I was first introduced to Jon Stewart when he appeared on Jay Leno. For those of you that don’t know, he hosts The Daily Show on Comedy Central. Recently, he wrote a book entitled America: A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction and went on CNN’s Crossfire to talk about it, and the upcoming election.
I just downloaded and finished watching the clip, and his appearance was priceless, to say the least. He took the opportunity not to plug his book or his show, but instead to roast the Crossfire hosts over what he feels is harmful to America. Basically, Jon Stewart feels that Crossfire has “a responsibility to the public discourse, and [they] fail miserably”. If you are at all interested in the election (and I know you are, sure beats Canadian politics) then I strongly encourage you to download and watch the clip. Good stuff.
You can get a torrent of the interview here, a transcript here, and Jon’s Daily Show monologue following the Crossfire appearance. Enjoy!
MasterMaq's Blog 
absolutely brilliant!
I have a new hero!
The next monday on the daily show…he brought up the whole "i called someone a dick on national tv" debacle and said something along the lines of:
…"well i’m always talking bad about them behind their backs so at least this time it was to their faces"…. now that kind of honesty ladies & gentlemen is what Bush (without a doubt) and Mr. Kerry need to shine out their mendacious rears!
Anyways i can’t remember the last time i saw someone dish out the facts to those over-educated theatrical pricks at CNN. Who elude the public with their swift speech while playing their part in some kind of political hidden agenda.
..anyways…
Comedy Central 1 – CNN 0
P.S: Vote Kerry (misleading, but at least he know’s how to speak english) 😛
Sergio
Portugal
Good call Sergio…how about:
Vote Kerry (misleading, but at least he’s not Bush!)
my point exactly…
😛
* I’m anti-Bush & pro-Kerry. I’m neither Democrat nor Republican.
How is Kerry misleading? I tire of hearing anti-Busher’s say they don’t care for Kerry but they’re going to vote for him anyway b/c he’s the better alternative. Then again, when is voting in the primary not choosing the lesser evil? In my opinion, Kerry’s a rare opportunity. He’s got numerous qualities that I would hope the president of the USA would have… such a contrast to my opinion of Bush. Oh, but I could see myself sitting at a bar and having a beer with Bush. w t f mate? I certainly hope the president is 10x the man I am. And I most certainly can picture Bush getting trashed when he was in his college days, probably a lot more than I did. That’s my President?… Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but that’s definitely not a quality I look for in the President.
Back to Crossfire – That was an interesting interview. It brings up an all too apparent problem in our news. Not enough focus on true debate; A bunch of biased wish-washy news with an agenda around every corner. It’s no wonder people here can be swayed by a simple commercial ad. Most Americans don’t know what thinking for yourself or true debate is…
Since I’ve gotten into politics (in the last 2 years) time and again I’ve been watching the news and wished that the stations would put under the guest’s name "Democrat" or "Republican" so you know what their bias is. And half the time I think I could give a better analysis than what I hear. One of my favorites from right after the first debate is, ~"I think Bush made his strongest point towards the end when he said that he’d attack the terrorists wherever they were in the world." What a load of crap. Empty words. No specifics. And… duh. Biased comments with little actual meaning.
The news also permits the politians to play off our fears and lack of indepenent thinking way too much. "If Bush isn’t re-elected, there WILL be attacks" "Kerry is a flip-flopper!" .. and people actually believe this crap. I almost never heard any Democrats standing up to the second quote when it would be so easy to do. I personally think Americans are ignorant and arrogant (many of us) but I hope enough people have caught on to the hooey and vote for change.
/rant_off
Sorry if that was a bit of a rant and off the mark with the topic. =]
As a Canadian, I will be honest and admit that I often call Americans ignorant. I think the general consensus north of the border is that the USA deserves President Bush because all the Americans voted for him anyways. And you’re right Paul, there are lot of people who will believe whatever TV tells them.
At the same time, I understand there are a lot of intelligent people in the States, with something important to say, who are tired of the media spin. I hope that blogs, podcasting, and the increasingly popular forms of new media will at the very least make the large media outlets more accountable. Kudos to Jon Stewart for leading the charge, so to speak.
Nice blog Paul… got me thinking.
I’m pro-Kerry not because he’s the lesser of two evils but because of four simple words he used in a debate a few weeks back: "I’ve got a plan"
Now a few weeks back i couldn’t really care about the whole Bush vs Kerry ignominy, but anyways….i was zapping, it was like 3am (Portugal time) & i started watching them go at it & Kerry says these 4 words.
Now, if i were an American in that little cubicle with a pen in my hand, on voting day, choosing the next "leader of the free world" *cof* then i guess i’d have to go with: "i have a plan". What else am i gonna base my vote on… ‘Bush kills terrorists (& thousands on innocent bystanders at the same time)’, ‘Kerry seems honest enough(..lol..)’ or "I’ve got a plan" – that’s all i really need to hear!
Does Bush have a plan!? He’s just making it up as it comes along! Now i can’t guarantee that Kerrys’ so called plan is gonna satisfy millions… but i think he’ll do a whole lot better than Bush.
I "vote" Kerry.. cause i think he’s got a plan. Simple as that.
And the fact that his wife is Portuguese…well that also helps a bit 😛
And as for devaluing Bush cause he got Trashed when he was younger & impeaching Clinton cause he got his dick sucked… come on ppl… Bush i understand but Clinton was a good president! He’s not reverend Clinton! You want to elect the Pope as president? Even the Pope has some skeletons in his closet… probably a cemetery!
Sergio
The American people probably will never get back control of the United States for the electoral college, lobbyists, the congress and whomever was financed into the office of the President by the power that is the special interests group. But Jon Stewart certainly makes those responsible for hiding this truth from the American people justifiably ashamed of make "News" an oxymoron. Without campaign reform the middle class will not survive in this Republic (misnamed Democracy)
Mr. Stewart could we please have your show host 10 different members of the media each program in a panel with you in which facts are revealed to the American people about who owns their country