Posts Tagged ‘The Daily Show’

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

Nothing like holding 9/11 heroes hostage in the name of extending temporary tax cuts for millionaires. Not much else I can add to this video, at least at this point.

Enjoy year-end lists.

Adam Feser

It’s been some time, I know, and what better way to get back into it than with a post demanding equal rights as well as a video from the Daily Show? An extensive survey of troops found that they have no problem serving with gay troops. It makes sense to me, considering that you’re willing to fight and die with these people, so why would their sexual orientation matter?

In the face of military support for a repeal, Republicans are just going to try and take a knee, hoping the whistle will blow before they have to actually do anything.

I’ve certainly explained why I disagree with DADT, but others have seemed to have a decent, or at least acceptable, reason to wait. John McCain was one of these people. You should talk to the troops and their leaders before you do anything. So, obviously, I thought all of this evidence of support for the repeal would be enough to get him to hop right on board. But we’ve seen what an embarrassment of a stereotypical politician McCain has become, and he really let it show here.

One thing that is simultaneously hilarious and enraging is his insistence that they should be good leaders and talk to the troops. McCain is talking to a military leader that is presenting an enormous amount of results obtained by speaking with the troops. McCain actually complains that 28% of the military was surveyed, proving he has absolutely no idea just how amazing of a sample that is. Any surveyor would kill to be able to survey over 1/4 of the entire population. Obviously the results are statistically significant, as is pointed out. It’s basically coming down to the fact that McCain has no excuse left and hopefully this will just go away before he has to pretend to have one.

The Daily Show’s Take:

Isn’t it weird to remember a time when Jon and John were pretty good pals? A time when McCain was a frequent guest on the Daily Show that Jon thought was a stand-up guy? I wonder how McCain justifies his stances to himself.

Enjoy my return, hope you weren’t expecting me to drastically change.

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

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

This is the best “Back in Black” segment I have seen in a long time.

Enjoy angry Lewis.

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

Remember that horrifyingly racist all-white basketball league? The Daily Show’s own Jason Jones has a report and interview with the guy, and he further proved how big of a racist he is.

How about the part where he claims to have seen his friends be victims of racism because they were beaten out for roster spots by players who were better and black? Oh, racism! How dare you evaluate players based on their talent level?!

Enjoy knowing this will fail.

Adam Feser

Update: Even Fox News chief Roger Ailes admits that the Obama administration has legitimate complaints.

Sarah Palin was on Leno’s show, and she called out the media for not having “the fairness, the balance in there.” She actually said those words. Then she went on to say she went to Fox News because they don’t put opinion in their hard news stories. Because they never have reporters say snow disproves global warming and big bad Gore and several other such things.

So Jon Stewart went to turned to Megyn Kelly’s show, which is in the “news” portion of FN’s day (which is 8:00 a.m -3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.). Jon checks the coverage of her show, America Live, on the day of the Health Care Summit to see if it lives up to its billing as showing both sides of every story.

I doubt anyone would be surprised to find that her show is hardly balanced.

Fox just makes it easy when they come out and say we’re going to show both sides evenly. And it’s even easier when Sarah Palin says that’s why she went there. Because it shows obvious balance when all Republican politicians and strategists go there as soon as they’re done campaigning or they quit their job to help their state by spreading crazy death panel lies or doing stand-up that actually makes Leno look funny. Speaking of which, Jon discussed Palin’s stand-up, too. (Spoiler, Alaska is cold and different than Hollywood.) Jon gives her way more credit than I can, and his piece also includes Romney on Letterman. Maybe I just couldn’t stand how she stood up for Jay in the whole Conan-gets-screwed fiasco. As if I needed more reason to dislike her she sees herself as a Jay Leno-type figure.

Enjoy the Fox defenders below either claiming no bias or talking only about MSNBC.

Adam Feser

Yesterday the Daily Show tackled the summit, and it was pretty good. As often happens, their main problem was with how the event was covered. The first video also has some nice highlights. The second video is Jon’s interview with Representative James Clyburn (R-SC), in which they discuss the summit. The third video is a great moment of zen which demonstrates how decent conversation has become shocking.

Enjoy one of the best moments of zen in history.

Adam Feser