# Jon Stewart was almost offered Meet the Press **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409 "2014-11-23T16:49:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/21 "2014-11-24T06:09:49Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > On a serious show Stewart wouldn’t be able to emote, pantomime, or do stereotypical cartoon impressions. That’s like half his act nowadays. But he does this during the bits, but not during the interviews, so it is irrelevant. > [@](#): > > Stewart is a dubious interviewer, especially of political oriented guests. It’s the worst part of the show. He’s OK with people he agrees with because they can commiserate. His behavior to those on the other side is often deferential, or a sort of passive aggressive moodiness while trying to pander to the audience. He doesn’t have enough command of the facts to counter obvious BS, but then again not a lot of people want to watch dueling cites on a comedy show either. > > The only interview I can remember being impressed by was when he challenged Obama on the security state, but Obama deflected it away like a pro. So there’s not much point anyway. Perhaps you don’t remember his interview with Gomert during the RNC convention in New York. Gomert was doing his Kerry is the most liberal sentator ever bit, which was the current talking point, and Stewart knew where it came from and sliced the moron into little pieces. IIRC the Republicans kept people off TDS for some time after. he might be a bit more respectful now - but you don’t see McCain coming back, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/22 "2014-11-24T13:49:11Z")
I dont see why Stewart would ever want to do the gig. He’s in the sweet spot of right now of being part political interviewer, part clown. He get’s to be both serious and goofy. The goofyness he gets to hide behind when he himself is challenged. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/23 "2014-11-24T23:17:09Z")
I want a Sunday morning political talk show called The Klaxon. The host would have a copy of everyone’s talking points, a pair of shooters earmuffs and a button to press that would start an ear splitting siren, aimed at whichever nitwit who uttered any pre rehearsed line. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/24 "2014-11-24T23:30:42Z")
Stewart has mentioned somewhere he is feeling burned out. He’s been doing The Daily Show for about 15 years now. He can be a superior interviewer because he actually reads the books the authors write and asks good questions and listens to the answers. Usually. He is dreadful at interviewing someone like Bruce Springsteen because he is so star struck. His political interviews used to be good, but he does fewer of them because even idiots like John McCain have realized that this is no puff ball interview and a stupid answer will result in a zinger. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/25 "2014-11-25T00:15:40Z")
Wouldn’t Stewart be way too partisan for a show like that? He has no problem skewering both sides on occasion but he is an unapologetic liberal. His current gig does not require any sort of neutrality. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/26 "2014-11-28T12:47:38Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Stewart is a dubious interviewer, especially of political oriented guests. It’s the worst part of the show. He’s OK with people he agrees with because they can commiserate. His behavior to those on the other side is often deferential, or a sort of passive aggressive moodiness **while trying to pander to the audience**. He doesn’t have enough command of the facts to counter obvious BS, but then again not a lot of people want to watch dueling cites on a comedy show either. Here’s an idea. Forget bringing Stewart to the program. Bring in the Daily Show audience. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/27 "2014-12-29T13:46:00Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I don’t know if the Sunday talk shows can be saved. It used to be that there was serious discussion of the issues on Sunday mornings. Now it’s just get the hacks in front of a microphone to deliver talking points. They don’t want to converse, they don’t want to debate, they just want to deliver the lines that they think promotes their party. Kelly Ayotte is by far the worst of the lot. Tim Russert at least challenged guests as they recited their rehearsed lines. David Gregory, not at all. And Chuck Todd never saw a Republican sound bite that he wanted to challenge. Chuck Todd [doesn’t even deny it](http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/28/chuck-todd-defends-challenging-republican-lies-meet-press.html): > [@](#): > > Lewis Black asked Todd how he put up with guests who babble on with their talking points without barking at them, and Todd’s answer revealed why people don’t trust the media. The Meet The Press host said,\*\* “We all sit there, because we all know, the first time we bark is the last time that they do the show. You say something, and sometimes it is last time they will ever come on your show. There is that balance.”\*\* ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/28 "2014-12-29T13:58:52Z")
That’s not balance, Mr. Todd. That’s capitulation, and abdication of any legitimate role you may have in the national conversation. And it’s one more piece of evidence that television cannot be trusted to deliver journalism. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/29 "2014-12-29T14:30:08Z")
Perhaps you have all forgotten that Stewart killed the show Crossfire on CNN by pointing out there inane talking head style of political discourse. I doubt he would have been interested in the position, but he would have done a better job than anyone who has held that chair so far. But there is no chance that NBC would have let someone like Stewart actually do that job. The point of the show is to fit the guest’s responses into the common condensed news scenarios suitable for the general public to digest in 30 seconds or less. Stewart would de-Internet-ize TV news media. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/30 "2014-12-29T15:58:35Z")
That quoted comment is everything wrong with the news media. Their goal is to sell to advertisers and not inform. To get eye balls they need guests, to get guests, they don’t make waves. Completely upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/31 "2014-12-29T16:34:37Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I want a Sunday morning political talk show called The Klaxon. The host would have a copy of everyone’s talking points, a pair of shooters earmuffs and a button to press that would start an ear splitting siren, aimed at whichever nitwit who uttered any pre rehearsed line. I want a Sunday Afternoon show called “Fact Check”, where all the bullshit uttered on the Sunday Morning shows is called out. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/32 "2014-12-29T22:20:50Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I want a Sunday Afternoon show called “Fact Check”, where all the bullshit uttered on the Sunday Morning shows is called out. I’d watch. A lot of people would–even if not from high-minded principles, but instead for the thrill of the Gotcha. Everybody loves a good Gotcha. (Next step, of course, would be _Post-Debate Fact Check_ shows being regularly-scheduled to alleviate the inescapable pain coming in 2016…) The nearest thing to a hypothetical “Fact Check” show on now, aside from the embarrassing video evidence often unearthed by Jon Stewart, might be CNN’s “Reliable Sources.” In that Sunday morning show, the host cleverly avoids actually calling out the high and mighty as liars, by casting the discussion in ‘blue media versus red media’ terms. Even so, there are some good nuggets of actual fact-checking dispersed throughout. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/33 "2014-12-31T18:03:37Z")
Stewart would be a bad fit on Meet the Press, because it would rob him of his most valuable contribution to current political discourse, which is pointing out the consistent failings of our news media. I don’t want him on CNN, because that would limit his ability to criticize CNN for being a shit news network. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409/34 "2014-12-31T18:30:41Z")
What’s weird is that Jon Steward was on CNN (sort of). Overseas, CNN International used to run a weekly edition of the Daily Show hosted by Jon Stewart that was a compilation of the best bits of the previous week’s episodes. The beginning and end was new Jon Stewart content and the rest was made up of clips. I always wondered why CNN put him on their network, when he made it clear that he despises them? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-was-almost-offered-meet-the-press/705409.md?page=1)