HUMOR AND POLITICS
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James Joyner | Tuesday, December 23, 2003 |
Newsweek has an interesting cover story on comedian Jon Stewart.
“I heard Dennis Kucinich in the last Democratic debate say, ‘When I’m president . . . ,’ and I just wanted to stop him and say, ‘Dude‘.”***
“We’ve got us a Democratic general!” he says, clearly elated about having Gen. Wesley Clark as his guest. “That’s like a gay black Republican. It’s a rare beast.”
***
“The Daily Show” has got everyone by the throat. The program won two Emmys this year–beating “Leno” and “Letterman”–and is becoming the coolest pit stop on television. And it does it the hard way. Unlike late-night talk shows that traffic in Hollywood interviews and stupid pet tricks, “The Daily Show” is a fearless social satire. Not many comedy shows would dare do five minutes on the intricacies of Medicare or a relentlessly cheeky piece on President George W. Bush’s Thanksgiving trip to Iraq (”A small group of handpicked journalists accompanied the president on his top-secret mission to tell the entire world about his top-secrecy”). His cut-the-crap humor hits the target so consistently–you’ve gotta love a show that calls its segments on Iraq “Mess O’Potamia”–he’s starting to be taken seriously as a political force. The Democratic National Committee announced this month that it plans to invite Stewart & Co. to cover its convention, amazing since “The Daily Show” is actually a fake news program. “This guy has great insight into life,” says Clark. “A lot of people listen to him. He has tremendous influence.” All that, and the guy’s on cable. Basic cable.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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I dig the Daily Show. Particularly when they have conservative guests on. They had Michael Novak on one evening and it was one of the better interviews they've ever done. I often roll my eyes at the liberal writing and pot shots, but Jon Stewart is a consistently funny interviewer.
Yep,
They vere a bit left, as he has explained, but they don't pull their shots too much on the democrats.
My favorite quote from the last few weeks, "Saddam captured. The short version: Democrats are screwed. The long version: THE Democracts are REALLY Screwed."
News at 11. It's where I get all my TV fake news.
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