Jon Stewart is a ...

[jmaier]

the bright oasis in a media desert OR he's a weak, weasel piece of shit?

Barack Obama is a bright hope for the future of the Party or he's a weak, weasel piece of shit?

John Edwards is a man who stands up for the people or he's a corporate whorist piece of shit?

It seems to me that we shouldn't be calibrating and recalibrating our overall assessment of everyone based upon the latest action, or action presented out of context.

We are quick to BASH these folks for not supporting other Dems (e.g., Gov Dean) and then cite internal Dem-bashing as a capital crime. On the other hand, without internecine Democratic warfare, we'd have a lot of pretty empty threads around DU. It seems to me that we reserve more passion for inside baseball and keeping score on who is the day's most "Liberals' Liberal" than we do keeping our eye on the issues that matter.

A nice way of letting some misguided comments and major media misdirection defocus us, I'd say.

My paltry $.02

[dave29]

1. this post was a...

;)

[Skittles]

2. he's a doll

LAY OF HIS CASE; he is an ENTERTAINER for chrissakes

[xultar]

3. Hope, lets just bash them. They are all apologists. Weak spineless

bastards.

They all HATE DEAN.

They should all agree with Dean. Just like the Rethugs all agree with Ken.

[The Witch]

4. Hear here!!

We do far too much swinging from extreme to extreme here. To some extent I can understand that is a place where people get angry and can express their anger among friends, so the rhetoric might be over the top. But to the extent that people bring that anger into the public forums in the form of actually writing counterproductive letters or other political action, it's just a reminder that it's OK to let off steam, but keep the drunkenness inside the bar.

[jmaier]

5. Indeed.

The next round is on me -- but let's bar the door.

[Morose]

30. Yep, criticism of an action is one thing...Constant Hystrionics

that devolve into personal attacks every time someone doesn't do exactly what you want, when you want, how you want...is just a good way to shoot ourselves in both feet.

[SteppingRazor]

6. Stewart's an entertainer, and not even necessarily a Dem.

If the Democratic Party controled the White House, Congress, the Supremem Court and most of the media, I'd bet most of the people here would HATE Jon Stewart. He's not in this to help Democrats. He's in this to make fun of the establishment -- no matter who that establishment may be.

If you're a hardcore Democrat with little sense of humor, Jon Stewart is not your friend.

As for Obama, the dude's a freshman senator. Remember Hillary's first few years? She didn't do much either, did she? Hardly heard a word out of her, and now she's plenty vocal.

And as for Edwards, the man's just being a poltician in his response to Dean's words. Dean doesn't have to get elected -- Edwards does.

[JRob]

7. Sorry...

but your either part of the solution or an "extension" of the problem...

I'm all for focusing on the problem, keeping the pressure on (government, the media etc.) but can not and will not excuse ass holes like Biden or Lieberman for pandering to the RW or being corporate monkeys.

Dean is showing us the individuals can have power (through record breaking fund raising) and any true, long lasting power will be derived through booting corps out of government and redistributing power to the common people of this country...

[Norquist Nemesis]

16. Well, some of us sing to the beat of a different drummer

but march in the same parade.

I admire Stewart greatly. He's a genious at his craft. Imagine being highly successful at what you love, getting paid for it, AND being able to make a difference in the world.

[JRob]

32. ...the rant wasn't about John Stewart, I love John Stewart.

I'm also a little cranky first thing in the morning when I read/think about what's happening in the world, holding one or both of my kids...

[Ian David]

8. Don't mess with Jon Stewart or he'll have to hurt Elmo

[goclark]

9. Did I hear talk about him taking Matt Lauer's job?

[Coexist]

10. I hope not - look what going "serious" did for Craig Kilbourne's career

I love Mr. Stewart too much!

[NYCGirl]

17. Probably not, since he just signed a new, lucrative contract with Comedy

Central (Viacom), which also gives him unprecedented leeway in producing new shows through his production company.

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. I completely agree.

It's been bugging me as much as fair weather fans do. But I'm intolerant that way. ;)

[seabeyond]

12. Jon Stewart is a ................cool dude n/t

[Toby109]

13. Jon Stewart's job

is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

[jmaier]

14. While this isn't really intended to be

a Jon Stewart thread, I'd say that his job is to entertain an audience with an advertisor desired demographic. If he has some other more personal mission, then that is all and good.

[Toby109]

22. Yea, I put that the wrong way.

Since The Daily Show's inception, I believe that they have been focused on pointing out the hypocrisy of the power elite, whether they be Democrat or Republican. Looking at their ratings numbers, and the awards the show has garnered, they seem to be doing a very good job. Having people like Colin Powell on testifies to the power of their message.

Edited for content and formatted to fit your screen

[bunny planet]

15. Agreed, there is a lot of 'what have you done for me lately' judgemental

evaluating going on. I attribute that to the direness of the situation however. People are starved for some truth, and when we think we have found leaders or even celebrities who are providing us with it, we expect a great deal from them. After all we've been deprived of the truth for a long time now. I agree it's counterproductive.
It definitely feeds the Republican noise machine to have Dems carping at each other. I say we rein it in, the way they do, they usually keep their infighting on the downlow and present a united front. That's one thing we could learn from them.

In Biden's case though, I'd make an exception.
:mad:

[PurityOfEssence]

18. Yep, we need to exercise some level-headedness at the helm

Jon Stewart spent the beginning of last night's show ridiculing and condemning Junior, but far too many here are quick to light the torches and sharpen the pitchforks for soft balling the interview with Powell, who we all know is a serial liar, tool of the administration who fucked him and accessory to mass murder.

Barack Obama has suffered from being proclaimed the knight in shining armor in our bleakest hours, and as such, has many feeling betrayed. Whatever. He definitely shouldn't have thumped on Dean like he did; it's easy enough to just say something to the effect that the guy got a little carried away.

As for Edwards, I don't know how anyone can tar him as a corporatist; his whole career has been fighting against them. Here's a guy from the country's second-largest banking state and he was continually hammering on predatory lending. (I don't want to beleaguer the Edwards issue; from your avatar, you're obviously a Clark supporter, and there's an antipathy between the two camps which I've certainly been a not-too-neighborly part of.) Some see him as too calculating and too much of an appeaser, but time will tell.

Good post; there's a tiresome dynamic among the downtrodden: to be ultra-passionate and uncompromising is somehow the greatest of virtues. I couldn't disagree more with that or agree more with your take. We're talking about one guy in show business and two in politics--which we all know is more than just a kissing cousin of the former--so any bit of maturity shows that a successful person in either calling generally isn't going to be some reckless loudmouth spoiling for a fight all the time.

We're being played very well by the media, and once again, we seem to be at the peak of one of our periodic spazzy peaks of shrillness on this board. That will pass.

Hell, there's a lot going on right now, and we're getting surprisingly little traction in the media about it. No wonder people are going nuts.

[mzmolly]

23. Great post.

!!!

[mzmolly]

19. I don't agree with Obama on Dean, but I don't hate the guy now.

"A nice way of letting some misguided comments and major media misdirection defocus us, I'd say."

Agreed 100% and our Party leaders are doing the same damn thing.

Recommended.

[jmaier]

20. Thanks

I agree that the Party leaders responding publicly to the Dean comments should probably be more circumspect. In large part, they've kept the non-issue in the news. No comment, no press.

[mzmolly]

21. Exactly! Have they heard of a telephone?

I don't have a problem with what Dean is trying to say, I do at times dislike how he says it as it can be taken out of context and the media is salivating over Dean's potential next "gaffe" so he should be extra cautious. But, if ANY of our Democrats were under the media scrutny he is, they'd all be defending themselves daily.

[underpants]

24. funny ass comedian

and it was a good interview.

[JPZenger]

25. Stewart Hit the Nail on the Head with Powell

Jon Stewart did a masterful job assembling the big question to Colin Powell on last night's show. He brought together all the big points on Iraq into one concise compilation. Powell responded with his usual diplomacy, loyalty and dignity, which more or less let Stewart's remarks speak for themselves. If you didn't see it, watch the rerun tonight at 7 or 11:30 pm. EST.

[No Michael Savage]

26. Just my opinion

I don't like Jon Stewart or the Daily show. It's really not that funny.

[Griffy]

27. "it is not the actions of our enemies, but the silence of our friends..

that we will remeber" MLK ... THAT is why we get so worked up over percieved problems! I agree with supporting people by thier characture, and all these people are part of the reality based community and they value truth! So.. if you dont like the techniques they use or words they choose, fine.. just never lose sight of the greater goals!

Impeachment of bushco!

[applegrove]

28. Jon always acts nice to guests. I saw last nights show and though

his niceness and 'active listening' was annoying (compared to what the show does at the start) - I think he isn't going to get any guests if he isn't going to let them sell their book or their message.

I saw him as active listening. I don't think he necessarily agreed with what was being said - but he did lay there. Don't think that will change. And I will put up with the 'active listening' as long as the first two segments of his show are the way they usually are.

I'm hoping his audience goes down in that last segment so he gets rid of it. But I doubt that.

A chance too to 'know our enemy'.

[Blue Belle]

29. I'm growing weary of all the bashing...

We have bigger fish to fry, yet somehow we never seem to resist the urge to turn on each other. We need to organize and fight the media blitz that has been waged against us. We need to take our anger and frustration with the misguided message that is spun, and set the record straight. I can see how one can get caught up with the infighting when it seems we're up against insurmountable odds - hell, I'm just as guilty of bashing as the next person. But this practice has got to stop for us to be successful in taking our country back. We have to stop acting like petulant children.

[Neshanic]

31. Viacom employee/comedian with mortgage.