Daily Show: John Oliver Takes on "Stop And Frisk"

Like catch and release fishing, but all the fish are brown. I thought that having Jon Stewart away for the summer would be kind of a drag. It turned out that John Oliver was a fantastic replacement, and ought to be able to use this as a launching pad for career advancement.

 

Stephen Colbert's SuperPAC's First Anti-Romney Attack Ad

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow (the public name of the Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC) has released its first attack ad against Mitt Romney, since Stephen Colbert launched his presidential bid.  As expect, it is both funny, and completely on point. If corporations are people--as Mittens himself said--what is the logical conclusion, if Romney effectively killed several of them? I only wish Colbert was serious. This is a very meta campaign, by a candidate that has been skewering SuperPACs, and the ridiculousness of the Citizens United ruling. It just adds one more layer of truthiness.

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Jon Stewart's Reaction to Barbara Walters' Reaction to Herman Cain

Gotta go to a Christmas party, so not much time for blogging. But this is worth it! Very funny. Jon Stewart dissects Barbara Walters' response to Herman Cain in an interview. Made of awesome.

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Sarah Palin: Take the Money and Don't Run

Jon Stewart points out what many of us already knew: Sarah Palin is a grifter.

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FOX "News" Edited Out Criticism of Exec from Jon Stewart Interview

The most truthful person ever on FOX "News."
Image from source, Media Matters

I watched the FOX "News" Sunday with Chris Wallace interview of Jon Stewart when it aired on Sunday morning. Later, when I posted the clip to the blog, I reviewed it. I did notice some edits--some of the awkward comedy that Wallace was trying to put on (what was the bit with the coffee cup about?)--but didn't think much of it. They have to cut that stuff down to fit in the time available. Well, usually it's live, I thought. But whatever.

Still, there seemed to be more in the online clip about Chris Wallace's "marching orders" from on high. When I heard the name "Bill Sammon," I knew what Stewart was talking about. But did that make air? No, it didn't. Now, I suppose you can give FOX "News" partial credit for putting the whole clip online. But the TV version was definitely edited to make FOX and Chris Wallace look better. And how many F"N"S viewers go back and review the unedited videos?

[Excerpt]

Fox News Sunday Edits Out Jon Stewart's Criticism Of Fox Exec

Yesterday, Jon Stewart appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss his sharp criticism of Fox News. But one uncomfortable reference to marching-order emails from a Fox News executive was cut from the program. . .

Read more at: Media Matters

Jon Stewart Schools Bill O'Reilly

Jon Stewart takes Bill O'Reilly to task on The O'Reilly Factor on FOX "News," regarding the "Common" non-troversy. Enjoy.

Jon Stewart Channels Glenn Beck Again (Beck's Leaving FOX "News")

Weekend blogging can be a chore. A lot of bloggers don't even bother. But I like to put up at least a few fresh things on the weekend. I've got more time to do it. And it lets me catch up on a couple of things I may have forgotten during the week. For instance, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart dedicated the first two segments of Thursday's show to Stewart's brilliant and hilarious Glenn Beck impression. Beck has quit or been fired from FOX "News", and as Bill Maher said this weekend, his absence is going to be hard on comedians.

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The Daily Show
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The Daily Show
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The Daily Show
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Jon Stewart: No Line Between Opinon and "Hard News" at FOX

Yeah, it's obvious, but can't be said often enough. And is rarely said better than by Jon Stewart. From the March 31 episode of The Daily Show.

FOX "News" Anchor Brett Baier on The Daily Show

The surprisingly zaftig looking Brett Baier was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Thursday night. Stewart once again deftly handled the interview, prodding and poking in just the right places over the extreme bias of FOX News. And just as predictibly, Baier lamely dodged and deflected, and tried to draw a distinction between the FOX hard news and commentary programming.

The truth is much more blurry. While Baier's and Shepard Smith's programs may be the closest things FOX has to balanced news, they themselves push the FOX "News" right-wing agenda. The selection of stories, the points to punch up, the "experts" they interview, and the use of Frank Luntzian language (not to mention the in-house advertising during the shows) make the bias very clear.  For the best demonstration of this bias, watch America Live with Megyn Kelly, another allegedly "hard news" program. Inside of five minutes of America Live, you can point to at least three or four things that practically SHOUT their bias.

My question to Baier would echo Stewart when he said that he wasn't alone in his opinon. FOX "News" does not have a fringey reputation as a mouthpiece for the right. They've got a BOLD FACED ALL CAPS ITALIC reputation as such, and their only defenders are their employees and hard-right wingers.

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Daily Show: FOX "News" Defending Wall Street, Accusing Unions

Since this whole battle between Republicans and unions started up for this round a couple of weeks ago, I've felt a building anger. It's been an anger I was having a difficult time articulating.  It boils down to: whatever bad thing is going on in the country, there seems to be slack cut to big business and rich people, and blame placed on working people and the poor. We've seen this in Wisconsin. Gov. Walker gave a massive tax cut to business, and then he brought a hammer down on union workers. For all the "jobs, jobs, jobs" chanting from the right, there sure is the implication that if you work for a union or for government, you don't have a "real job." Which is strange, given that many of the people saying this are in government.

I've never been in a union, and have in fact had run-ins with them in the past. The Other Half on the other hand is in a union, and yet we almost got into a fight the other day over this issue, mostly because I wasn't articulating my frustration very well (and TOH may have unwittingly internalized a little too much right-wing rhetoric). I was practically yelling, "Yes, the government is in economic trouble, but WHY is the first solution always to stomp on workers and poor people?" TOH started in on property taxes, and long retirement pensions, and whatnot. And there may be areas on that end that need revision and reform. But you can't deny that this big, huge economic crisis was caused mostly by politicians, lack of regulation and enforcement, and greedy Wall Street and banking fat cats.

This was fraud on a massive scale. We already baled them out. None of them went to jail. Corporations continue to get billions in subsidies, practically zero taxes, they're sitting on trillions of dollars, and partisan jackasses like Walker want to clamp down on working people. Nice. Well, I still haven't articulated this very well, but you know who did? Jon Stewart. Take it away, Jon.

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The Daily Show
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Jon Stewart Calls FOX "News" Out on Nazi Hypocrisy

I meant to post this earlier, and forgot about it. It's from Monday night's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It opens with a funny mention of Keith Olbermann's departure from MSNBC (odd how the reaction to that has been less hysterical than his suspension in November, eh?), and goes into FOX "News" and their hypocritical reaction to a politician using Nazi imagery. It's very well done. Enjoy.

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Joe Lieberman Finally Retiring

Other than for his support in getting Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed, I've always had very little use for Joe Lieberman. Al Gore's selection of him as a running mate was perplexing, and arguably cost him one of the closest losses (even though it was a popular vote win, it must be noted) in presidential election history.  The only thing I'll miss is Jon Stewart's Droopy Dog impression of him.

[Excerpt]

Lieberman Will Not Run for Re-election

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman will announce on Wednesday that he will not seek a fifth term, according to a person he told of his decision.
Mr. Lieberman, whose term is up in 2012, chose to retire rather than risk being defeated, said the person, who spoke to the senator on Tuesday. . .
Read more at: New York Times

Daily Show: John McCain, Grumpy Old Man

You kids get off my lawn!

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Young Turks: FOX "News" Jealous of Jon Stewart?

Well, sure. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is by far a more legitimate news source than is FOX "News," particularly the peculiarly named FOX & Friends.

Daily Show "The Gretch Who Saved the War on Christmas"

Thank goodness Jon Stewart waded into the nonsensical, imaginary, annual FOX "News" "War on Christmas." Why? Because it's one of the most annoying and predictible faux outrage stories out there, I'm sick of it, and nobody sticks it to FOX quite as well as Jon does.

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Jon Stewart on John McCain and Don't Ask, Don't Tell: It Gets Worse

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Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

Rachel Maddow Interviews Jon Stewart

On Tuesday's Rachel Maddow Show, Rachel interviewed The Daily Show's Jon Stewart for the entire hour. It was--as expected--intriguing, enlightening and a little frustrating.  I'm a huge fan of both of them, so I really couldn't pick sides. In fact, I'm pretty sure they're on the same side, with some subtle shading on various issues.  Overall, I really enjoyed it.

Stewart is thoughtful, but almost to a fault, perhaps over-thinking some of the issues they were talking about, mostly centered around the roles of a news comedian versus a news commentator. Stewart couches his language and parses better than some politicians. Maddow is her usual self, although she does defer to Stewart a little more than she would most interview subjects.  She lets him go (and go, and go).  It wasn't a love-fest, but it wasn't Crossfire either. 



That's just part one. Much more is available at: MSNBC

I'll probably post the unedited interview when it becomes available.

Keith Olbermann's Objection to Jon Stewart's "False Equivalence"

I'm not surprised that the host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann was a little touchy about Jon Stewart's speech at his rally.  It was a great speech, as Olbermann himself acknowledged.  But it did raise a false equivalence between the supposed biases of all of cable news. It's something that bugs me too.  In our political discourse, it is always posited that there are two sides to every story. Two equal sides to every story. But I don't find that to be true.  Is MSNBC liberal-leaning? Yep, admittedly so. Is FOX "News" conservative-leaning? Decidedly so (though they inexplicably don't admit it).  Are they flip sides of the coin? I don't believe so.

I've explored this theme many, many times on this blog.  FOX is a channel that pretends to be neutral news, but is very obviously not.  MSNBC doesn't call itself news, doesn't slogan itself "fair and balanced", but is much closer to FOX's claim than FOX is. By a long shot.  But like I said, I've covered this ground before. Here's Keith Olbermann's and Jonathan Alter's take on Stewart's admonishment to "cable TV" in general.

Funniest Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally Signs

Image from source, Huffington Post

Some of the most outrageous and/or hilarious images to come out of politics in the last four years have been those of political rally signs. In the case of the tea parties, much of the humor comes from accidental misspellings or basic grammar unfamiliarity. Also, they can be horrifically inappropriate, with Nazi imagery, or (thinly veiled) calls to violence.  The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear this past weekend didn't contain much outrage. But there was a lot of humor to be had!

Source (with much more): Huffington Post

Image from source, Huffington Post

Jon Stewart's Amazing Speech

I had the big Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on C-SPAN on for its duration yesterday. Some of it was a little thin, some of it was fun and entertaining. The crowd looked enormous, though estimates vary wildly (particularly if the source is right-leaning).  All-in-all, I'd say it was a pretty big success. But the best bit was at the end, with Stewart delivering a speech more in the style of his appearances on FOX "News" and CNN than on his own show.