Posts Tagged ‘Jon Stewart’

I wrote earlier this week about The Daily Show’s coverage of a bill to provide health funding to 9/11 first responders. It hasn’t passed because Republicans had to get rich people tax cuts. It seems horrible to make first responders a pawn, only to be used to get what you want, but they did it.

Now they’ve passed the tax cuts, and still no action has bee taken. The media has largely ignored the issue. Nothing is getting done.

So Jon Stewart dedicated pretty much all of his last show of the year to the bill. He first crushed the media and Republicans for their inaction. Then he allowed four actual first responders, all suffering from diseases contracted as a result of their heroic actions. Some dying. It was a bold move to get coverage for the issue, and it seems to be working (at least to get some press).

There is nothing more powerful than watching dying men discuss senators bitching about working the week after Christmas (like everyone else). It is sickening to behold. It’s the second video, and it’s must-see.

It is also worth noting that Mike Huckabee came on and voiced his support for the bill. He stated that Republicans should hurry up and pass it. Here’s that video:

I guess I just don’t get how this isn’t a bigger deal. Not only do I think it’s bullshit that Republicans are filibustering this bill, I also think it’s baffling that Democrats haven’t raised a bigger fuss over it. You should be able to absolutely embarrass anyone against this bill, yet it isn’t happening. Republicans once made Democrats look like asses for disagreeing with things like torture. But Democrats won’t even go the extra mile for first responders. It’s extremely puzzling in a way that also makes me furious.

One of my favorite takes on the media’s negligence on the issue comes from Eric Otner, former producer on “Good Morning America” who worked as a medic on 9/11 (from the NY Times):

“In just nine months time, my skilled colleagues will be jockeying to outdo one another on 10th anniversary coverage” of the attacks, Mr. Ortner wrote in an e-mail. “The sad thing will be that the wall-to-wall coverage will be little more than window dressing with little true consequence. They’ll make us feel patriotic and tearfully grateful as they sidebar a piece or two on the plight of the rescue workers who still seem to be dying broke, ill and in need of basic benefits.”

“When that happens, this is the moment that I’ll remember,” he wrote. “It’s when the press was needed most, when sunlight truly could disinfect, and my colleagues just aren’t there. This is not a partisan issue… this is a clear case of right and wrong, and basic responsibility. It’s the reason many of us got into the business to begin with… expose injustice and question those who allow it to exist.”

Couldn’t have said it any better. And I hope history remembers what has (not) happened.

Enjoy the Republicans claiming this as a victory when they finally sack up and pass it.

Adam Feser

Sorry I haven’t posted in a bit. I had a busy weekend and am still basking in the glow of a Husker domination. There is definitely one important thing that happened last Thursday (while I was at a Titus Andronicus/Free Energy concert) that needs posting.

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had been going back an forth since Glenn Beck’s rally about how they each were going to make a huge announcement. Last Thursday they finally made good on their boasts and each announced a rally to take place at the National Mall in D.C. on 10/30/10. Jon’s is to restore sanity to our country and Stephen’s (always the satirist) is to “keep the fear alive.”

Jon’s clip is amazing. I especially like the signs. “I disagree with you, but I’m pretty sure you’re not Hitler.” That’s a sentiment I wish I heard more of in American politics. “I’m not afraid of Muslims/ Tea Partiers/ Socialists/ Immigrants/ Gun Owners/ Gays, but I am scared of spiders.” That’s another little doozy.

“Take it down a notch for America.” How great is that?

Stephen’s character, of course, cannot abide by the return of reason to the process. (After all, reason is just one letter away from treason.) What will happen to the people employed in the panic-inducing market? What would there be for talking heads to do if they weren’t trying to convince you a community center is actually a terrorist training ground?

Hurry up an book your hotels, because if you don’t, your kids will be gay.

Enjoy restoring sanity.

Adam Feser

I was catching up on some Daily Show episodes today and stumbled on what was one of the funnier clips in some time. Jon frequently calls Fox News out when they’re being hypocritical, or, in the case of Fox and Friends, dumb (seriously, it’s like their goal is to provide clips for Jon and Stephen). So Fox is now trying to stir up anti-Park51 sentiment, and they do it in this case by saying one of the funders is a radical that funds radical madrassas and is generally a bad guy. They never say his name or show a picture. It turns out he is the second biggest shareholder in News Corp., Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, meaning he is Rupert Murdoch’s partner, meaning he is a partial owner of Fox News, meaning he makes money from them, meaning they are funding Park51 and the madrassas and whatever else they claim he’s into. John Oliver and Wyatt Cenac have a great debate over whether it’s stupidity or evil that caused them to neglect this part of the story.

I’m going with evil (though Oliver makes a convincing stupid argument).

Enjoy continued hate mongering as a distraction.

Adam Feser

You may have heard that News Corp., the group that owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post, gave $1 million to the Republican Governor’s Association. It probably seems worse than it is. A lot of groups give money to both parties. It does, however, make for a fun opportunity to parody Glenn Beck’s mission of following the money to whatever communist is trying to destroy the country. Here it is:

Enjoy Husker fever.

Adam Feser

Updates I and II below and poll added

This has been going on for awhile and doesn’t seem to be going away. A plan to build a community center and mosque a few blocks (600 ft.) from Ground Zero has been dubbed the Ground Zero Mosque. It has, as you can imagine, sparked a ton of controversy. The mosque recently was approved by NYC’s Landmark Preservation Commission.

Of course this isn’t the end of it. President Obama recently discussed the issue, asserting his commitment to religious freedom, which is no small feat considering 70% of Americans oppose it. (Obama did clarify that he believes it is their constitutional right, but that doesn’t mean he supports their decision.)  Mayor Bloomberg supported their right to build the mosque with a stirring speech. One of the stronger parts:

The attack was an act of war, and our first responders defended not only our city, but our country and our Constitution. We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by defending those rights and the freedoms that the terrorists attacked … Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure, and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off-limits to God’s love and mercy.

He received a lot of praise and hate for his speech. In my opinion, he nailed it. We can’t call ourselves “The Land of the Free” if we stop a completely legitimate group from practicing their religion based on where it stands.

People like Newt Gingrich have been throwing (more…)

As I have said before, Obama has continued several of Bush’s policies regarding the War on Terror. He has continued ignoring human rights in his policies, which is the opposite of what he promised. This has been the area in which I am most disappointed in Obama. Jon is less than amused as well.

Enjoy people calling him soft on terror.

Adam Feser

I was recently called out for losing my mancrush on Jon Stewart. So not true. This video is a pretty solid takedown of the law. It also brings up an interesting question: What exactly do they mean by “suspicious activity” in this bill? Supporters of this bill, let me know what activity is suspicious.

Colbert even had another segment of The Word dealing with it.

Enjoy wondering what constitutes suspicious activity.

Adam Feser

Barack Obama recently signed a nuclear arms reduction pact with Russia. The pact has us both reducing our nuclear arms by a third (so that we have over 1,500, I believe). There is also a pledge that we will not use nuclear weapons on non-nuclear states or states that are adhering to the principles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

This, of course, means several countries are not a part of the new agreement. Iran, North Korea, India, Pakistan, and Israel would not fit the criteria laid out.

This has led to Republicans pitching a fit about reducing arms and big scary monsters out there that will now overtake us and pillage our cities. One such person was Sarah Palin. She compared it to getting into a playground fight, letting someone punch you in the face, and not retaliating. Because, you know, you should be able to respond with a nuclear bomb to being punched in the face. And those gosh darn wars are just so cute, like those danged childhood fights. I remember this one time Trig (or Trip or Shoot or Flyfish or whatever his name is) got punched in the face. Since schools have reduced arms and students’ rights to carry them, Trig couldn’t even shoot the kid. Instead he just punched back, it was broken up and they went to detention. Can you believe that?

But I digress. When Obama was asked about Palin’s comments, he said, “I really have no response to that. The last I checked, Sarah Palin is not much of an expert on nuclear issues.” Prodded further about Republicans fears, Obama continued, “What I would say to them is, is that if the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff are comfortable with it, I’m probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin.”

Check and mate. (Now king me.)

But if you want to see just how ridiculous the reaction to Obama’s agreement with Russia is and how predictably awesome Fox’s coverage is, there is no one better than Jon Stewart. Enjoy yet another hilarious Daily Show clip in which he exposes how one-sided Fox’s coverage is and just how ignorant Reagan-worshipers are of his actual stances.

I also want to say/ask this: Why would we need nuclear weapons to respond to a non-nuclear attack? Why? Have we not proven our ability to destroy a country completely without nuclear weapons? We hang out in doors and fly remote-controlled planes that devastate countries. If we get punched in the face, to use Palin’s horrible analogy, we are more than capable of killing the person with any number of weapons. But we need the option to nuke a country? Really? Someone who agrees with these people explain to me how the nuclear option is necessary. Because the notion seems dumb to me.

Enjoy knowing we still have enough nukes to destroy the world.

Adam Feser

Mind blowing, isn’t it? Mr. Maverick himself now claims that he never considered himself a maverick. He never took pride in his ability to do what he thought was right as opposed to what the party thought. At least now that he’s in a primary with an opponent who is farther to the right with the support of those farther to the right, McCain is not a maverick. Here’s a John McCain-approved message about how unmavericky he is (via Politico):

Here’s McCain himself on how unmavericky he is (also via Politico):

Wait, that was in 2008 when it was politically helpful to distance himself from hardcore Republicans. Now it’s 2010 and it’s politically helpful to put himself with hardcore Republicans. It’s also helpful to say he’s always been that way. Basically, it’s helpful to just lie.

I personally don’t think he was or is such a maverick, and I damn sure know Palin wasn’t and isn’t a maverick (she was for that bridge to nowhere until it was unpopular). But I know McCain loved that title and claimed it all the time. To now claim he isn’t and never considered himself a maverick is just ridiculous.

Here’s a montage showing just how much he loved the term when he thought it was helpful:

Jon Stewart once loved John McCain. He had him on the show constantly and the two had a great time. But Jon and the Daily Show have seen that he no longer is the man they knew and loved, they also had their minds blown when he claimed he never thought of himself as a maverick:

I sort of think of this like a professional athlete that hangs on too long than ruins his storied career by being horrible. Old McCain is making me forget about anything I used to respect about Less Old McCain.

Enjoy the Masters Par 3 Contest.

Adam Feser

There has been some talk that the elections in Iraq mean victory at last for George W. Bush.

Even if the elections went off without a hitch and the democracy was perfect, you could still debate whether or not seven years of war under carried out for none of the reasons advertised constitutes a victory. You could also wonder if hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, millions displaced, the introduction of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and the loads of destruction mean it went well. But there may be more negatives coming from the election, including lower turnout, delayed results, and violence.

Colbert on flaws in the election, both with numbers of candidates and election law:

Stewart on election-day violence:

The assassination of “a few” candidates? Can you imagine? And how would we react to bombings at polling locations?

Despite 38 deaths, the Iraqi people still turned out at 62%, which is higher than our 2008 election turnout and will be much higher than our midterm turnout.

I’m still not sure if there is a point I’m driving at other than we can’t call this a glowing success and forget about it. I don’t like the idea of us saying we were right all along when they’ve suffered as much as they have. Elections do not equal democracy, and we must be wary of putting it so simply.

Enjoy the search for a new Twins closer (can Neshek return to greatness?).

Adam Feser