Jon Stewart Pushes False Equivalence of Left and Right

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Friday September 17, 2010 · 10:17 AM PDT

2010/09/17 · 10:17

Regarding his fake news program, Daily Show host and comedian Jon Stewart has long insisted, "I'm not a journalist." But last night he sure sounded like one. Announcing his Glenn Beck parody "Rally to Restore Sanity," Stewart sadly engaged in the same kind of false equivalence of left and right so typical of mainstream media coverage. And that distortion of American politics is no laughing matter.

Reporting on Stewart's comic call for signs at the October 30 event proclaiming "I Disagree With You, But I'm Pretty Sure You're Not Hitler," and "Take It Down a Notch, America," the New York Times noted:

He later labeled it a "Million Moderate March." The purpose, he said, is to counter what he called a minority of 15 percent or 20 percent of the country that has dominated the national political discussion with extreme rhetoric. He tarred both parties with that charge, mentioning both the attacks on the right against President Obama for being everything from a socialist to un-American and on the left against former President Bush for being a war criminal.

Showing footage of furious Tea Party and Code Pink protesters and a montage of talking heads at either end of the political spectrum, Stewart declared, "We have seen these folks - the loud folks - over the years dominate our national conversation on our most important issues." Stewart then proclaimed a plague on both their houses:

"Unfortunately, the conversation and the process is controlled by the other 15 to 20 percent. You may know them as the people who believe that Obama is a secret Muslim who planning a socialist takeover of America so he can force his radical, black liberation Christianity down our throats. Or, that George Bush let 9/11 happen to help pad Dick Cheney's Halliburton stock portfolio."

But these two groups are simply not comparable in either media coverage or political influence. Code Pink anti-war activists are small in number and impact. While so-called 9/11 Truthers exist at the fringe of both parties, no figure in Congress Democrat or Republican champions their tin foil conspiracy theories. And despite the disinterest from the Obama administration, those asserting that George W. Bush is a war criminalhave the Geneva Convention and U.S. law on their side.

In contrast, right-wing extremists and their myths now dominate the Republican Party and its media echo chamber. Polls consistently reveal that half of Republican don't believe or aren't sure that Barack Obama was born in the United States. And that fraud is not only perpetuated by the GOP members of Congress, but aided and abetted by presidential contenders like Newt Gingrich. It's no wonder that almost one in five Americans now believe the Christian Obama is a Muslim, up from 12% in March 2008. As for the charges that President Obama is a socialist, a communist, a fascist and un-American, they come not just from the likes of Glenn Beck, but from Republican stars, including new GOP darling Christine O'Donnell.

Writing in the Washington Monthly, Steve Benen approved of the Stewart/Colbert hijinx scheduled for October 30, but with one exception:

For what it's worth, my only concern here is one that I often hear in the media -- the notion that the left and right are equally crazy, and the fringes are driving their respective parties' agendas. That strikes me as a mistaken assumption. Republicans really have moved sharply to the far-right and allowed extremists to call the shots, while Truthers and Code Pink have no meaningful influence whatsoever in Democratic politics.

That's an understatement, to put it mildly.

You don't have to be a journalist to see the damaging false equivalence at work. In fact, to claim that both parties and their bitterest partisans are equally responsible for the perpetual political conflict in Washington is now almost a requirement for membership in the mainstream media. Of course, it's simply not true.

And sadly for fans of Jon Stewart (like me), it's not funny, either.

** Crossposted at Perrspectives **

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