The Problem with what Stewart did in my view

[SargeUNN]

I have seen Palin screaming anger stuff without a lot of crowd noise and no big deal is made of it. I also remember Howard Dean screaming a sensible statement with a loud crowd he was having to compete with and that being played to make him look like an unstable, angry person not fit to be be president. What Jon did was the same type thing, where Ed and Keith were showing justified outrage and Beck and the others were doing so just to cover up their lack of real statements. It was a cheap shot and I think Jon did himself an injustice by doing that. It was a great rally until he sold out with that. I was so disappointed that Jon chose to use such a poor tool as he did.

[Sherman A1]

1. I liked what he did

He spoke softly, gathered a big crowd and mocked both the media in general and Beck in particular, so I call it a winner.

[pwb]

2. Bottom line with all media is they want to sell as many adds as they can.

Thus they create division, it pays big. I do not watch any of it anymore. Year round politics is a real drag.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. I respect what you posted, and do see your point. My impression is different -

what Stewart did in the fear montage is exactly right. I don't see over-amplification, fear and noise as being solely owned by one side or the other. Of course one of the issues we face today is false equivalence, and it is that very issue that led my wife and I from essentially turning off the TV and cancelling all but basic cable. So though he did have some of my heroes - Keith and (sometimes) Ed contributing to the montage, the message is clear to me that we've lost the fine art of listening in this country - ironic since there is so - TOO - much to listen to.

The entire three hour event occasionally moved me to tears - maybe because it reminded me of so much that we've lost as a country and culture in recent years - and I am happy to pin much of the blame of it on Reagan and the brand of politics that followed him, culminating in the disaster of the Bush years.

Good dialog....

[truedelphi]

4. That is my impression too.

It is basically the first time since Election Night 2008 that I felt like I had my country back.

I am so glad it can be listened to on the internet repeatedly, probably for a long time to come.

[shireen]

17. +1

I like KO and Big Ed, but sometimes wish they'd tone it down. Sure, their outrage is cathartic, and certainly a guilty pleasure for me. But it's not necessarily constructive in fostering a civil dialogue, which is what Stewart's advocating. That's why I love Rachel; she is gracefully intelligent, and makes effective use of humor to point out the absurd. Note that Rachel was not featured in that montage.

[anniebelle]

5. I had the same thought when he kept showing clips of

Ed and Keith -- presenting the truth is totally different from what Beck and his clones do -- nothing but distortions and outright lies from Faux and Foes.

[seabeyond]

6. yes. nt

[SargeUNN]

7. I can remember

when a passionate plea for help for New Orleans was made and some on the right called it angry and vicious. Having been in Katrina and seeing the horrors first hand, I was glad the person did that, but as I saw it labeled as angry and vicious and the hideous Neil Bortz yelling insults at us being ignored I was upset. Now imagine those two being lumped together where one is crying out for help for a people in deep trouble and one saying let them die. It is way too easy to take things out of context and make them something they aren't and that is exactly what Jon did. It was sad because the point he and Colbert made about fear was so well done and he completely blew it on that piece. It was a bad choice and to minimize the harmful intent of the right like that by lumping different things together is not good but sickening.

[glitch]

11. Well said. nt

[sally cat]

8. If he thought our message was off key he should have said so sooner than three days before the

election.

[Winterblues]

9. If you remember it was Colbert and not Stewart that brought out the Media figures.

I know they are in it together but sometimes the truth really hurts.. Those things were indeed said by Keith and Ed and Rep Grayson. They were opinions and people are allowed their opinions...Keith gets worked up and I am greatful he does, but Jon made a very good point about civility..Just because what Keith and Ed said was correct, it doesn't mean it was the "civil" thing to say... Sometimes though one has to fight fire with fire.....

[SargeUNN]

10. actually you are incorrect

both used it but it was Stewart who did the piece that lumped everyone into the same group.

[damntexdem]

12. A lot of BS is said against Stewart, and Colbert.

And they both outdo and outlast the critics, including you.

What they did Saturday was wonderful.

[SargeUNN]

14. reminds me of an discussion in my own life

I grew up with Walter Payton the NFL Hall of Famer. I was aware of his life before he got famous and was a big fan of his as well as a friend of his to the end of his life. Walter did some great things and he made some mistakes as well, but since I knew him well and respected as well as like him, I put it all in place and considered him a great guy.

One night I was having an online discussion with a Bears fan and mentioned I knew Walter all his life just about. I told him of the wonderful day at Columbia High School where Walter stood up for all of us and told a newsman that we would be fine and we didn't appreciate his trying to stir up stuff. I later told him of a bad thing Walter did and he hit the roof. How dare I defame his hero and so I asked him if he knew Walter. He didn't and had never met Walter in person so I went about explaining to him that I knew Walter as a person, not a celebrity, and that as a person Walter made mistakes as well as doing good things. He would have no part of it, he was not going to believe his hero was human, so he went away mad.

I believe Jon Stewart made a bad decision or at least a mistake. He obviously didn't get his meaning across and as I heard it I thought, wow that isn't what you meant is it? I thought he prefaced it poorly and so I dismissed it as a bad mistake that would be called out. He had a good message if I am correct in that we need to get beyond name calling and talk to each other, and that we should build on our common interest instead of dwelling on our differences. Sadly he didn't set up the piece that way and it came out lumping two different things together. Still Jon has been a good thing as has Ed and Keith. I would rather say it was a poor communications than believe he meant harm by it. I hope he will clear it up and state his intent but some how I doubt that will happen and hero worship from all sides will once again rule the day.

[LaPera]

13. Stewart makes his living mocking Fox news but trashes Schultz, Olbermann & Maddow by

lumping them all in the same lying greedy propaganda boat as fascist republican Fox 'news'.

Stewart certainly has no loyalty to progressives, liberals or democrats, he loves to be equally trashing....it makes Stewart millions upon millions of dollars -

Stewart doesn't care about informing the people of the overwhelming distinctions of the two ideology's - he prefers to ignore any distinctions altogether.....(It brings in much bigger bucks).

As Stewart will say in his defense and just as the pigman Limbaugh hides behind their statements that hey, they are just comedians, entertainers if you will.

The excellent Bill Maher also a comedian makes no such claim and clearly lets everyone know he is a progressive and fights the progressive cause and distinctly makes the difference and sickness hate lying and greed of the republican party....The republican party who certainly are not the friends of the workers, middle-class, small business and especially not the poor whom they despise.

Stewart pretends that they are all the same, again as he pontificated ("softly") Saturday - and the reason why the excellent Keith Olbermann call Stewart out again on Stewart's usual, - "everyone listen to me I'm not being a comedian now bullshit and everyone love me I'm not being a comedian now".

I actually like Jon Stewart I recorded his show four times a week (I have the reorder set not to record a repeat) and enjoy watching Stewart's show - Stewart loves to let everyone know that he reads so many books, every book - and he probably does because he is a very good interviewer.....

I like Stewart's show best when he is using video footage & clips of the obvious lies and hypocrisy - by politicians, moralist & the greedy.....that's Stewart and his staff's forte!

But Stewart also knows extremely well that being in the middle mostly indifferent will help him in the long run to continue to rake in the dough, screw causes!

[shireen]

19. Maddow?

DId he specifically trash Rachel? I didn't see that.

Meanwhile, Rachel had two comments about Stewart's speech: "bravo" and "bravo".

[LaPera]

20. Are you for real? -Talk about missing the fucking point!!

AGAIN, Stewart lumped ALL cable "news" into his same pontificating scolding.....But he's just a comedian, he tells us.....Wake up dude and become aware of the ego (and the huge bucks) involved!

[shireen]

21. do you enjoy being rude?

enjoy putting down people who don't measure up to your intellect or agree with your insights? KO does that every now and then. Big Ed too. And many other DU'ers who are so convinced they are right and everyone else is wrong and stupid. In his segment about cable news, Stewart was talking about civility, about the dying art of making calm reasonable arguments without inflaming the emotions of the audience. That's why I believe he does not include Maddow in his criticism of cable news and opinion shows.

[laughingliberal]

15. K & R nt

[laylah]

16. My first unrec EVER...I so VERY respect

your views the majority of the time, Sarge UNN; however, this time I so totally disagree. Jon's words, at least his closing statements, brought tears/angelbumps to me.

:hug: Jenn

[shireen]

18. i'm rec'ing even tho' i disagree with Sarge on this one ...

I have tremendous respect for Sarge, and always find his posts insightful. He has an opinion, and I'm interested in hearing what he has to say. I don't have to agree with him to appreciate his point-of-view.

[LiberalAndProud]

22. Like Jon, I hunger for news, not spin.

We need Rachael and Keith in the face of Limbaugh and Beck. But if some NEWS channel would start reporting rather than spinning, I would be an avid watcher.

I don't understand why this is so controversial.