WTF is up with Jon Stewart and the Kerry-Boxer Bill?

[fedupinBushcountry]

Watch:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/06/daily-show-hits-democrats_n_311050.html">WTF?

[Inuca]

1. Well...??

Didn't watch and probably won't get a chance. What happened?

[fedupinBushcountry]

5. When you get the chance

watch from the link. It was about JK's Bill and cap and trade part of it. Not only did he put down the bill but he was just downright nasty to JK, it was uncalled for.

[Luftmensch067]

2. THANK YOU!

I saw this last night and I was steaming mad. I was thinking about posting about it, but I'm glad to see that someone else was as upset as I was! I'm glad there's a HuffPo link as I didn't want to give the Daily Show site the hits after this.

[fedupinBushcountry]

3. He was downright nasty

I am still steaming and what worries me is that I don't know exactly what he is talking about. JK doesn't need this crap when he is trying his damndest to pass the bill.

[Luftmensch067]

4. There was no need to personally target JK

It started out being a slap at the Democrats, but became intensely nasty about JK. Comedy is one thing, but this seemed unnecessarily personal.

[karynnj]

9. It was a nothing where Kerry was annoyed with the media

simply saying it was a cap and trade bill, where that was only part of it. Pushed, he spoke of pollution reducing, which really is a better description of the overall goal. The problem is that - as could be seen by the supposedly clever Republicans - cap and trade is an AWFUL tag phrase for the bill. I assume that Kerry and Boxer could ask interns or staffers or waste money hiring ad men to come up with a clever phrase, but Kerry's "pollution reducing" start is likely the right approach to get to the heart of it.

As to his attack on the bill, he is an idiot. The fact is that if you went from no cost for carbon to a tax on 100% of carbon produced, you would be doing what the Republicans are accusing them of doing - taxing all industries, possibly out of existence. The plan does put a tax on carbon and encourages companies to reduce it. Jon Steward's lack of understanding on this is the chief problem.

He clearly is not a Kerry fan, but there are likely few politicians he does like. With Kerry, it is likely that Kerry is genuinely a very serious person, who cares very deeply for the things he believes in. I'm not implying that Steward doesn't believe in things - he does and he is liberal, but there are few things where he goes beneath the surface or would value to much to give up a funny joke. I actually had more problems with this - http://www.indecisionforever.com/2009/09/28/caption-challenge-senators-paul-g-kirk-and-john-kerry/ Now, this is as standard a Senate picture after a swearing in as any and the "contest" is an obnoxious invitation to idiotic and in some cases homophobic comments.

[beachmom]

6. Oh, come on, it wasn't THAT bad. The Senator needs to be poked fun of from time to time.

I would say the more worrying part of the skit was the beginning, since the Senate bill is in fact better than the House bill, so I found Jon misleading. The House bill does a heck of a lot more "giving away" to polluters than the Senate bill.

Look, TDS ALWAYS makes fun of JK in the same exact way:

he is boring
he is a bit pompous
he is too wordy

I didn't find it nasty. Just the usual stuff, and it is actually endearing. Jon likes John Kerry as a person, but like most liberals, thinks he blew it in 2004. Whatever, there is nothing we can do about people feeling that way.

For the record, I no longer watch TDS or Colbert, and only watch clips on the web here and there. Because .... I haven't found it particularly funny. The GOP (especially Bush & friends) were easier to come up with jokes for than Obama & friends. And the fact that they only have ONE joke against John Kerry that they use over and over again shows how stale the show has become.

[Luftmensch067]

7. I see what you're saying

And I admit I'm oversensitive on the topic, but I agree that it was misleading on the nature of the Kerry-Boxer bill and the personal stuff just exacerbated that, in my opinion. I was not in the least amused, and I'm still mad. :-)

I'm not going to boycott the show, but I see it as more MSM after this, actually, than I have in a while. It is often hilarious (the Death Panel pundit panel during the summer, for instance!) but it's not as hip as it purports to be. Colbert has a great shtick, but that's what it is. His Christmas special, however, is UNPARALLELED!

[karynnj]

10. Good points - and Kerry actually sounds and looks pretty good there

The name is too long and I noticed that more with Boxer who, I think added to it, but I really do think that someone might be able to take the idea of including pollution and reduction and come up with something catchier. Kerry has millions of virtues, coming up with short, pithy slogans is not one of them. But, I doubt being a MAD MAN was ever on his list of interesting things to do.

[wisteria]

8. Stewart's explanation of cap and trade is very misleading and shows he knows little about it.

As for the comments regarding Senator Kerry,the show did go out of their way to find a bad clip and use it against him. He is the spokesperson though. And, IMO the new term is too long to take in all at once. But, overall, I think Stewart was relaying (unintentionally I bet) the message that Senator Kerry is a very deep and very intelligent man that can be trusted to understand the consequences of ignoring climate change. At least that is the way I took it. If this is all the issues Stwart has on Kerry, I can deal with it. I think we all know a little bit more about how down to earth, plain spoken,kind, and caring Senator Kerry is. Stewart didn't bother to find that out.