Gov. Rod Blagojevich appeared on the Daily Show a week or two ago discussing his executive order requiring pharmacists to fill prescriptions for emergency contraceptives. Although apparently he didn’t know it was a comedy show, I think he fared pretty well.
Haven’t actually seen the bit, but this is the final straw. I wasn’t a fan of Blagojevich to start with but going on the Daily Show in 2006 and not knowing it’s a comedy show is so incredibly stupid there is no way I am going to vote for him. (A friend of mine posits that Blagojevich’s staff has it in for him for not bothering to make sure he knew he was going to be on a satirical show, a theory I find kinda funny.)
I just hope Judy Baar Topinka wins the GOP nomination. I’ve never voted for a Republican before, but she doesn’t seem too awful. I don’t think I could bring myself to vote for Jim Oberweis, unless maybe he ran on a Everyone Gets Free Ice Cream All The Time platform.
Stupid Illinois politics. grumble
How odd. This quote comes from a Post-Dispatch article that appeared before the show aired:
Sounds here like he knew what was going on. Of course, he said this after the interview, but it still sounds like political backpedalling to me.
That quote doesn’t indicate he new it was a comedy show before the interview. Regardless, he comported himself well, even turning to someone offscreen during the interview and asking if it was a joke.
Ugh, Topinka is getting killed by follow GOPers and it’s pretty much the consensus that she’s part of the cronyistic political machine. I don’t think there’s much chance she’ll get the nomination and if she does Blagojevich is going to run away with it.
After George Ryan I’ll never vote for another GOPer in this state.
Who isn’t part of the cronyistic political machine? Because I might just vote for that person on principle.
I’ve wondered about “The Daily Show” interviews - do people know they are being interviewed by a comedy show, and therefore not going to get the straightest questions, and be edited later as well? Does the show have any obligation to tell people what kind of interview they are going to be doing? Do the show’s “reporters” ever get into trouble during interviews from irate people?
I miss Stephen Colbert. His “Report” is okay, but he was the best fake reporter a fake news show ever had.
I think it’s bizarre that this turned into a news story weeks after [del]Blagojevich[/del] Smith was on the show. During the interview, he actually turned to an aide off-camera and asked “is he kidding, or am I supposed to answer that?”
The quote from Julius Henry’s piece makes me think he understood it was a comedy afterwards, but didn’t realize it going in. I don’t know how he didn’t know what The Daily Show is - and that nobody on his staff could tell him.
That was Blago’s main selling point. Frankly I think a big part of the reason he’s getting so much flack from people is that he’s not connected to all the old school guys in Springfield. Everything gets spin-doctored by the professional politicians because he doesn’t have as many favors due to him. Just a thought.
I don’t think that’s entirely fair. It may seem hopelessly out-of-touch, but it’s not entirely unreasonable to imagine that The Daily Show and its qualities might be completely off the radar for someone whose attentions are otherwise occupied.
Spectacularly unhip, yeah – but that’s not a huge deal, in public office.
I’d be interested to know if his aides were just as clueless about the show, or if they just assumed he knew what the show was about and never thought to spell it out for him. They could have put it to him vaguely, I guess. “It’s a popular show with a wide audience, all the cool kids are watching it, yadayadayada.”
Even if he was caught off guard by the nature of the program and the interview, I think he represented himself well, and there’s little doubt that, given The Daily Show’s target demographics, the appearance likely payed off politically – he came across as one of the “good guys.”
Some cynical part of me can’t help observing that his posture is perfect for a political moderate. He gets to participate in a lampoon that lauds his executive order and ridicules people who are politically opposed to it, while saying “Why I had no idea that they were going to imply that people who are upset about this development are borderline-retarded ideologues.” 
I suppose, but I already didn’t like him and was disinclined to vote for him. Of course, I am disinclined to vote for anyone already holding office in the state of Illinois or the city of Chicago (except my federal representatives, whom I like) because I have absolutely no faith that any of them aren’t criminals.
Didn’t somebody on his Staff have a clue?
One guy?
He’s surrounded by out of touch idiots. It’s probably very likely none of them pulls their heads out of their own asses for long enough to be aware.
As much of a mess as the Illinois republicans have made of things, this dolt has made them look not so bad since he entered office.
Let’s not forget that it’s entirely possible that they weren’t informed that it was The Daily Show he was interviewing with. I don’t know how TDS introduces itself on these occasions or what a typical politcian’s vetting process is, but they may have said “I work for Viacom*” when they booked the time.
*- Viacom is The Comedy Channel’s parent company.
Yeah, cause this is so important compared to criminal charges. :rolleyes:
That’s the amazing part. He’s not an old man himself, and you’d figure he’d have some young staffer who knew. (Sometimes I forget that TDS only has 1.4 million viewers a night.) I’m sure even politicians who know what the show is still want to be on it for a variety of reasons.
Only 1.4 Million? Geez I think 1% of its viewers post here. Well maybe .1%.
I thought the Gov. did OK despite being clueless that he was on a joke interview.
Jim
It does feel that way. I forget where I got the 1.4 million, I think it’s from Wikipedia (going by Nielsen ratings, of course). It’s also kind of remarkable that the show has the influence it does with an audience that size.
Eh, it’s not as bad as the time he went on Sesame Street and didn’t realize Cookie Monster was a Muppet. :eek:
Mmmm, ice cream…
If Jim Edgar had run again, I would have voted for him—he’s easily my favorite of Illinois’s recent governors.
You’d think if he knew he was going to be interviewed by the show he’d have his staff do some research on it.
Some of the interviews make it pretty clear that many of the subjects either don’t know it’s a comedy show, or else they think they’ll be able to somehow rise above it . . . and then not.