Menocchio - that’s it; if he is going to play softball, I wish it was more entertaining softball. I was pleased he got Santorum to acknowledge the existence of “virtuous gays” and a few other things (minor, but good to hear from this schmo), but that was about it.
And, boy, would I love to count Jennifer Love Hewitt on one of my hands! (Seriously, I don’t know what the reference is to - sounds like JS was not so nice to JLH during an interview?).
yeah, I usually tune out the celebrity interviews for the same reason. The authors and politicians? Often and informative and very rarely he’ll cut loose.
JLH was on plugging Garfield: the Movie. Jon was bugging how Bill Murray was a whore for cash for doing it. It coulda been all in good fun if she had quipped bad, but instead she just sat their wounded. Which made it hilarious.
IIRC, Jennifer Love Hewitt did an interview to plug the Garfield movie, and her attempts to spin this dog set off Jon Stewart’s anti-BS system.
I was a bit disappointed too, but the problem with people like Santorum is that they’re protected by an impervious, smug blandness. Hard to engage.
I was hoping Jon would find a way to refer to the popular slang term.
Although I agree that Jon when easy on Sen. Frothy, I don’t think he let him off completely. Jon called him on the absurdity of the ills of society on people saying Fuck. Yes, people may have been more polite in public in the early parts of the 20th century; but there was also widespread, blatant and entrenched racial discrimination. Women weren’t treated as equals. And homos got bashed by the police. It’s the same point he raised with Goldberg and no “Moral Values” Conservative has ever been able to get around that fact. Sure the 50s were great, if you were a white male and middle class. Everyone else, not so much. So it’s important to just keep reminding people about that and the turn-back-the-clock crusaders will hang themselves with their own platitudes.
I think Jon didn’t want to be like Crossfire with nothing but yelling. He let the Senator speak. The Senator stayed on message and didn’t really reply to any of the questions.
I think Jon’s best line was at the opening of the show when he said that he met him backstage and he didn’t expect his handlers to yell “UNCLEAN” when they shook hands.
The scariest part of the interview was that Santorum actually seemed human. We all know what that means. Scary radical starts becoming more rational and centered a few years before an election… :eek:
Stewart has never played the part of a frothing leftie in the interview segment of his show and has only on very rare occasions actually gone after a guest, and usually quite gingerly. His interview with Goldberg was actually very polite and only one or two well-placed comments served to skewer that charlatan.
Yeah, he was soft on the guy (for the good reasons already cited in this thread), but I really thought he closed on an insult:
“These discussions are always illuminating to me, and only to me, I think.”
Heh…yeah, that was pretty subtle. On the surface, it almost sounds self-deprecating until you really think about it, which of course, Santorum did not.
Rick Santorum? Isn’t that the guitarist for Bon Jovi?
Oh, wait…
I think that’s the biggest problem–what RS had to say could, in an incredibly narrow and limited sense, be seen as marginally reasonable. But he was being as even-handed-sounding as possible, leaving the homophobic red meat at the door. I don’t take issue with the tone of civility Jon was trying to set, but I do wish he’d have asked more specific questions: “So, should virtuous gays be allowed to adopt?” or “How does the institution of marriage suffer when gays marry?” RS was on his “What’s best for the children” talking points, which managed to evade the whole Who-Should-&-Shouldn’t belief system we know he has. Jon should have been a little more assertive on this point. Oh well.
I did like the little bumper visual before the commercial, with two guys walking down the aisle. Rest assured, though–as RS continues to put his foot in his mouth, Jon will continue to call him on it (like with RS’ Nazi/filibuster comments).
I’ve never seen Stewart go after a politician he’s interviewing, and he interviews plenty of conservatives. It’s usually journalists like Goldberg or John Stossel who get slammed.
I really think Stewart sees himself more like a Johnny Carson type host, albeit with a little more satirical bite. Yes he has points to make, but in the end I tihkn he feels that he is the host and that the folks he is interviewing are his guests and should be treated with the same respect you would give any guest. This requires a certain amount of diplomacy, he realizes that they don’t have to come on his show, so he won’t go out of his way to be a dick to them. Even if the guest is a complete ass, unless the guest is being completely assy on the show, he won’t disrespect that they were kind enough to do his show.
Actually, I thought it went quite well. Santorum came off like a moron-he really didn’t say anything of substance, he just kept repeating a bunch of platitudes (“A mom and a dad are what’s best for children!”) and John would point out the problems. Santorum didn’t seem to get it, though.
This link will get you to Comedy Central’s site. Scroll down a bit and you can click on Senator Santorum’s interview and see it for yourself.
[Small nitpick]He absolutely SAVAGED Congressman Henry Bonilla before the election. You can read the transcript here. Not to say the Congressman didn’t deserve it for making repeated “talking point” statements without knowing the facts behind it.
if only…
Yup I saw this program late last night. Santorum has had a bit of a bad time of it lately, with the “school payment scandal” thing and his upcoming campaign against Robert Casey Jr. I read an AP article this morning where he stated that he would not consider running for president in 2008, because it would be too rough on his family. I sighed with relief. Not that I believe him, but it does give me some hope.
JS did go pretty easy on him in the interview, for all of the above reasons stated. I was another person who was waiting for Jon to nail him.
Why should anyone expect Stewart to go for Santorum’s jugular when Stewart very publicly and emphatically bemoans shows that do just that?
I saw Stewart engage in a civil debate: willing to listen as well as share his own viewpoints. I saw him set an example of what he feels debate should consist of.
Stewart didn’t play “Hardball” and I commend him for it.
Santorum came off as a complete dork, but I have to admit that I agree with the general principle he was spouting. Note- I am liberal, and I believe gay couples should be allowed to marry, and should be allowed to adopt, and I believe that single parent households can rear children in a “virtuous way”…but the BEST home environment for a child is in a healthy home with his/her own parents.
JS was attempting to get RS to admit that there are other scenarios that can be healthy environments for children, and that these environments are preferable to many “traditional” arrangements, which I whole heartedly agree with… but I also agree with RS that the best home for a child is in a healthy, loving home with BOTH natural parents.
I think JS held back some because I get the idea that RS held back on some of his more “extreme” views about nontraditional households.