about douchebags, though, man Kilborn was a cock sandwich. Anyway I guess allz I’m sayin’ is that I don’t gotta like you to enjoy you, if you’re on the teevee, I just gotta think you are clever. Jon Stewart is clever, though everybody else is right he goes out of character way too much. On the other hand, if he didn’t, then we wouldn’t see things like the awesome response he had after 9/11 and his amazingly candid interviews. So it’s a mixed bag. I wouldn’t live in a word without him though, I’ll tell you that.
Bobzim
Those ACORN workers were idiots and deserved to be ridiculed. Yeah, there was dishonest editing, but there was enough there to see that there was a serous problem.
@Morbo: They shouldn’t have brought the teleprompter into the classroom for ANY reason. Also ridicule worthy.
Stewart rocks.
Meh
That’s Funny Doug…I was gonna say the same thing about you on this blog
RedKitten
One thing I will definitely say for Stewart though, is that like our esteemed bloghost, he is at his best when he is royally pissed off. I like Stewart when he decides that civility can go hang and that it’s time to tell various people to go fuck themselves with a rusty chainsaw.
Mike E
Jon Stewart is a douchebag…what? F.A.I.L.
And you are a Lazlo Toth wanna-be. Also.
jenniebee
He had me at stop stop stop stop hurting America
DougJ
That’s Funny Doug…I was gonna say the same thing about you on this blog.
I was waiting for that one.
Violet
@LM:
Colbert just amazes me. He does everything in character. And his mind is so quick. Such a smart guy.
I like both of them, but do think occasionally the Daily Show gets it rather wrong.
Morbo
@Jason Bylinowski: Ditto on Kilborn and getting over him. And then I watched him on The Late Show and completely couldn’t stand him because of the absolute assitude.
MattR
@drew42:
Really? Kilborn’s entire career was centered on his narcissistic personality.
drew42
@Redshift:
Yes, really. Craig Kilborn.
His career since then showed that he’s got some severe limitations. But Kilborn’s personality and delivery really fit well with The Daily Show. And what’s kept the show going for so long is the heavier political content. I doubt the show would have lasted that long even with Stewart if they stayed with the fluffier content of the early seasons. Stewart did flop before as a talk show host.
SiubhanDuinne
I used to feel deprived if I fell asleep before TDS came on.
Now I don’t.
Joel
I like Stewart, but I do agree that this was the nadir of his show. It falls right under that neat category of “false equivalence” which lumps Stewart in with every lazy media personality out there. This is a shame, because from what I hear, Stewart is (or was) anything but lazy; I recall hearing from someone who was interviewed on a number of talk shows mentioning that Stewart was the only one who 1) read his book 2) boned up on some background 3) showed an actual interest in his material and not spinning it at his convenience.
That said, Stewart, like every one else, gets old and his humor wears thin. One thing about this clip that strikes me is how he fails to elicit laughter from his audience. It’s just one bomb after another.
When you “get down to it”, the thing that always bugged me about Stewart is how craven he is when interviewing people (Jim Cramer excepted). This is where Colbert absolutely annihilates him, although he has the benefit of playing “in character”.
fraught
Dougj: I can’t understand why everyone’s response here to your stupid post is so mealy-mouthed. “um, I sort of disagree with you, but, um, I, I, I…” You’re the douche-bag and John Stewart is doing just fine.
BB
Blaspheme!
But really, thank you Doug. I thought I was the only one. He’s a good outlet for my outrage sometimes, but I think he mugs way too much to sustain the funny.
I actually didn’t even like the Crossfire performance that secured his place in the hearts of so many liberals. Smug is the right word for it. It’s like, yeah I do agree with what you’re saying but still don’t like how you come off. Ah well. No accounting for taste and all that.
I also don’t like how easily he retreats behind his comedic status when he gets boxed in. Colbert plays a clown the whole time, but Stewart shifts between modes depending on what’s convenient. Much in the same way Glenn Beck likes to spout off and then holds his hands up to declare that he isn’t a politician and needn’t provide solutions. Everyone sucks but him.
However, on paper Stewart can be brilliant. Read his book Naked Pictures of Famous People, written before he got TDS. I howled (and I seldom howl).
Mike E
@LM:
Colbert is Lord. His Correspondents’ Dinner Address is like Kennedy at the fuckin’ Berlin Wall.
kth
Stewart goes into these idiotic contortions to prove that he isn’t beholden to Democrats, but on balance he’s still a national treasure.
Laura W
@DougJ: If Fuckhead were still commenting here, he would’ve said it first.
Doug, Doug. Are you trolling your own site? Shocking. I can’t recall the last time I disagreed with you so strongly, mostly ‘cuz I don’t read you unless it involves wine.
I don’t know how I know this, but I just do.
You need this.
What have you done for me lately?
DougJ
I actually didn’t even like the Crossfire performance that secured his place in the hearts of so many liberals.
I didn’t either. I don’t see how “Crossfire” was hurting America. Instead of Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala openly taking sides, now we have RNC consultants presented as neutral experts. What progress!
Joel
@drew42: FTR, I liked Kilborn a lot on the Daily Show. His interviews were irreverent, but solid (sort of like how Stewart used to be back when he was on his own show). That said, the show was much different then. More of a mockery of local news and certainly a lot more mean-spirited than it is today.
It’s the kind of stuff I enjoyed then (I also loved South Park in those days) but I’m not so sure I’d love it now. That said, it’s probably funnier (still) than the current iteration of The Daily Show, which really suffers from lack of performance talent.
Ana Gama
I mostly like Jon Stewart, but sometimes I switch him off. But when he takes down an idiot, like he did with Lou Dobbs over the birthers issue, he more than makes up for any shortcomings.
drew42
But enough about Kilborn — sorry I brought him up. My bad. I don’t mean to make the guy seem more talented then he was.
My original comment was actually meant to compare Stewart to Colbert.
DougJ
Doug, Doug. Are you trolling your own site?
Maybe a little.
Dan
I think he is great, and he knows and honors his comedy history; the slow burns, the spit takes, the “hey, lady”s, the Carson stuff. He can reference the Marx Brothers or Laurel and Hardy or Lou Costello or Milton Berle or a thousand other of his comedy forefathers. Not everyone sees it as that, but I think it’s cool that he does it. Carson used to channel Jack Benny and Stan Laurel and others too. I dig it.
MattR
@Violet: I think Colbert has the more difficult performace, but Stewart has the more difficult material to write.
@drew42: I don’t think it is fair to say that Stewart flopped in his previous incarnation as a talk show host. His show was hugely successful on MTV which is what led to Paramount deciding to run a syndicated version on network TV. The problem is that his show had no set national timeslot and ran as late as 2 am in some markets. Not really a shock it never took off.
Ella in NM
You lost me at “I don’t like Jon Stewart.” Sorry.
John? John? Where are you?
Dan Robinson
Nah, DougJ, on this one, you are just full of shit. Just my opinion.
DougJ
You’re the douche-bag and John Stewart is doing just fine.
Bring it on.
meh
Let’s see – a quick top 3 of TDS moments…
1) the vivisection of Tucker Carlson
2) dismantling of Betsy McCaughey
3) Kramer…
and a bonus prize…Calling out old man McCain for pandering to the Fallwell crowd after he bashed them for so long…
But no, those pale in comparison to acting like a 14 year old snarky asshole in a wapo chat…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
This is like people’s critiques of Olbmermann, I don’t necessarily agree, but I get it. But what rootless said, he sometimes strives painfully for balance. And I liked Kilborn, he made his smug douchiness work. And I really miss A Whitney Brown, Brian Unger and Beth Littleford.
Colbert is amazingly talented, but I am so sick of some stuff. The olympic team, which takes the place of his minor league hockey team, the eagle, some other stuff. Colbert could use a sidekick or some correspondents or a sparring partner. David Cross would be good.
Mike E
@DougJ:
It’s really simple–if you cut off the head of the hydra, two more grow back in its place. FAIL.
Whatever number of stillbirths we have to witness, I say Jon Stewart is a National Treasure tm.
AkaDad
To be fair to Jon Stewart, I’m a bigger douchebag.
JK
What about the time Stewart had Pervez Musharraf on as a guest and offered him a twinkie and a cup of tea?
Ty Lookwell
@Mike E
I wouldn’t say Colbert is Lord. But his Correspondent’s Dinner address was definitely Moses smashing down the tablets before the golden cow suck-ups… with raspberries.
El Cid
@Mike E: Word. Colbert’s takedown of Bush Jr. to his face ranks up there with any historical examples of political satire, and I’m including “A Modest Proposal”. I’m completely serious.
eastriver
You’re acting the ass, Doug. And an un-wiped ass at that.
Not just that your take on Stewart is simple-minded (“he’s sooooo stuck on himself!”), but because it’s so blatantly geared to do nothing more than pump up the comments volume.
“Hmmm, say something that everyone’s sure to have an opinion about… Make it controversial, but not too far out there… Hmmmm…. I know! Write about a celebrity that all my readers know and watch! Should I say I love him or hate him…? Where’s that coin…?” (flip, catch) “Hate him, hate him, wouldn’t want to date him.”
Hey, Dougy, you think Obama is kinda stuck on himself? Maybe he should mug more for the camera? Whaddaya think? You think the whole Spock thing is working for him? Or maybe he should throw in a few rounds of James Tiberius Kirk? Where’s that coin…
Dean Booth
I was thinking about TDS today — about why I have 4 unwatched TDS shows on my Tivo. I was angry about his multiple Acorn bits, and lately he seems to go after the libs just to be “fair and balanced.”
mellowjohn
he’s a fucking comedian, fer chrissakes! (besides, he’s on after my bedtime.)
Joel
@meh: Stewart did a pretty awful job at dismantling McCaughey, if you ask me. I thought he let her weasel out of his grasp. McCaughey is the female version of Hunter S. Thompson’s vision of Richard Nixon; so crooked she needed her pants screwed on. A fucking badger that will do anything when cornered. You have to stomp those motherfuckers when you have the chance.
Anyhow, that was nothing compared my disappointment when Stewart fluffed John Kerry. If you’re the liberal avenging angel, why not let Kerry, who fucking let all of us down, feel a little heat? The guy still had a chance if he showed some spine.
Brien Jackson
@DougJ:
I never really got what was supposed to be so bad about Crossfire. I got that it got annoying when everyone was shouting at once, but hey, Republicans and Democrats disagree. There’s no reason not to highlight that for a half hour a day or whatever. They could have gotten better people to do the show, but on balance I always thought the show was fine.
And sign me up for the crowd that doesn’t like Stewart very much. Most of my critiques have been said above, but I’ll go back to two in particular; he’s not really a good interviewer, at least of his “Controversial” guests like Yoo, and he hides behind the comedy show angle when he gets caught with his pants down too often.
JK
@DougJ:
Fox News is hurting America a hell of a lot more than Crossfire ever did.
El Cid
Forgot about Jon’s takedown of CrossFired. Epic. And effective. It was gone within, like, what, a week? Two?
drew42
Colbert was an awesome guest host on The Daily Show. I remember being rather shocked at how good he was — I was expecting it to be just a 30-minute placeholder.
Zach
I never got why everyone was impressed by his Crossfire thing, and the ACORN segment is in line with the Daily Show’s occasional need to look like they attack the left when there’s an opportunity, also (cf last night’s teleprompter bit; although the picture was really ridiculous).
He’s done two amazing takedowns, though: the Jim Cramer saga and his meticulous parody of Glenn Beck.
jenniebee
OT, looking more and more like starting in 2011, the filibuster might be gone, or at least forcing the filibusterer(s) to do a good Jimmy Stewart as Mr. Smith impression on C-span instead of just doing the damned endless quorum calls. Dem Senator on La Rachel just now saying that the feeling of the Senate was bending that way.
Edit: the fundamental stupidity of not having parliamentarians prepare briefs on the Senate rules and recommendations on same starting back in August of ’08 is breathtaking. He who makes the rules makes the laws, hoocoodanode?
Fitzwili
@ DougJ
Another thing you might be discounting is from all accounts he really puts his imprint on assembling his crack staff etc. I can see your point about Gen X Cronkite but I think his Gen Xness is probably a basic component of his character, and may not be transformable. I would rather have schticky DS than no DS. I am however FULLY in agreement with you that the Acorn segment was a low point, and that he should somehow make amends for that. He has admitted mistakes before (unlike real journalists) -for example he said he was sorry for the John Yoo interview – he blamed himself for being poorly prepared for that interview.
darryl
When you spend all your time responding to the Party of Stupid, smugness is an occupational hazard.
oldfatherwilliam
Neither Colbert nor Stewart can carry it alone anymore, and between them they are absolutely the best we’ve got. And Maher, Maddow, Schultz and that other idiot, sheesh. Cut him a little more slack. Who (else) you gonna call?
handy
@Joel:
Kilborn’s TDS was a little too “cool for the room” IMO.
Oh…and, I’ll still take Jon Stewart over the insufferable KO.
JK
@Mike E:
Stephen Colbert was brilliant at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Tragically, the comedian performing at this year’ White House Correspondents’ Dinner is Jay Leno.
Joel
@oldfatherwilliam: I don’t watch MSNBC so I can’t comment on any of their personalities.
But Bill Maher, you reminded me. What a bloviating turdblossom. I remember his show on Comedy Central, back when he would give Ann Coulter on-air handies.
El Cid
@Zach: What was impressive about Stewart on CrossFire is that he knew and understood their game, wouldn’t play it, called them out on it on their show, and the show simply depended on all the guests playing along with the little pathetic game. When it was revealed, in their faces, it suddenly became ridiculous.
If only he could have done that to many other shows.
It’s like what Krugman had done many times substantively to the nitwit roundtables going on ABC’s “This Weak” during the economic collapse, and the gasbags like Will would spout loads of pre-programmed / Amity Schlaes pseudoscholar bullshit about economics, and then he would simply point out that not just did he disagree, but all of them were pathetically wrong and not even in any zip code close to being relevant.
EFroh
@Fitzwili: I just about broke my eyes crying at Stewart’s 9/11 speech. Probably the best eulogy for those poor people that I’ve ever seen, heard or read.
Stewart’s a national treasure as far as I’m concerned. TDS made it possible to get through the Bush years without banging my brains out against the wall. As long as he keeps on embarrassing the media re the shitty job they do, I will keep on watching, no matter how bad the jokes get.
Mike E
Look, we really can’t be too choosey here. It’s all a matter of personal tastes and preferences, I dig that. But, Michael Moore, Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, even Mister Ed Schultz are all sorely needed right now, during the Golden Age of Corporate Personhood. I can take the good with their bad.
Mike E +2
Notorious P.A.T.
I agree, he is grating at times and his ACORN feature was pathetic. He gets stuck in that “both sides are equally bad” horserace shit that hacks like Tucker Carlson love, but he criticizes them for doing it.
meh
@Joel: I disagree – for example, when she was going on and on about how the “death panels” would overturn living wills he just gave a bit of rope, let her go to town on it then completely took apart her argument. I get what you’re saying though, but there comes a point where, even though you have them completely wrapped up in a lie, exposed said lie for all to see, and the STILL won’t admit they are lying, what more can you do? While in her case, I do advocate waterboarding, speaking solely from a logistics standpoint, that might be tough to pull off.
For Christs Sake – he got BILL FUCKING KRISTAL to admit that the US GOVERNMENT runs a world class single payer medical program (the US Military)…of course, Kristal did talk him into claiming that Truman is a war criminal, but that’s a worthy trade.
El Cid
@JK: I wish I could easily find the video of Al Franken doing the correspondents’ dinner and whipping the living shit out of Newt Gingrich et al…
Jason Bylinowski
@Laura W: Wh……what happened to JSF?
DougJ
Another thing you might be discounting is from all accounts he really puts his imprint on assembling his crack staff etc.
You’re probably right about that.
A lot of you are making good points in favor of Stewart. He’s done a lot of great stuff. But he really screwed up this ACORN thing and he need to tone down the fair-and-balanced crap.
Also, not that this is important, but, seriously, I don’t like Tucker Carlson, I don’t like Paul Begala, I didn’t like “Crossfire”, but of all the shows to single for “hurting America”, why that one? I didn’t get it then and I don’t get it now. Just because Tucker Carlson wears a bow-tie, that doesn’t make him Nancy Grace or Mark Halperin of Roger Ailes.
fraught
@Dan: You’re exactly right. He has the whole history of vaudeville, the Second Avenue Yiddish theater, borscht belt humor down. Everything he does references some old comic schtick. He’s just not “mugging” for the camera. His knowledge of 20th century American comedy is encyclopedic.
One would know this unless one was an idiot in graduate school who only knows from books.
mey
DougJ is an official Blogbagger. Stewart didn’t give DougJ his Magical Pony so screw him.
Ty Lookwell
Maddow is starting to get kinda a big head, IMO. She’s incredibly smart and dedicated and talented and I agree with her on 95% of her political views, but… I dunno. She seems a little self-delighted of late. I could be wrong (I’m not a daily watcher). I guess I like a big helping of humility in my political guides – I used to love listening to Marc Maron because, for all his many, many (many) problems, he was so aware and up-front about them.
Seebach
New troll argument: how disappointed would Madelyn Dunham be in her son?
Joel
@meh:
Throw water on her and see if she melts?
Seriously, it’s a tough question. One thing I always hoped for is something akin to the general exam that all graduate students have to take before becoming doctoral candidates. Usually there’s a sense of abject terror and at least one traditionalist hardass who won’t bullshit you and will call you out when you’re bullshitting. I do think, however, that the limits of television prevent that kind of captive destruction.
El Cid
@DougJ: (a) Tucker Carlson, and (b) they were dumb enough to invite Stewart on.
jenniebee
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: David Cross would be good
Oh, now there’s a world class douche for you. Brilliant, funny, but a douche.
Same goes for Ben Stiller. If you like him now, don’t ever listen to the commentary track on Dodgeball. Nothing worse than listening to someone you like being nasty to the technicians.
andrewtna
I think you’re pretty off base Doug.
Did you miss the Jim Cramer takedown? Or how about his appearance on Crossfire?
Sure he gets it wrong from time to time. So do you guys, I still visit.
DougJ
Everything he does references some old comic schtick. He’s just not “mugging” for the camera. His knowledge of 20th century American comedy is encyclopedic.
I’m reminded of Lou Reed’s claim that serious listeners would be able to hear that Beethoven’s fifth was embedded in the noise of Metal Machine Music.
General Winfield Stuck
@jenniebee:
How many times are we going to have to knock down the silliness that is about ending the filibuster anytime soon. Unless you are talking about the nuke option which would end the senate and likely our democracy as well.
The only way the filibuster will be changed is through a sense of the senate vote to change the rule 22, Standing Rule of the Senate, that is in effect every day of every week or every year, and is not open to simple majority vote to change it between sessions, and otherwise it will require 67 votes. The only way to possibly get 67 votes is if the minority at the time agrees, and the only way they might agree is setting a future date several years forward for the change to go into effect. That is it, the only ways.
Jason Bylinowski
@El Cid: re: Colbert Correspondents’ Dinner
I completely agree with this, I felt I watched a piece of history when I watched it. And, I’ll be frank, it made me uncomfortable as hell on a basic level, even though I admired it at the same time. I worried that he would end up arrested, even.
I’ll just go ahead and predict with zero accuracy whatsoever (but much sincerity) that after 9/11, it was the most significant American political event in the history of the Aughts.
RedKitten
@El Cid:
Not only that, but it’s easy to skewer someone in writing, or on TV. But Colbert was right in the room, up on stage, in front of the people he was skewering, and he STILL took no prisoners. That took balls the size of freaking watermelons (especially with someone as fond of executive power as Bush is), and earned him my undying love and respect.
TR
Stewart’s batting .980 or so. I’ll take it.
Brien Jackson
@Ty Lookwell:
I like Maddow well enough for what she is, but that’s just it; at the end of the day she’s still a cabler. Remember, for as smart as she came off sitting next to those dumbasses during the primary, she was absolutely convinced Hillary was going to go all the way to the convention to try to take the nomination on the floor, which was always completely preposterous.
eco2geek
You’re calling Jon Stewart, of all people, a douchebag? No. He’s not. Not even “kind of.”
And those ACORN people in the clips (especially that lady in Baltimore, who obviously wasn’t overdubbed) were fucktards to say the things they did. If that Baltimore lady believed she was being played, she should have said so and thrown the two out.
Put it this way. It doesn’t matter what you think is fair. From personal experience, if you work for an agency that’s either partially or wholly publicly funded, and you’re in the least bit high profile or controversial, you can’t make a mistake like that. People will be on you like white on rice. They’re watching for it.
Mike E
@Ty Lookwell:
She…what? On national teevee? Damn, I gotta watch her more.
DougJ
Not only that, but it’s easy to skewer someone in writing, or on TV. But Colbert was right in the room, up on stage, in front of the people he was skewering, and he STILL took no prisoners. That took balls the size of freaking watermelons, and earned him my undying love and respect.
Yeah, I agree completely.
Here I am
It seems like Stewart always says “I’m a comedy show” when he gets called on some bullshit. If that’s true, his interviews need more funny and not so much serious.
But if it’s not true, then he needs to understand that he’s basically providing social commentary via his satirical bits and stop pretending he’s any better than Olbermann.
Thank you for writing this piece. I agree 100%
flavortext
Well I’m a bit younger than most of you so my view might be a little distorted, but Jon Stewart is my damn hero. The eight years of President Bush’s terms were my formative years (I can hardly remember Clinton) and when I thought every adult was out of their mind Jon & the rest of the TDS crew were the only ones that seemed to grasp just how crazy things were. Now of course I have discovered the blogosphere so I don’t spend nearly as much time watching Stewart as I used to but I still have much respect for him. I think he genuinely wants to do the right thing and if sometimes he is wrong (as with the ACORN thing) I think it’s for the right reasons, not because he is a douchebag. Also, I attend a university filled with douchebags and he definitely does not come off as even “kind of” a douchebag.
And DougJ, I don’t think you’re a douchebag either. If you are trolling your readers I’m glad to bite.
JK
@El Cid:
Although I loved Colbert’s performance at the WH Correspondents’ Dinner, I’m not a fan of the event and other related dinners. In light of his dickish, backstabbing behavior regarding Conan O’Brien and the Tonight Show, the choice of Jay Leno as the headline comedian marks a new low for the WH Correspondents’ Dinner.
andrewtna
The reason to blame Crossfire for “hurting America” is because it epitomized everything wrong with our political discourse. What passes for news these days is two partisans yelling at each other, and whoever yells loudest wins the day. There’s no consideration of merit or truth. Viewers should not have to guess which side is telling the truth, they should be told the facts and then decide for themselves what they believe.
Crossfire is gone but its format lives on at all three cable networks.
Cat
@JK:
To paraphrase him, You realize he’s on a network where his lead-ins are potty mouthed 8 year olds and puppets, right?
redfury
So let me get this right, he fucked up one piece and the Dems are perfect and shouldn’t be mocked on his show. Ergo he’s a douchebag.
Gotcha.
Notorious P.A.T.
Oh and Colbert is much better.
MattR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Colbert had David Cross on quite a few times in the early days of the Colbert Report as Ross Lieber, a liberal radio host. It never quite got the audience reaction they hoped for and he went the way of Tek Jansen
El Cid
@JK: Of course — the primary reason such performances as Franken in 1994 and Colbert are notable for such beltway kissup actions is precisely because they don’t give a fuck about the establishmentarians’ Versailles-style courtly behaviors.
rob!
Geez, Doug, did Jon Stewart piss in your Wheaties this morning? Sheesh.
My only complaint with TDS is they sometimes bend themselves into a pretzel trying to appear “fair”–i.e., going after both sides. They’ll find some goofy-ass thing Biden said and do five minutes on it, meanwhile the Republicans want to put that douchebag O’Keefe on the five dollar bill and make it okay to murder abortion doctors. Yeah, those are the same.
But TDS does more actual journalism that all of CNN and (most of) MSNBC combined. They burned Sean Hannity so bad SEAN HANNITY WAS FORCED TO APOLOGIZE. What other news media could’ve pulled that off?
El Cid
Actually, though at first I was disappointed in McCaughey’s treatment by Stewart, after watching it again I think it might have been the most effective just him asking her to find stuff in her own book, and she couldn’t find or prove a damn thing she was breathlessly and absurdly pseudoscholarly saying.
Notorious P.A.T.
You don’t suppose Stewart read that bit. . . off a teleprompter?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Brien Jackson:
IIRC, in late September, after the campaign suspension, after Palin/Couric, after “the fundamentals of our economy are sound!” she was still predicting that McCain would win. And she completely melted down over “spending freeze” (I’m doubtful that it’s good economics, and utterly convinced it’s dumbass politics, but it is not “neo-Hooverism”). That said, RM is better than 90% of people on TeeVee. I like her mixture of dorky humor and wonky seriousness.
Laura W
@Jason Bylinowski: Got “The Call” from Jane.
New front pager at FDL.
fraught
@DougJ: “Just because Tucker Carlson wears a bow-tie, that doesn’t make him Nancy Grace or Mark Halperin of Roger Ailes.”
Yeah, it does too. I’ll bet you wear a bow tie. Come on, admit it.
drew42
Here’s another way to explain DougJ’s point. Stewart is really, really intelligent, a gifted comedy writer, and I agree with probably 99% of his political views.
But I don’t know one non-liberal who thinks he’s funny. Because for his delivery to work, you have to already be on his side. Now, his material (which I’m sure he mostly wrote) might be persuasive, but he does not deliver it as persuasively as we might want to believe. Because we’re too busy agreeing with him.
Which is why I (again) refer to Colbert. I know a number of non-liberals who find him hilarious — and I assure you they are aware of his true political leanings. Colbert addresses essentially the same issues as Stewart, but in a way that, even if you don’t agree with his real point, you can’t help but laugh. And if you’re laughing, you’re being persuaded, even if just the tiniest bit.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Mike E: Colbert is a comedic genius blessed with the gifts of a thorough knowledge of the English language, masterful use of the double entendre, the memory of an elephant, a twisted sense of humor, a quick wit and the ability to ad lib at the drop of a hat.
I wish I had one-tenth of his genius.
SpotWeld
I got to put in my 2 cents here.
I must admit that some of the fake stories and mugging gets on my nerves, especially when it’s obvious that Jon Stewart is fronting a attitude to exaggerate a certain story.
But I always gotta remind myself that his job is “primarily to bring the funny” and in the case of the Acorn scandal the only joke that he could pull out of that (that wasn’t a repeat of a Red State screed) was pretty much what he did.
it wasn’t that funny… but the Acorn scandal was the big story of the day and he had to get some sort of gag in there w/in the 24 hr news cycle.
I don’t think that makes him a douchebag… I think it makes him a politically themed comedian with a staff who has to give him material really really fast.
He does great interviews (where is probably isn’t scripted), and he usually puts a new spin on things.
DougJ
What passes for news these days is two partisans yelling at each other, and whoever yells loudest wins the day.
Would that that were true.
More like two sensible centrists agreeing that it’s a right-center country, that Hawaii is an exotic place that president shouldn’t visit, and that we need a non-security discretionary spending freeze. Two partisans yelling at each other would be a huge improvement.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MattR:
Yeah, that’s why I suggested him. Cracked me the hell up, but what do I know. And, oh Jesus, the Tek Jansen/green screen thing. I hated that more than I hate the Olympic schtick or the hockey team.
Jules
Jon Stewart is a God.
That is all…..
DougJ
New front pager at FDL.
Who is?
Zach
@El Cid:
All this is to me is a pathetic comment on the rest of the media and nothing particularly in Stewart’s favor. I didn’t think his criticism was particularly intelligent or novel.
SNL made fun of Crossfire four years before it existed: “Jane you ignorant slut.”
On a somewhat related topic, George F. Will’s Sports Machine!
JK
@Cat:
This is a tired defense of Stewart supporters. He did more harm than good by having John Yoo and Betsy McCaughey on as guests.
MattR
@El Cid: This. I think if it were possible to chart the level of “death panel” hysteria over time, you would find the Betsy McCaughey interview somewhere near the apex.
DougJ
@drew
Yes, that is well put, IMHO.
Fitzwili
@DougJ @EFroh
I think the Crossfire moment was the crystallization of his frustration about the effect of ALL shouting/talkinghead cable news shows and the deleterious effect such news shows were having on the political process. Crossfire was the symbol of the problem – not necessarily the worst offender.
I don’t normally come to a celebrity’s defense – (insert your own variation of the trope LEAVE BRITTANY ALOOONE). But twice in my life, Jon S. has gone on the air and said something that truly helped buffer a painful reality – right after 9/11 and although not comparable to that atrocity – the days right after Kerry lost. I don’t know of any other modern public figure (except Colbert at the White House dinner ) that said something that actually helped me cope with wide scale sorrow or anger.
Krissed Off
Moreover, he did muff the John Woo interview. I’ll never vote for him again.
Meanderthal
He mugs for the camera too much, he’s not as smart or cute as he thinks he is, he’s smug, and the only thing that saves his show from being a bore is his crack staff and funny correspondents
It’s a pity you’re 99% wrong. That’s OK, too, though. No one’s perfect.
Jason Bylinowski
@Laura W:
*looks around*
Am I being punked right now?
dr. bloor
No, actually, he really isn’t.
Now, calling out a comedian because his comedy show occasionally lacks the sort of political wisdom and balance that one might like, in spite of the fact that he speaks truth to power waaaaaay more often than not? That’s pretty douchey.
MattR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I wonder if that Ross Lieber character would do better now that Colbert is more established. I think it was too much for the audience to handle a battle between an over the top fake conservative commentator and an over the top fake liberal commentator.
Comrade Mary
@DougJ: Sadly, How to Succeed in Torture Without Really Trying doesn’t seem to be online anyplace. Here’s a bit from my copy of PRaCD:
You can find Bang’s other view of MMM here, at least. Still lovely.
Laura W
@DougJ: DougJ, if you click on the blue name of the person I was responding to it will take you back to the question they asked me that I was responding to.
ETA: Apparently, my obvious-to-me Fuckhead joke was obvious only to me.
Because he really is the only person here who understands me, or has ever understood me.
The void is palpable. And wrenching.
Come Back Little Fuckhead!
Mike E
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
I actually worried about him, early on in his run as the solo artist on the flying trapese–I almost gave him a Conan O’Brien’s chance in succeeding (after Letterman he surprised the shit out of me, I was wrong big-time).
He’s a machine. Stewart has his cadre, and needs them, but Colbert has nobody but himself. Ballsy.
I’ll say this about Stewart’s cojones — remember, though, the writers strike? Li’l Jewy McJewington shined like a friggin’ diamond, while Colbert seemed to struggle through.
El Cid
@Zach: But that’s true of all these establishmentarian pundit circles — none of them are so brilliant or clever. The vast majority of major news media discussions are stupid as dirt and it’s a testimony to the disciplinary power to their idiot internal show cultures that so few as Stewart say the simplest basic things about the shows themselves while they’re on.
Keith G
Who the fuck cares?
But he is a comic. He is a performer. He has decent timing, a bag of shtick, and a fairly predictable “goto” patter. I find him immensely entertaining to a point. He is a multi-trick pony, but his range only goes so far. He is under no obligation for fairness.
So, why is he an issue here? Is there a full moon?
DougJ
@Comrade Mary
Thanks. God, that book is great.
DougJ
DougJ, if you click on the blue name of the person I was responding to it will take you back to the question they asked me that I was responding to.
So Jason Bylinski is a new front-pager at FDL?
jibeaux
Are we trying to set some kind of record in contrariness? Because if so, “your move, Slate.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
and I’ll say, as a Stewart fanboy, I was sorely disappointed to learn that Stewart’s producers (I think he’s the head cheese on TDS) interfered with Lewis Black’s writing, heavily editing his stuff. Lou didn’t like, and that’s pretty much why you don’t see him splutter and rage as much as he used to. (He said this in an interview with Marc Maron that is apparently no longer available since the AAR bankruptcy.
Notorious P.A.T.
You’ve obviously never held a job dealing with the public. You know what happens when someone in customer service is confronted with a moron and calls them a moron? Their boss apologizes to the moron then sends you home for good.
jenniebee
@General Winfield Stuck: hyperbolic a little? The “nuclear option” – effectively eliminating the filibuster by using conflicting Senate rules in the favor of the majority – would destroy democracy? Would Britain be left with the only standing representative government in the world by virtue of being a constitutional monarchy?
The Senate votes at the beginning of each session on the body’s rules for that session, as they are instructed to do by the US Constitution. The Constitution is very clear on this, it says:
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.
Each session of Congress, every two years, begins by adopting rules for that session. There is no requirement that the rules must be supported by a 2/3 majority.
But the proof of the pudding is in the eating… tell you what, if the next session convenes and an attempt to change the filibuster rules gets more than 51 votes and still fails, I owe you a coke.
Zach
@El Cid: “I wish I could easily find the video of Al Franken doing the correspondents’ dinner”
You can request that C-Span put it online:
1994: c-spanvideo.org/program/56320-1
1996: c-spanvideo.org/program/71604-1
Searching for this, I ran into a video of Al Franken drawing the United States from memory; if this hasn’t been an Internet fad or a mental health break at Sullivan’s site it should be:
DougJ
Are we trying to set some kind of record in contrariness? Because if so, “your move, Slate.”
Funny.
Laura W
@DougJ: You better just stop trolling me now because I’m not falling for it one more time, DougJ!
Ben JB
Does DougJ really think that Jon Stewart is as bad as all that? Or is he following some sort of Godfather logic where getting out the bad blood is good for the Families? (In that analogy, the Left is the Five Families.)
Like many people here, I respect his limitations (he’s on a comedy show), but that doesn’t get away from the fact that his comedy tends to be funniest when it’s based on reality–the ACORN/pimp story wasn’t that funny b/c it wasn’t real and neither is the Obama telemprompter shtick from last night. It’s some bullshit balance thing, which doesn’t make sense to me: you’re a liberal, they’ll never like you, Jon!
I will say this, though: sometimes, when he comes on the next day, he apologizes / corrects himself, which is going above what a comedian has to do.
(Which brings us back to the original issue: if he does things that exceed his vocation as comedian occasionally, why can’t he do more of that?)
Kevin
I still like him, don’t think he’s a douche, but honestly, I get what you are saying. His schoolboy giggle is annoying and phony.
Plus, the fact that he said he’d have voted for McCain in 2000 puts to rest the claim that he is all that smart. Seriously, anyone with a brain not connected to the Washington Village should have seen McCain for the shameless tool he was back then. Plenty of liberals did, but Stewart bought the whole Saint John McCain thing like the rest of the fools.
El Cid
@Zach: Maybe it was ’96 for Franken. I don’t remember.
eemom
OMFG. Like there isn’t enough bickering and name-calling going on already, we gotta get into a pissing contest over Jon fucking STEWART??
This has been pointed out before, but fer Chrissake, the man’s a comedian. It’s not his fault that the emmessemm is such a black hole of obscene dysfunction that people look to a COMEDIAN to get insightful coverage and hard-hitting interviews. Give it a fucking rest, already.
DougJ
Does DougJ really think that Jon Stewart is as bad as all that?
I don’t know, I’m tired of TDS as a sacred cow. There’s a sense in which he’s Leno to Colbert’s Letterman.
I’m sure I’m overthinking this. I need another drink. Thanks to everyone who made my arguments more coherently than I did (drew, JK, and others).
drew42
@DougJ:
I am not a sockpuppet.
But this is why I don’t like Maddow or Olbermann, either — and it actually bugs me that so many liberals do. Their shows aren’t going to reach anybody outside the liberal world.
Top-down flow of ideas is the domain of conservatives, and always will be.
But I’ve been drinking, so please ignore anything I write.
DougJ
Laura — who is JSF?
Ailuridae
Sorry to divert away from
JohnJon “Not Hal Jordan” Stewart’s relevant merits but here is some apparent good news via TPM: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/house-to-senate-were-ready-on-health-care-if-you-are.php?ref=fpb…JK
@Zach:
This is fucking amazing. I’d like to see Sarah “Mooseburger” Palin, Michele “Dingbat” Bachmann”, or Scott “Beefcake” Brown try this.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Laura W:
He’s joined up with Hamster Jane and her Firebagging Hamster Brigade?! Wow, I guess he really is Just Some Fuckhead.
Bad joke…lol
Bubblegum Tate
Why are so many people so eager to compete against the wingnuts in the Asshurt Olympics? Criminy.
Zach
@El Cid: Oh, it was both. Neither of them have been uploaded. Here he is talking about his ’96 performance on Letterman: youtube.com/watch?v=h0-FYyuvrRk
An arcane but awesome joke: “I’ve always thought that Al D’Amato leading an ethics investigation is a little like asking Ross Perot to head a mental health task force.”
If someone had asked me to guess when Franken’s first big book came out I would’ve said 2000 or something. My memory is horrible.
Ben JB
@drew42: And if you’re laughing, you’re being persuaded, even if just the tiniest bit.
I wish I believed that, Drew, but I can’t see that. For one thing, how do we know that the conservatives who laugh are laughing at the depiction of how batshit their beliefs are? It seems more likely that they’re laughing at the character while maintaining their beliefs.
It reminds me of my time arguing on conservative sites: the consies would often say some variation of how they didn’t like Rush / Hannity / O’Reilly as people, but they liked their beliefs. Laughing at Colbert probably doesn’t change their beliefs, the same way not liking R / H / O didn’t change their beliefs.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@LarsThorwald:
This. It’s nice to see that we’re all not in lockstep here in our thinking. Clearly Doug’s the outlier.
TDS is on target, oh, 90% of the time which is a far better batting average than oh, everybody else in corporate media world.
Colbert’s interviews are shitty. At least Stewart lets his guests get a word in edgewise. It’s funny but I felt that Colbert was far better in the 4 months leading up to the presidential election but since then, TDS has been significantly better far more of the time.
This subject could lead to the kind of circular firing squad Cole hates so much. Next thing I know I’ll be comparing Doug to Hamsher.
General Winfield Stuck
@jenniebee: The Standing Rules are that, Standing. It has long been established and accepted due to the 1/3 of senators only being elected every two years means their is always a quorum present and in effect for changing the Standing Rules they are not subject to the whims of simple majority votes every new congress.
But if it happens, with a 51 vote majority, then I will buy you that coke. I am not worried at losing this bet.:)
jibeaux
@DougJ:
Stolen shamelessly from Ezra.
Zach
My thoughts on Stewart mugging for the camera: as bad as his preening can be, it’s adds up to a fraction of Olbermann’s nightly self-important tirade.
Ben Affleck’s takedown of Olbermann should’ve knocked his show down in the same way that Stewart doomed Cross-Fire. No one watches SNL anymore which might have something to do with it.
Cat
@JK:
The point is he’s a comedy show. He’s not out to advance the progressive movement even if you think he is or want him to.
policomic
Like a lot of the people who have already weighed in, I’m a devoted viewer of TDS, and find Stewart to be (usually) a better news analyst and interviewer than just about anybody else on TV. But the “fair and balanced” approach is an insult to the intelligence of his viewers. The ACORN thing was the worst, but the constant attempts to draw false equivalencies between FOX and MSNBC, and even between Bush and Obama, are lazy comedy, and dishonest commentary.
I also prefer Colbert, not only because he doesn’t rely on mugging and crazy voices (both okay in small doses, but Stewart overdoes them), but because he doesn’t have to pretend to be “neutral,” and I never feel like he’s talking down to his audience. And when he criticizes a liberal or Democrat, it’s not because he’s trying to prove something about his own independence–the character takes care of all the ego & insecurity stuff that gets in other comics’ way.
Comrade Luke
He’s not a douchebag, but he occasionally gets it wrong.
There’s a big difference.
JK
@Kevin:
Thanks for pointing this out for the benefit of those people who think Jon Stewart is God.
fraught
@DougJ: Ah, (French inhaling a Gaulois- loong exhale) was it good for you too?
JD Rhoades
@kth:
Not specifically picking on you, kth, but this seems to be a common theme running through this thread…and it’s ridiculous. He’s not doing anything but his job. It’s the purpose of satire to ridicule the people in power. No one was calling Stewart smug when he was going after the Rethuglicans, but now that it’s a Democratic ox getting gored, suddenly he’s a douchebag? Please.
Comrade Luke
Via Krugman:
After telling us they can’t pass health care without 60 votes, they’re going to try and get Bernanke in with 51.
Laura W
@DougJ: Hahahaha!
You win.
Notorious P.A.T.
@Kevin:
That’s pretty pathetic.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JK: Stewart was a McCain fanboy long after 2000, too.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Mike E:
His comedy work on Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law as Phil Ken Sebben was chokingly funny. I watch that show nearly every time they have it on, it is that great. The Employee Orientation video was hilarious.
He is a fountain of comedic genius, a natural.
DougJ
I am not a sockpuppet.
I didn’t say you were! You just explained what I was trying to, but was too pissed off to do coherently.
mobtown999
He’s a LATE NIGHT COMIC….the fact that people take him so seriously is bizarre, as he states on his own show regularly. No ever cared so much about how deep Chevy Chase was/is…or am I missing something about the significance of Comedy Central in the current political discourse?
eco2geek
@DougJ:
Keep digging yourself in deeper. Here, I’ll toss you down a pickaxe. Duck!
Don’t drink and blog.
Notorious P.A.T.
Well said.
JK
@Cat:
Jon Stewart has provided some good laughs when he’s managed to keep his nauseating camera mugging in check.
I just think his patty cake interviews with John Yoo and Betsy McCaughey were terrible blunders .
Comrade Luke
@JK:
I agree that those were low points, and I also think that in both cases he seemed a little tentative after it became clear that both of them were extremely well-prepared with their talking points. Specifically, I think the binder threw him off, and while Yoo is a fuck and wrong, he’s clearly a good lawyer who knows about arguing his “case”.
Mike E
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
I’m gonna get a Colbert tatoo, with the Eagle behind, someday. Like that crazy Weird Al fan.
JK
To the people who’ve mentioned Bill Maher
One of Maher’s greatest most magical segments
youtube.com/watch?v=iFEAqy8GbnA
jenniebee
@drew42:
Their shows aren’t going to reach anybody outside the liberal world.
Sure, but what’s wrong with having a little of that? We don’t need all-conciliatory-centrist bs all the time.
Honestly, having a couple of forthright liberals on TV is a godsend to me. I’m old enough to remember the days when the major network newscasts had Labor Correspondents, not just Wall Street Correspondents. It was unabashedly presenting not the point of view, but the news that was relevant to the point of view of people who work for a living. Who cares if the labor correspondents didn’t convince Phil Gramm? They at least allowed the people who were inclined toward adopting the liberal outlook to inform their ideas and consider interpretations of events that were other than the Wall Street frame. The country got more helplessly lost in conservative narratives when those unapologetically liberal voices went away.
Plus Maddow is delightfully droll. Yes. I said droll.
tomvox1
Well, like him or not (and I happen to like the guy a lot), the real problem is that Stewart is seen as “America’s most respected newsman” these days. The guy is a satirist and a comedian, so expecting the Daily Show to take the place of, you know, real fucking TV news is the actual travesty here. And so the fact that no actual network/cable news talent (to my knowledge anyway) has sat down with an actual douchebag like, say, John Yoo and given him the grilling that Stewart was somehow supposed to is the Red Alert for TV journalism, not that Stewart tries to mine humor from both sides of the political spectrum with occasionally mixed results. Some jokes hit, some jokes bomb but a good comic will keep throwing them out there. A genuine (i.e. not fake, non-[intentionally] comedic) news host like Stephanopoulos or Gregory, on the other hand, should be expected to respond to the fallacious claims of the people in power with actual facts on a semi-regular basis and maybe even call someone on their bullshit once in a while. The void that has enabled Jon Stewart to somehow become conflated with the legacy of Cronkite is both absurd and terrifying.
As an aside, watch Broadcast News again: it is prophetic in its contention that beautiful news readers phasing out real reporters will kill the TV news business.
Mike E
@jenniebee:
I remember those days. When ‘The McLaughlin Group’ was actually good–Jack Germond, anyone? Now, it’s a tilted gradient-scale of conservatives trying to out-douche each other, with neutered lefties as stage dressing.
eemom
@Ailuridae:
the nyt is saying the opposite:
(can’t link on this POS Dell I use for work)
I hope that TPM’s right.
BR
So I have to say, in recent months I’ve had my doubts about Jon Stewart. He seems to be drifting a bit more into forced fair-and-balanced reporting, trying to hit both sides for the sake of hitting both sides. Is he getting pressure, or is he trying to kiss up to the bigwigs?
JD Rhoades
@JK:
You’re criticizing a comedian for not being a tough enough interviewer?Really?
Who the hell watches TDS for the interviews? Or for that matter, who even watches the interviews?
Alex S.
Jon Stewart is fine. Although he swears too much, maybe he’s reveling too much in his New Jersey-ness. Is there an upstate NY-NJ rivalry?
JD Rhoades
@tomvox1:
This.
JK
@JD Rhoades:
The Yoo and McCaughey interviews weren’t remotely funny so they failed on the most basic level for a comedy show.
Mike E
I’d lurv to chat some more with you beeotches, but The Daily Show beckons! Peace
Ty Lookwell
The only thing I can fault Colbert for is the way he refused to do the vocal work on Professor Impossible for the Venture Bros’ recent season. And he did it in a very douchbaggy way.
Frankie T.
Respectfully disagree with DougJ. Stewart is a satirist who hits the mark far more often than not. He is not a douchebag. TDS was one of the few things I looked forward to watching on the tube during the Bush years. YMMVOC.
JD Rhoades
@JK:
I agree. In fact, I almost never watch the interview portion unless he’s interviewing a comedian.
But that’s a different gripe than calling it a “pattycake” interview.
Comrade Luke
@tomvox1:
Yes, yes, 1000 times yes.
Sleeper
So, just to recap:
Jon Stewart – smarmy douchebag
Guys at POLITICO – fantastic hard-working reporters for whom we should all cut way more slack
uh-huh. Right.
drillfork
Honestly, I thought I was the only one who was old enough to have even remembered/watched Kilborn on TDS. It was OK, but back then the emphasis was the “stories” of goofy-ass people from around the country. If you recall the brouhaha between Geraldo and Stewart/Colbert some years ago, Rivera’s “old people slipping on ice” critique more accurately described the TDS under Kilborn. As an earlier commenter noted, if Kilborn hadn’t left, the TDS wouldn’t have lasted more than another year or two.
Stewart took the format and elevated the social and, especially, media commentary. He gave the show substance, and I give him all the credit in the world for it.
You don’t have to dig the schtick (yes, he should have long ago given up the Carson thing, but I never tire of his W. — or now, his Droopy Dog Lieberman). That’s a matter of taste. And of course Stewart is not above criticism — e.g., he should follow up with the ACORN coverage.
But Stewart made TDS relevant. And in the age of corporate media, at certain moments (e.g., Cramer takedown), he’s been heroic. I think it’s something even his critics must acknowledge.
Comrade Luke
@BR:
No, I think there are plenty of fuckups in the Democratic establishment, and he’s pointing them out.
It’s annoying because it’s our (well, at least my – don’t know you’re leanings) party, but it doesn’t make it any less true unfortunately.
Comrade Kevin
@drew42:
You have got to be kidding me.
DougJ
Great guest tonight — Elizabeth Warren. Got to give credit for that.
Even if I have the eerie feeling she’s about to scold me for not returning my library books on time.
Love her, in any case.
Wile E. Quixote
@Kevin
Yeah, no kidding, no one with half a brain should have voted for McCain back in 2000, or have been a Republican until 2005. What a moran!
Capn America
Meh like all of us, Jon Stewart has his low points. Yes, he scored cheap points with the ACORN thing, or even the Obama elementary school teleprompter thing yesterday. Remember, his audience consists of the kind of people who tend to be kind of cynical anyway. But nobody is better at making the establishment conservative media look stupider than Stewart. His face-to-face take-downs of Cramer, Carlson, and BETSY MCCAUGHEY were things we should be forever thankful for.
Seeley
Great job, DougL. You have been superb at creating controversy and promoting traffic while John is gone. Seems that is what matters most to you. If it indeed that is your goal, I must applaud.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Seeley:
Why I do declare, thank you for the compliment!
darryl
Maybe the fact that Democrats, um, now control the House, the Senate, the Presidency, and a majority of governorships, kinda puts them in his sights more than they used to be?
The interview segment, on most shows, are boring. But I guess you can’t write very many funny jokes every day. Shit, SNL shows us that it’s hard to write many funny jokes per week. (And while I like different eras of SNL more than now, don’t kid yourself–it always sucked. When George Carlin died, and SNL reran the very first episode, from 1975, which Carlin hosted, people were surprised by how lousy it was.)
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Mike E:
I’m not that crazy about him but pretty damned close…lol!
Our family loves his work and we all watch and talk about him regularly. That some conservatives actually believe he really is conservative is just the icing on the cake for us.
Natural born suckers…lol
Punchy
DougJ, you’re a fucking idiot. Sorry for the brashness, but I call it as I see it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@darryl:
Back when I, for reasons no longer clear to me, tried to become proficient at golf, I used to say I got one good hole out of every nine I played–one good drive, one good putt, etc. I think SNL gets one good show out of every season. And for whatever reason, they knocked it out of the park with Sarah Palin, from Tina Fey to Amy Poehler (HRC and the Sarah Palin rap) to, yes, John McCain. But yeah, in general, TDS towers way the fuck over SNL/Week-end update.
Does anyone know why they’re doing so many fewer field pieces the last year or so? Budget cuts?
Phoebe
@DougJ: Why Tucker Carlson? I think I know why and I suspected it the first time I saw it. Jon hated that guy with a searing fury that only comes from seeing something you don’t like about yourself in someone else. TC and JS are both kinda, you know, the young smirky smarty confident ones in the room [ahem –!– at the country club!] but TC is a much bigger douchebag. In this same way, popular nice jocks always come down on the popular bully jocks like a bag of rocks because they know that but for the grace of God… It’s hard to explain. But I know it’s true! He needed to put the biggest possible distance between him and TC. A gigantic grocery separator.
Similarly, I suspect that Jon went out of his way to give Glenn Beck the family-size scorched earth treatment because Glenn Beck had the nerve to compare his own alleged comedic stylings to Stewart’s.
darryl
Craig Ferguson is the Michael Jordan of Late-Night funny, in a league of Jon Koncaks.
DougJ
I think I know why and I suspected it the first time I saw it. Jon hated that guy with a searing fury that only comes from seeing something you don’t like about yourself in someone else.
Interesting. And I think you may be right.
Phoebe
Also, please give credit for his interview with Tweety, who was promoting some kind of self-help book whose premise was that people need to act like they’re running for office, or some such garbage. What was so great about this interview was Stewart’s earnest, sincere sympathy with Tweety the person, his genuine attempt to reason with him, coupled with the completely devastating things coming out of his mouth. Example: [sincerely and sympathetically] “This book is a recipe for sadness.” Tweety was trying to defend his premise, but he wasn’t defensive, because Stewart really was being nice. It was just precious.
maus
@DougJ:
Evolution of the sickness plaguing our media. Your comparison is useless, because what he, and the rest of us want is ONE honest show, some actual sparring not a circlejerk.
@202
Fuck yes. OF COURSE he’s going to focus on our problems. We’re supposed to be in power!
Mike E
@Phoebe:
That, as Colbert would say, is Truthiness–your gut knows, you don’t have to explain.
But as Jon Stewart would say, “Do go on!”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Phoebe: YES! That Tweety interview was a keeper. And Tweety bragged about later like he schooled Stewart.
darryl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: SNL produces generally hilarious moments, at times. This line about Alexander Hamilton makes me bust out laughing every time. But comedy writing must be really hard, because so few people can do it consistently.
cokane
No way. Stewart nailed it on the ACORN story. Sure he never told the whole story, but he’s not a news man. Anyone who trusts him as one needs to have their head examined, seriously.
ACORN does good things, I’m not going to deny this. And this OKeefe sting was disingenuous in some ways. At the same time, there is a great deal of incompetence, lack of professionalism, and dearth of oversight at ACORN. I have worked with ACORN employees in the past, one is one of my best friends, and I am a canvasser myself. The sting did expose some real shortcomings in the organization.
Don’t get mad at Stewart. Get mad at Congress for defunding them. If Congresscritters weren’t so ready to shit themselves about losing their seats, and had not rushed to de-fund the organization, this sting would actually be one of the best things for ACORN in the long run, as it got them to implement actual oversight.
Xantar
If Betsy McCaughey comes on to be interviewed by Jon Stewart and any reasonable person comes to the conclusion that she is lying and that she made up death panels out of whole cloth (and that she can’t even find the relevant clause in her big binder because she’s just using it as a prop), has Jon Stewart really failed as an interviewer? Come on, people. We’re thinking adults. He doesn’t have to spell it out for us in flashy fucking neon lights. He doesn’t have to leave his guest in a state of utter, abject meltdown for us to get the point. He just has to give us enough evidence to see with our own eyes what the facts are, and in the case of Betsy McCaughey, there was plenty to see.
Otherwise, why did she have to resign from her job just a few days after?
FlipYrWhig
I don’t think Jon Stewart is trying to make a play for “balance.” But I do get the sense that, (1) he’s very frustrated that economic conditions aren’t getting any better, and (2) he’s a liberal but a deficit-hawk with some libertarian tendencies. Which is why I squirmed when he had on the Pete Peterson guy and gushed over how common-sensical his book was. But the one thing I do really appreciate about his show is that he has on _so many_ authors, not just celebrities pushing books; and it seems like more often than not he has actually read a fair amount of the book. No one else does that.
t jasper parnel
This post is just silly and wrong-headed. Stewart is a very fine media critic. [Edit I mean seriously, did you not watch the Jonah interview?] Off topic, but did anyone know that Canada seems to be in the middle of a constitutional crisis?
Karen
@DougJ
I don’t agree with you and here’s the reason. I think you forgot that he’s not for politicians whether they’re Obama or Bush or any politician. TDS and Jon Stewart especially, sees and critiques the media and the politicians on the media. He’s also really big on whether either side of the aisle is hypocritical.
And yes, he may beat up on the left but again, not for the reason you say. Not because he’s trying to overcompensate. Jon Stewart is tougher with the left because he’s on the left and is disappointed when his own party does things that are stupid or shooting themselves in the foot. He has more expectations because he loves the Democratic party.
I understand so well because I expect horrible things from the Republicans. It sucks but it doesn’t hurt the way it hurts when I see horrible things from my own party. I expect better. Not the Firebagger and Kos thing of the litmus test. But when Obama does something that is not well thought out (like bringing a teleprompter to a classroom) he’s going to make fun of it.
Keith Olbermann has good intentions, in my opinion, but can get overdramatic and very pompous with his “Special Comment” and Jon Stewart got it right.
I respect that Jon Stewart will always calls it as he sees it, Democrat or Republican. I get the feeling that you only want him to notice the other side’s fuckups. If that’s the case, you’re no better than Faux News. I wish you could see that.
PanAmerican
Craig Kilborn, Keith Olbermann, Chris Berman, Dan Patrick….
Does ESPN hire douchebags or does working at ESPN turn them into douchebags?
Anyway, Stewart deserves a shot in the nuts for the ACORN piece. It wasn’t funny because it accepted the racialist tropes of one James O’Keefe.
Colbert big timed the Venture Bros., so fuck him.
Irony Abounds
Gee, Stewart doesn’t bat 100% and suddenly he’s a douchebag. Well, guess what, no one bats 100%, not you Doug, not John Cole, not Stephen Colbert, and certainly not me. Stewart’s batting average is pretty damn impressive however.
Nonetheless, I was willing to give you your opinion, wrong-headed though I thought it was, until you compared Stewart to Leno. WTF is up with that?? Leno? Mr. Bland. And frankly, Conan just isn’t all that much either. Neither of them can hold a candle to Letterman on a good night. Sorry, but you are now officially on double secret probation
Uriel
@drew42:
If you don’t mind, I’m going to appropriate this so I can stick it on the end of pretty much anything I post here after 10 a.m. Thanks in advance.
vg
Has DougJ ever written anything worthwhile on this site? Is it ever anything but “Hey, here’s this guy who has something to say that’s contrary to the wisdom of a small circle of ‘progressive’ blogs: Isn’t this guy an asshole? Why is he even allowed to talk? I hate ‘contrarians’ who express skepticism about the political positions of a narrow part of the American polity or who ‘buy into the frames’ of their political opponents.”
Two bit dKos diarist. Not even kid oakland quality.
Angry Space Cadet
Howdy, long time listener first time caller. God damn is this a candidate for worst post ever. You think Jon Stewart sucks? How about you watch CNN, MSNBC, or Fox for an extended period of time or how about SNL, Leno, or any other late night “comedy” shows? The guy is about as fair and funny as they come. He’s not perfect, but he is not shit either.
Ranger 3
Keith Olbermann is a complete jackass, as Stewart demonstrated beautifully the other day.
Stewart was correct to go after ACORN… whether the video was faked or not, they did about the worst job of damage control imaginable. Why have they still failed to push back on the story if O’Keefe is such an amatuer?
Typical liberal whining, you think because you’re so nice and smart everyone should just give you the benefit of the doubt. O’Keefe fucked up in going after the pros, he should have stuck to messing with the amatuers, which is what ACORN are. That was Stewart’s point.
Mr Furious
@Ty Lookwell:
Agreed. When she’s playing it straight, she’s fine, but the wise-assery is gawdawful.
Her hit jobs are often padded with a lot of weak sauce too.
That show’s been a pretty big disappointment to me.
Mr Furious
Say what you want about his tenure on The Daily Show… Craig Kilborn was the best ESPN anchor ever.
caldonia
@vg:
I completely agree. He’s prissy and snarky but not even a little clever.
Oh, and did you notice DougJ’s little lame-assed psychoanalysis in the comments — where he concludes that Jon and Tucker Carlson are similar? Fascinating! You know, this post and his little prissy comments have been pretty revealing. I did a little psychoanalysis of my own, and I’ve concluded that his criticisms demonstrate a case of pitiful, blatant projection. What a sad little douchebag.
arguingwithsignposts
Wow, it’s definitely a symptom of HCR derangement syndrome when DougJ takes out the long knives on Jon Stewart. As Stewart himself said in prior interviews, the lead-in to his show is puppets making prank phone calls.
Watch his shows after 9/11 or Katrina. Truth to power.
Uriel
@vg:
Well, there was this one time where he wrote, in a response to something or I posted in the comments, the following particularly perspicacious retort:
“LOL”
I thought that was pretty on spot and insightful. I sure as hell can attest to the fact you don’t find commentary like that on GOS or FDL.
Common Sense
@DougJ:
Bob.
Novak.
arguingwithsignposts
@Uriel:
tl; dr.
you were saying?
Uriel
@arguingwithsignposts:
OMFG, ROTFL, IMHO. AFAIC YMMV, BTW.
Spiny Norman
Stewart has given us, at a minimum, two things: Colbert, and his priceless appearance on Crossfire. For those things alone, (and because he keeps a special belt in his closet with which he flagellates himself*), he must be beatified.
*Oh, wait. That was JPII, according to one of his biographers. I still don’t understand why self-abuse is bad when a teenage boy does it, and good when the pope does it, but then, I don’t have authoritarian personality disorder (don’t worry, it’ll be in the DSM VIII, if we get that far).
Batocchio
Uhh… Okay, Doug. You and Richard Cohen can form a club. The Daily Show is brilliant so often it’s easy to take it and Stewart for granted. The same goes for Colbert. If you don’t like Stewart’s style, fine, but somehow that makes him a douchebag? This ACORN bit was a low point, but that’s pretty rare. Yeah, so far I don’t agree with any of your pop culture assessements, but you haven’t exactly made a strong case for any of them (at least in the posts themselves). Perhaps you can post your stand-up video later, so we can judge your command of comedy.
Was this Doug +5? Maybe it’s time to stop digging…
wcb59
I understand. I have several friends who are very literal and don’t get satire. It’s like being born tone-deaf.
Huntski
The guy’s show is on Comedy Central. Comedy Central. One more time, Comedy Central. Are there really some of you trying to hold up Stewart to some sort of journalistic standard? I’m sure glad there’s nothing else going on in politics these days to waste time on.
Toast
Guilty of occasional false equivalency? Sure.
A douchebag? Not even within a parsec, and it’s idiocy to suggest otherwise.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Huntski: Okay, then; judging Stewart just as a comedian, he’s mediocre on his best days.
kay
Satire exists to poke at the elite, he’s a comedian, he takes shots at the powerful on both sides. All fine and all true and I agree with all that.
But ACORN workers aren’t powerful. They were just regular people who were secretly taped, and influential people in media jumped on them, en masse, like some kind of idiot celebrity feeding frenzy.
That’s why it was a cheap shot.
I expect that cowardice from an aspiring-felon college Republican. I think it’s mean-spirited and dumb when it comes from Jon Stewart.
He should know better.
elftx
Ok Doug,
I think fraught nailed him and your response to him was really lame.
Maybe age has something to do with it, but having grown up seeing Cyd Caesar, watching The Dick Van Dyke Show (religiously btw), Bozo in the early sixties on WGN of course; I mean come on if nothing else think of a Really REally toned down Buddy Hackett.
Joe
I know I’m late to this, but can this please be the time when John realizes every DougJ post is the equivalent of a Molly Shannon SNL skit on this blog? Cringe-worthy, filled with pretentious references & cute shortening of names, no straight talk, beating around the bush, and terrible blogging in general.
I’m almost at the point of having to do a Find on the page for “John Cole” to know which articles are even worth my time.
Remember November
Sorry dude, you are way off base. Yes he mugs for the camera because he’s a COMEDIAN. Would anyone back in the day call Mort Sahl a “journalist”, or George Carlin? That’s his style, but he speaks truth to power under the guise of comedy- much like a king’s court jester who is unafraid to call the king an ass. You may not like his style, but you’re right he does have a crack team of researchers and calls people out on their lies, with video evidence.
Malron
And who can forget Stewie’s awkward “Gaydolf Titler” moment at the Academy Awards, a joke that went over with a resounding thud?
Ted
It was a definite low point for him. It was such a pandering attempt at balance. Watching that first woman struggle through the entrapment that was occurring in the video was hard to watch, BTW, what do tax lawyers tell individuals and businesses everyday about what THEY should do with their illegal earnings? I wonder. I guess as long as it’s not sexual in nature, they should still get their tax breaks, right?
Raising
Joe244 puts it nicely. Calling Stewart a douchebag, waiting for people to jump, then trolling own comments section is true douchbaggery. What, exactly was wrong with this piece? Seriously, what? And throwing around words like smug, craven, nadir, sacred cow, and quotes from Lou Reed is condescendingly douche-baggish. Writing, producing, and anchoring a show like this is incredibly difficult, and Stewart leads a team like no other. You don’t like him? Keep it to yourself if your wanker comments are totally devoid of any real meaning (other than your flimsy opinion). Get well soon, John.
Toast
Wow. What @Raising said. That was awesome.
kdub
OMG, we are now asking for retractions from fake newscasters. Get real! It is after all Comedy Central folks.
flyerhawk
So he’s fine as long as he doesn’t go after the Left in any way?
TDS is not an investigative journalism show. They aren’t trying to give the full picture on events. They are trying to be funny and occasionally push a left of center agenda.
When the TDS simply regurgitates the talking point of the day, regardless of whether it is a left or right TP, then the show is generally dull and often cringe worthy.
When they expose the hypocrisy of politicians or the media, they are usually dead on accurate.
The problem is that TDS has to run 5 shows a week and the news cycle isn’t always cooperative.
So while I would prefer that the TDS give more perspective on events, be it the Acorn video nonsense or the more common unfair attacks on right wing non-events, I accept it as the cost of doing business as long as he continues to give interviews/takedowns like he did with Betsey Mccaughey.
onceler
you people are just flat out nuts. yeah, Stewart should take back the ACORN story. other than that, he ‘mugs for the camera’?? get a life.
Shade Tail
Meh. Stewart screws up from time to time, and I agree that the posted vid is one of the more egregious examples. But I like his humor, because it is based on truth and it hits hard. And his mugging for the camera works just fine for me. It’s a visual performance that often says a lot more than words could.
And I haven’t seen much of this “pox on both houses” people like to talk about. That implies that he’s just hitting democrats simply for the sake of hitting them. But most of the time he hits democrats when they’ve really earned it. I can still remember quite clearly the bit, last year, where he trashed the Obama White House for quite blatantly going back on their promises of transparency. Or when the Senate caucus caved to the GOP on Iraq funding back in 2007. Don’t try to tell me that these were just “pox on both houses” stuff.
Sometimes you have to be a meany to get the point across. It’s the same reason why I like Bill Maher’s humor. He gets a lot of stuff wrong (his opposition to hate crime legislation is the usual cliché nonsense; his anti-vaccine ideas are outright insanity), but he sticks to reality and doesn’t pull his punches.
timb
@BB:
A great and learned tome and damn funny
timb
@BB:
A great and learned tome and damn funny
@flyerhawk: Five nights a week? Is there now an eight day week somewhere? Because, where I live, new shows on Monday – Thursday
timb
@Joe: Just a nutty observation.
Doug is teh awesome, even if he’s wrong on this.
timb
@Huntski: There it is. Clown nose off/clown nose on. He can be serious and, when you criticize his editorial judgment, he’s JUST a comedian. Stewart is more than a comedian; he is the most respected news broadcaster in America to the under 25 set. Allowing his editorial gaffes to be played off by saying “It’s Comedy Central” is a lame defense and means that Stewart’s fine critiques of jackasses and Beck aren’t real, they’re just comedy. If so, it reduces that level of criticism to playground insult.
You choose, but I’d rather imagine he’s not as superficially inane as you claim.
DougJ
I know I’m late to this, but can this please be the time when John realizes every DougJ post is the equivalent of a Molly Shannon SNL skit on this blog? Cringe-worthy, filled with pretentious references
Molly Shannon skits are filled with pretentious references?
timb
@DougJ: remember when she smelled her armpits? From my experience with high culture, only the aristocrats and richie richs do that. She was so pretentious with her falling down in her Catholic school girl outift and showing her undies! Height of pretension
d
he’s definitely been pushing more right wing talking points recently…
barstoolcadaver
Hmm. I believe this post and by extension the entire comments thread, was an elaborate attempt to flush out “troll quail”. Welcome to Buffoon Juice Labs. Take two of these and try to get comfortable…
Paula
No, he isn’t.
Stick to politics.
Joe
I should have just kept my Molly Shannon reference at “cringe-worthy” and “a waste of my time”.
johnny walker
It’s cliche, but you know we’re in trouble when we’re worried that our comedy shows aren’t doing enough research.
Joel
@kay: I’m with Kay here.
I’m still surprised at the indignation about DougJ calling Stewart a “douchebag”. You’d have thought the guy was the pope or something. I don’t agree, but the guy’s a public figure and he occasionally deserves it (especially for the ACORN bit). Everyone probably has some issue with Stewart, or they should, because he’s not perfect by any means. My main issue with Stewart is that he’s not funny enough to be as essential to the Daily Show as he is now, but that’s not really his fault. The rest of the Daily Show cast sucks for the most part, so they’re riding their best horses to the ground.
I also think Stewart’s oft-repeated line about being a “comedian” is bullshit writ extra large. If you’re going to speak truth to power, or hell, if you’re going to say anything about anyone, be prepared to stand the consequences. For the most part, Stewart does a pretty good job about this and I give him all the credit in the world for having those balls when there’s so much institutional pressure against him. But I don’t want to hear about his status as a “comedian” granting him some sort of cop-out license.
Dayv
I agree with what a bunch of people said about Stewart going too easy on some interviews, but I think that’s also the reason they get some of those big-name guests. It’s a hell of a trade-off.