IntenseDebate - 2shift

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Same Jon Stewart Who U... · 6 replies · -63 points

That segment was hilarious. The entire Fox News network has been hammering Stewart round the clock for days and Stewart has only 22 minutes 4 days a week to respond and still manages to win the argument.

So, you're saying that because you perceive that some shrill lefties have unjustly pulled the race-card on conservatives in the past, it gives carte blanche to the conservative media to turn the volume up to eleven and throw around accusations of racism at Stewart even though they are well-aware it is unjustified and sensationalist?

As the clip showed, Stewart has been mocking politicians in this manner for over a decade. I think one of the reasons Fox is targeting him now is that besides being one of 24-hour cable news' biggest critics, his audience is growing and he's getting better ratings than all Fox News shows bar O'Reilly. He also attracts the key 18-34 yo demographic while Fox News' audience is mostly over 55, decreasing and getting older.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Herman Cain Fires Back... · 1 reply · -18 points

If you don't believe my claims that's fine, but if you watched the Daily Show regularly you'd know that Stewart has parodied past presidents such as Clinton and Bush. And he isn't sparing Obama either.

Viacom's pulled most of the Daily Show clips from youtube and it's much more entertaining to watch the down-votes rain down here rather than face-palm at lefty sensationalism on HuffPo.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Herman Cain Fires Back... · 2 replies · -14 points

If the bill is outlining reforms for something as complex and critical as the US health system, for example. The bill is going to be long and multifarious. Cain complaining about this and insisting on three page bills (even tongue-in-cheek) is silly and fair game comedically. I think most of this pearl-clutching over a pretty tame comedic segment is disingenuous and has more do with Stewart being perceived as some sort of threat politically, by right-wing ideologues at the moment.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Herman Cain Fires Back... · 2 replies · -16 points

Putting one-eyed partisan hackery aside, for a moment. Do you seriously consider that clip to be intentionally racist? It's a magnitude tamer than what Rush Limbaugh puts out.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Herman Cain Fires Back... · 4 replies · -15 points

I can't recall which episodes, but he's parodied Obama's voice on more than one occasion in the past year.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Herman Cain Fires Back... · 4 replies · -15 points

Well, I saw it as Stewart trying to imitate Cain's voice and inflection rather than going full on Amos and Andy. I think Cain and segments of the press trying to spin this into a controversy is grasping at straws, Cain is just as much a target for comedians as any other politician. I'd be more concerned if Stewart were to self-censor and treat him differently to other politicians because the guy happens to be black.

Also, Stewart does have a high-profile platform where he can have political impact (ie. 9/11 Responders Bill) but he's never described himself as anything more than a comedian.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Herman Cain Fires Back... · 4 replies · -21 points

I agree, there's nothing wrong with a center-left comedian who's comedic fodder consists of satirizing absurdities and corruption in politics and the media, make fun of a GOP candidate's gaff.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Herman Cain Fires Back... · 1 reply · -28 points

I recall him imitating Obama's voice several times on the show in the past year.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Herman Cain Fires Back... · 29 replies · -51 points

Stewart does impressions of high-profile people all the time. He's done impressions of Obama, Bush, Clinton, Trump, McCain, Michael Steele, Ariana Huffington etc. Cain's gaff was fair game for political satire. I've observed you guys criticize the left-wing ideologues when they accuse the Tea Party of being universally racist at the drop a hat. And their (admittedly weak) evidence was stronger than this.

Cain's just trying to manufacture controversy to get in the headlines.

14 years ago @ Big Hollywood - Politifact Shows Stati... · 2 replies · -4 points

Stewart didn't knowingly lie about Fox News viewers being mis-informed because he was going by several comparative polls that showed this. He was upfront by correcting his comments when Politico concluded that they weren't accurate across the board.

I've noticed that Fox News and some of the right-wing blogs seem to have Jon Stewart increasingly in their sights. I'm somewhat curious why this is as he hasn't changed his style of political satire or his views about the 24 hour news networks for over decade. I think it's partially, in Fox News' case, to do with the fact that he's currently getting better ratings than all Fox News programs (except O'Reilly) and a majority of his audience, unlike Fox News, fall into the key 18-34 yo demographic that attract the bulk of advertising dollars.

Also, conservative activists seem to think he holds sway with the under 35s and complain when Daily Show clips that mock or satirize the GOP or Fox News go viral, or get played in the media. Yet the conservative blogs and Fox News will play clips from the Daily Show whenever they make fun of Obama, Dems or the unions.

Is the conservative establishment worried about his influence heading into 2012?

IntenseDebate Comment System

Connect with 2shift

People I'm following

2shift