Interesting matchup tonight in which Rachel Maddow gave over her entire show to excerpts from what was an apparently lengthy interview with The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart. A main subject was the media in general and the fairness (or not) of blaming the cable news networks for today’s fractious political atmosphere.
Maddow, in an extremely polite way, expressed some criticism of Stewart’s recent tendency to become the news rather than make fun of it, and I think she had a more coherent view of the current role of the media than he seemed to, but to both their credit, they expressed their disagreements with great respect and in pretty much the opposite form of the usual pairing off of hype-ridden shouters that seems to make up so much televised commentary these days.
His point could have been articulated better, but he got his point across. It might have been the stomach virus that threw him off.
MSNBC isn’t as incendiary as FOX, but it does cross the line from time to time. Maddow thought Stewart was comparing them to FOX, but what I think Stewart was saying was that even thought MSNBC is not equivalent to FOX, they still use the same incendiary tactics that FOX does.
At times he came off pretty damned grouchy on the topic of humor, of all things. Kind of a ‘I’m the comedian here, folks; you guys knock it off.’ Interesting interview but not really at the level I’d hoped for.
I agree, I saw it much the same way. Stewart’s approach to Maddow was a very interesting (and telling, I think) contrast to his approach to these guys back when. John Stewart on Crossfire
The difference is Jon respects Rachael Maddow, while he thought Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson were partisan hacks, and I believe he really personally dislikes Carlson. I suspect he would be a lot harsher if the interview was done by Keith Olbermann, who is a lot closer to being a left-wing Bill O’Reilly - I really can’t think of a left wing version of Glen Beck.
Wow. If there’s anything that could qualify as actual libel or fraud, that would seem to be it. Tucker posed as Keith and attempted to harm his public image. Because he found it funny.
I loved this interview. I had no problem following Stewart’s points and logic. I also think this itself is a model for how people with disagreements can discuss them without flying off the handle.
IMO, Stewart’s most relevant points had to do with TV’s 24-hour news hype machine, in which commentary and editorializing have almost completely supplanted straight reporting, and his distress that TV news relentlessly insists on making the news about Left Vs. Right, when, if we must have such simplistic, binary pap shoved at us, it would be more to the point if it were about rich vs. poor, or as Stewart said a couple of times, about corrupt vs. non-corrupt.
I guess it’s understandable that journalists who, after all, have mostly dedicated years of higher education and effort to their craft, would get a bit defensive when faced with the nightly poking they get from The Daily Show, and in my view, Maddow showed a bit (just a bit) of that defensiveness. OTOH, I think Maddow was entirely correct to go after the notion, accurate or not, that Stewart was somehow drawing an equivalency between what MSNBC (and of course she) does, and the sort of mendacity that FOX routinely traffics in. One need look no further than the reports that FOX commentators were pushing the ‘story’ that Obama was snubbing the military by not having gone to Arlington to lay a wreath on Veteran’s Day (I guess they feel he should have bolted from the G20 summit to do so), when in fact he had apparently made multiple visits to personally honor troops overseas within the constrains of his current diplomatic trip. I don’t know of any cases where MSNBC commentators so blatantly falsify information.
Very boring ITV. Maddow apparently desperately wants Stewart’s approval, and Stewart desperately wants to appear he has nothing to do with her.
Hence a lot of circular meaningless talk by Stewart (yeah right, Stewart actually believing W. was being honest about WMDs or that the waterboarding thing was just thrown at W. just because the Left says /thinks “he’s an evil man”…Right).
What a fucking bore (and I still love Stewart, but please, no more of this torture, I’ll talk!).
So, I’m guessing you agree with Stewart that some reasons for going for Iraq war are valid and having valid reasons, whole Bush Administration agenda is not black and white but rather gray. And, you would agree with an implication that if Bush is a war criminal that that by itself makes Obama potential war criminal?
I agree with Stewart’s points that throwing around “war criminal” is a label that lumps George W. Bush in with Josef Mengele, which is unfair and to use Stewart’s term, a “conversation stopper.”
Jon Stewart was sick. Actually ill. That’s why he seems so low energy, or ‘respectful’ or ‘incoherent’.
At the end he says ‘This is the longest I’ve gone in 24 hours without throwing up.’
What I love the title from the Huffington Post.
Rachel Maddow Clashes With Jon Stewart, Civilly, In Hour’s Worth Of Interview Excerpts
There was not ‘clashing’. Where was this clashing?
Numerous times Stewart tried to imply one-sidedness of Maddow show and all the time he failed. Most notably examples on Code Pink lady shouting “Bush is war criminal” vs. Tea Party hall disruptions and on the question of Bush and waterboarding with the following exchange:
Stewart: But if the place you start from is, he (Bush) is evil man who did that to lie to us so that he could take gratuitous pleasure, in his own masculinity, or like whatever it is, like that does… Maddow (politely interrupts): But, I mean, nobody’ saying that, I’m not saying that. Stewart: Right, right… but that’s just some example of pushing it too far.
Huh? What are you talking about was the expression on Rachel’s stoic face. In both cases Stewart’s points went nowhere.
Maddow even mentioned famous bit from Bill Maher:
When Jon announced his rally, he said that the national conversation is dominated by people on the right who believe Obama is socialist and people on the left who believe 9/11 was an inside job. But I can’t name any Democrat leaders who think 9/11 was an inside job. Republican leaders who think Obama is socialist, it’s all of them.
I’m at a loss to figure out this obsession with Jon Stewart and his “message”. All through out this interview he was utterly incoherent and non-sensical. And the rally, WTF is the message?
Having said that, I would love to be proven wrong, with an exact quote.
I just watched the entire thing tonight and was suitably impressed with his sanity, moderation and reason. Which interview were YOU watching? :dubious:
Honestly, I’d say more than that, but then I’d get a Mod warning, and this ain’t the Pit.