Jon Stewart Covers the Democratic Convention
[Guest post by DRJ]
The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart is covering – or is that lampooning? – the Democratic National Convention in Denver and he was the subject of a New York Times The Caucus article. The article covered several topics, including which candidate Stewart thought would be a better President:
“Which of the two would make a better president? “I think actually they would both be pretty decent presidents,” he said. “I think they are both decent men and I think they both approach things with a certain sense of honor.”
Even though his show is a fixture on cable TV, Stewart doesn’t like cable news but he likes newspapers:
“Mr. Stewart was critical of 24-hour cable news (he said he keeps Fox News on his desk all the time), saying cable was contributing to a decline in news coverage. He had a different opinion about newspapers, when asked his view of their future.
“I hope it’s strong because I love newspapers,” he said.”
I wonder how he feels about LA Times’ book reviews?
UPDATE 8/26/2008: I doubt I need to point this out but Stewart doesn’t watch Fox News because he likes it.
– DRJ
It’s hard to not like Stewart. I remember him on crossfire, and he raked them over the coals but good. At one point they made the mistake of equating The Daily Show to other cable TV news shows…
“You want to compare yourself to a fake news show??”
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/26/2008 @ 12:34 pm
It is a fake news show.
Funny though, I never heard the right calling it “Fake” when The Daily Show was goofing on Bill Clinton back in the 90′s.
Comment by Oiram — 8/26/2008 @ 12:58 pm
This is actually a safe, corporate-friendly answer for Jon. Comedy Central and Viacom are linked to CBS where all the hard news goes. Les Moonves would like that answer.
And comedy news shows have a lot of influence. People like their info served up with humor.
Comment by Vermont Neighbor — 8/26/2008 @ 1:22 pm
Oh for fuck’s sake…
Their bumper used to be “When News breaks, we fix it”…
It’s been a fake news show since… Kilbourne was it? It’s always been a fake news show and to suggest we thought it was teh most awesomest hard-hitting news program ever is just retarded on a level I really didn’t think you capable of…
FFS, they had the dude who invented those “pocket GAYDAR” things (little key-fob that would vibrate in your pocket when it was near another unit, so closeted gay men could meet each other secretly), and kept on the question line of
Interviewer: “So you invented a way for closeted gay men to meet each other?”
Dude: “Yeah”
Interviewer: “But you aren’t gay?”
Dude: “No, I have a girlfriend…”
Interviewer: “But potentially your invention could be used by a closeted gay man who was in a relationship with a woman in order to meet other gay men secretly…”
Dude: “Yeah…”
Interviewer: “But you’re not gay…”
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/26/2008 @ 2:15 pm
I don’t mind Stewart, but his appearance on Crossfire was disengenuous to a fault. If you’re not a real newscaster, John, then why do you have politicos on your show all the time, and why do you often question them on the issues of the day? Not a lot of making great sport of his guests, particularly since many are of the Left – leaning persuasion. When Carlson started giving him grief about his moral shrieking, Stewart protested that “he’s just a comedian.” Then why take yourself so seriously at times, Johnny? He can’t have it both ways, and when Kilbourne hosted the show in it’s early days, there was no pretensions otherwise.
Comment by Dmac — 8/26/2008 @ 2:18 pm
You’ll notice it’s usually for book sales…
And he gets both sides of the fence, and does a pretty fair job with it… And he makes no secret his being a Democrat, though I think he just might be a PUMA…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/26/2008 @ 2:26 pm
I agree with Dmac in comment 5 (2:18 pm, Tuesday, August 26, anno Domini 2008). I wish Carlson had looked Stewart squarely in the eye and said, “Listen pal, we booked you on this show to come in and be funny. No one here mistakes you for an intellectual, and no one cares what you think of the state of cable news. If you aren’t going to make with the laughs, get the hell off my set.”
Comment by JVW — 8/26/2008 @ 2:37 pm
Dmac:
You are completely on target. It’s the same schtick used by the Sadly, No people. They pretend to be smart and informed and sophisticated, but if you catch them with their pants down, they retreat to the “we’re just humorists” defense.
I’m inclined to take them all at their word. Stewart and the Sadly, No people are indeed funny. If they admit there’s no reason to take them seriously, I won’t argue with them.
Comment by Patterico — 8/26/2008 @ 2:42 pm
“it’s ajoke” is a ploy Ann Coulter uses whenever she’s called on saying something disgusting. It’s her version of McCain’s constant whining about being a POW when called on literally anything.
Comment by David Ehrenstein — 8/26/2008 @ 4:17 pm