Taking a comic seriously, CNN opts to focus on what it does best: news

[RamboLiberal]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/01/10/DDGE5AN1QG1.DTL

Perhaps Jon Stewart can stroll over to Fox News next and clean house there.

In the past week, media critics across the country have had to face the fact that inches upon inches of fine prose -- filled with salient points and passion -- were no match for Stewart telling Tucker Carlson that he and "Crossfire" were hurting America.

If new CNN President Jonathan Klein wanted to make an impression early, he scored brilliantly by taking the concerns of a comedian who hosts a fake news show and acting on them. Television critics once famously felt this same kind of uselessness when Chris Albrecht of HBO renewed "Arli$$" because a cab driver told him to.

Of course, the simple lesson to draw from all of this is that Stewart, in addition to being the king of clever, now has enough clout and credibility to change the cable news landscape.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Pehaps Jon Stewart will prove to be the Joseph Welch of this decade.

The beginning of the end of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's hunt for Communists in government came on June 9, 1954, in the Army-McCarthy hearings in Congress. The senator and the Army had come into conflict over the service of G. David Schine, a lawyer on McCarthy's staff who had been drafted. McCarthy and another of his attorneys, Roy Cohn, attempted to have Schine released from Army service so he could return to Washington. The contest of wills eventually became so intense that it resulted in 36 days of congressional hearings broadcast live on national television. The Army was represented at the hearings by Joseph Welch, an attorney from the Boston firm of Hale and Dorr. As Welch was cross-examining Cohn, McCarthy tried to impugn the integrity of Fred Fisher, a young attorney for Hale and Dorr who was not working on the Army case. Welch's objection to the tactic became famous:

Welch: I meant to do you no personal injury and if I did, I beg your pardon. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

[Ian David]

2. Yes, this man is to be taken more seriously than Tucker Carlson

Jon Stewart has much more credibility than Tucker Carlson.

I mean it.

I would rather be informed by someone who has worked with Elmo, than someone who works for CNN.

So, let me make this clear.

This is an idiot:


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This is a genius:



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This is what genius sounds like:
http://jon.happyjoyfun.net/sounds/movies/el08songs.wav

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This is what stupidity looks like:


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I much prefer funny, honest, smart fake news, than Fox's and CNN's brand of angry, lying, stupid fake news.

[zbdent]

3. Elmo has more credibility than Carlson

(Isn't a bowtie on a "conservative" a clue about "sexual identity"?)