from the first clip of last night’s show, {12/8} John Oliver travels to Connecticut to interview two politicians running for state Senate that agreed to run a completely civil campaign. They actually campaigned together across the state.
The skit is pretty silly and treats them as if they are aliens, but I was struck by their basic tenet of the campaign, “Don’t be a jackass” which reminded me of “Don’t be a jerk”
It’ in keeping with Jon Stewart’s Rally for Sanity that he found this story interesting enough to pursue. I don’t remember seeing it in any other major outlet, although you’d think it was unique enough to warrant attention.
I laughed at the part where Oliver asks the Republican to alert the news that the Dem is gay, {hypothetically} and the candidate refuses saying it’s not relevant to his ability to serve. Then the Dem reveals that he actually is gay.
Pretty refreshing.
It was quite enjoyable. I’ve tended to get annoyed at the tendency in recent years for both the Daily Show and the Colbert Report to be feature their corespondents behaving like idiots. This still had too much of that, but it was nice to see two people who disagree on policy still respecting each other as human beings.
You don’t see that as much for state legislature campaigns though. The offices typically keep their powder dry (and coffers filled) for the federal level office fights.
I normally hate the skits where they ask people ludicrous questions and they have to deadpan it, but this was spot on and actually quite refreshing. I hate the attack ads and I’ve been hoping that they realize the public hates them soon too.