I like Jon Stewart. Well that's a ridiculous understatement. I wouldn't say it's the best show, but that's only because I happen to find Colbert to be more epic. Sure it's easy to see a show or segment of Colbert's that is too slapstick, or something, and it just doesn't float, whereas Stewart is more steady and reliable of a quality that is at least enough, but when Colbert has all engines firing, it just puts the coasting downhill of Stewart's style in its dust. But that's just my worthless opinion and I've had little camaraderie about it.
And that is entirely not the point of this diary.
The motivation behind this venture stems from a few things, all of them regarding the real politics of our country. I find Stewart, too often, abusing the credence he is given as a sober, adult - albeit funny - commentator on our politics. His general schtick is to gripe about the immaturity of the rhetoric and actions of all our leaders, but every time he is presented with the opportunity to be talked to like an adult, he begs off. He cops out. He retreats to the bunker of "dude, if you can't be like, totally easily understood by a high school kid then you've lost me..."
To top it all off, he only seems to have this blushing awkwardness for anyone who is "liberal," for if he has a conservative on, he is a near svengali in his ability to find a thin thread of common humanity. "I can't agree with your passionate urge to stomp out homosexuality and make abortion a capital crime, but I can admire your determination and drive. Really, thanks for coming on the show, and I think if we can talk about these things we could come to a reasonable understanding."
Now I'm not going to pretend that I don't appreciate the zingers he gets in while he's chumming with some of the most heinous members of our politocracy, but this geniality is not all it's cracked up to be, as the conservative in question can brush those criticisms - witty though they are - right off their backs and walk away with a strange sort of credibility for having bantered it up with the jester of the left.
On top of that, there have been some disturbing tendencies in his pathic need to be aloof. The Maddow interview a while back was riddled with incoherence, but hey, he's Jon Stewart, He's a comic! He doesn't have to make sense.
And his Rally's pathetic need to split hairs to justify that it wasn't not saying that "both sides are equally extreme" was the act of a person who's afraid to take a side that he's obviously on. He eggs people to battle the stupidity and then when they do he shouts "calm down, dude."
And lately he has had some of the strangest interpretations of Obama's acts and words that I've ever witnessed. Then again it's not so strange when I realize he has the moral spine of Chris Matthews (poignant that he despises him so much). Stewart has a need to be liked by everyone, and so he is capable of cunning, witty analysis only when it is in vogue, but not necessarily when it might be needed.
Stewart spends a lot of time parsing the false message that comes with selective editing. Yet last night he - still in the throes of the latest, socially acceptable Obama bash fest - performed one of the most bald edits I've ever seen, all to make a point that wasn't true or pertinent. If you want to see it, you can go there. It's quite evident that Obama called for higher taxes, but Stewart tries to accuse him of cowardice. It's just stupid and sad and it makes me ill.
I thought Obama's speech was an excellent opportunity to turn the narrative around. If Stewart wants to make sure his conservative buddies go on the show, or that he doesn't ascend to villain status among the right then he's got to give his fair dose of Obama bashing, and I've grown used to his selective dumbness and false equivalence, but this particular episode is some deaf timing. Our political narrative needs an enema, and as far as I could tell, Obama did his part. Stewart is overrated, or at least his integrity is.
Inevitably the card will be played that "it's a comedy show," but that doesn't mean anything in a country that is epically misinformed and does, whether I, you or he likes it (and despite his protestations, I think Stewart likes it), gets a sizeable piece of its narrative from The Daily Show.