Yes, I do. These are unprecedented times and our democracy is in actual peril. On one side we have a decent, accomplished, mainstream politician and on the other we have Hitler. Shill for the good guy. And by “shill,” I mean represent the actual risk associated with both, not this “equal treatment” bullshit.
I don’t care what people think his job is. The job of all decent people is to do nothing that seriously jeopardizes the good guy and legitimizes the abjectly horrible guy.
Well that’s not how the world works. I will pull the lever for Not Trump but I’m not going to pretend there are no issues with the president. I don’t want an obvious intelligent and insightful person like Jon Stewart to go on TV and pretend there is no issue. He is there to comment on the election. The whole election.
Stewart (and the rest of us) don’t have that luxury. I think all decent, informed people need to take a realpolitik approach to everything. The stakes are that high. Stewart is an influential voice. Legitimizing Trump to any extent is beyond the pale. Seriously undermining Biden for giggles is extremely irresponsible.
Doesn’t matter what the role of a comedian has typically been. That’s the world we live in, where we need to ask this of comics.
Biden is undermining himself. Pretending it’s not happening isn’t going to help. Unless you are blind and think everything with Biden is fine just ignoring the issues you don’t like won’t make them go away. Jon Stewart not commenting on the president in a show about the election won’t make them go away.
That’s the attitude the mainstream media took. That’s the attitude Colbert and others have. And no one listens to them other than people who will already vote Biden.
Obvious shilling and propaganda do not work anymore. People will just go around you. Trudeau in Canada has been pushing the media to be biased in his favor, and the result is that Canadian media is dying. Despite Trudeau shoveling money to them, Bell media just layed off 4800 people, CBC is in deep trouble, etc. No one cares what they have to say when they assume they are just mouthpieces for the regime.
The key to winning over the people you need to win over is to first gain their trust that you can be fair with both sides. Then they might pay attention to something you have to say. You gain trust by presenting yourself as a fair observer of the facts, and you can’t do that if you’re going to pretend that a major issue in plain sight of anyone doesn’t exist.
Pretending that everything is always fine on your side, and ignoring obvious problems with candidates is a good way to get lousy candidates. Republicans are just as guilty of this. “Trump is playing 4D chess!”. No, he’s just a blowhard. But when no one is allowed to say it, things get crazy.
If you think the Republicans are much worse than Democrats, truth is on your side. You don’t need to hide your candidates’ flaws. Play fair and straight, and you’ll be rewarded. Continue with the Emperor’s New Clothes schtick, and the other side will write you off and you’ll have no power over them at all.
But you are suggesting a false dichotomy. There is PLENTY of room for him to say, “Look, Biden has issues. And I wish the Dems were running someone else. But he is the best chance for beating Trump, and that is the most important thing. Any idiot who sits out because they don’t like either candidate, or votes for a 3d party candidate, is helping Trump.”
He’s going to be on every Monday. If you think that is going to be helping Trump I don’t know what to tell you.
The few times they let Biden speak by himself are you happy about it or are you holding your breath and hoping it’s not a disaster?
I encourage you to read the recent NYT column by the neuroscientist. A gift link was provided somewhere, I can’t recall where (I’m not a subscriber).
The gist was that there’s nothing unusual about Biden’s condition, nothing indicating cognitive decline. It was also emphasized that the people making these assertions neither examined Biden, nor do they have the expertise to make them.
Biden is having the normal tendencies that come with advancing age. Taking a few seconds to find the right word starts for most people in their 40s. It is NOT an indicator, by itself, of a diminished capacity.
Screw Tucker Carlson for bringing to mind one of his quotes – said about GW Bush:
I mean, look, no matter how you feel about Bush, watching him speak is difficult. It’s like- it’s like watching a drunk man cross an icy street.
I’ve said before …
Joe Biden is old, he stutters, and he stumbles. He also misspeaks more than many people speak (this is anything but new).
Donald Trump tried to overthrow the legitimately elected government of the United States of America. He also said that he’d invite Russia to have their way with any NATO member in monetary default.
I feel like I can concede some measure of these points about Biden in order to shift the focus to the dramatically more important points about Trump.
Jesus Christ, We aren’t MAGA! We pride ourselves in not swooning over a political figure. You want Stewart to be a hack, now… great.
Yeah, I’m suggesting we establish a fan club and pin dreamy posters on our bedroom walls. You got me.
Ok, until the election, Biden’s perfect and immune from all criticism. I think it’s absurd. I think it’s silly.
I do think it’s worth me ceding ground to those who are rather incensed with Jon Stewart for this one.
It brings to mind: “Democrats want to fall in love. Republicans fall in line.”
I absolutely understand the stakes here, and the existential urgency of beating this POS, Trump, again.
But I struggle with the notion that we’re not the automaton party, particularly witnessing how much damage the MAGA folks have done, are doing, and could do with their blind allegiance to this … candidate.
Should we – just this once – be able to STFU, line up, and overwhelm this guy at the ballot box? Yeah. We should.
Is tacit acceptance of our own candidate’s shortcoming essential for that to happen?
That … I truly don’t know.
Then you’re putting your head’s in the sand. Who’s to say over what line we draw until it’s ok again to speak truths. MAGA people are children, WE are smart enough to understand nuance.
Here’s what I posted, hope it helps:
If that means assigning sainthood to Biden to you, not sure what else to say.
So, you say they “both sides” it, and I don’t think that at all. I think you missed the point, or you know he didn’t say; “Oh, it’s 50/50”, but you think most people are too dumb to understand.
You could have stopped right there. My point exactly, delivered more concisely. It’s that important.
Who is “we?” The party faithful? They are already in line. The independents, swing voters and maybe I’ll stay at homers don’t need smoke blown up their ass.
Agreed. People are so prepped for being gaslit these days. You want to turn them off, tell them just one side of things, that’ll do it.
That’s not the ringing endorsement you might think it is