Jon Stewart, and the Comedy of the Half

I like The Daily Show.  I like Jon Stewart.  I liked him more when Bush was President, when he was willing to criticize our leaders and their policies.

Let’s take a look back at the transcript of the time Jon Stewart famously took on the hosts of Crossfire on CNN back in 2004:

BEGALA: You just said we’re too rough on them when they make mistakes.
STEWART: No, no, no, you’re not too rough on them. You’re part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks.
…
CARLSON: And I’ll tell you.  When politicians come on…
STEWART: Yes.
CARLSON: It’s nice to get them to try and answer the question. And in order to do that, we try and ask them pointed questions. I want to contrast our questions with some questions you asked John Kerry recently.
[CROSSTALK]
CARLSON: … up on the screen.
STEWART: If you want to compare your show to a comedy show, you’re more than welcome to.
…

STEWART: I didn’t realize that — and maybe this explains quite a bit.

CARLSON: No, the opportunity to…

[CROSSTALK]

STEWART: … is that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity.

[LAUGHTER]

[CROSSTALK]

STEWART: So what I would suggest is, when you talk about you’re holding politicians’ feet to fire, I think that’s disingenuous. I think you’re…

…

STEWART: I watch your show every day. And it kills me.

CARLSON: I can tell you love it.

STEWART: It’s so — oh, it’s so painful to watch.

[LAUGHTER]

STEWART: You know, because we need what you do. This is such a great opportunity you have here to actually get politicians off of their marketing and strategy.

Two things jump out at me.  First, Stewart states that shows like Crossfire serve merely as strategic outlets for partisans—a place for them to spout talking points.  Stewart wants them to “hold [politicians’] feet to the fire” and force politicians off of their “marketing and strategy.”  Second, when Tucker Carlson asks Stewart why Stewart didn’t hold John Kerry’s feet to the fire, Stewart pulls out his trump card: I’m just a comedian—I don’t need to play by your standards.

If Stewart’s primary allegiance were to comedy, this trump card would be more believable.  Increasingly, though, he’s sacrificed comedy to partisanship.  Take, for example, this recent segment denouncing those who would judge Obama’s performance by the daily fluctuations of the stock market.  Pretty tepid stuff.  Were the political parties reversed, Stewart would have (1) shown a clip of the President’s press secretary denouncing those who would judge the President’s performance by the stock market, and then (2) shown a serious of clips of the President repeatedly denouncing the performance of his predecessor by referencing fluctuations in the stock market.  Isn’t that what Stewart did almost every day of the Bush presidency?  If Obama were a Republican, Stewart would have punctured his hypocrisy too.

Don’t get me wrong—it is okay for a comedian to be a partisan.  But comedy usually works when it’s telling the truth; it doesn’t work as well when it’s telling half-truths.  When Stewart ignores the comedy on the left, he’s, um, how should I say it?  I know, I’ll quote Stewart himself:  When Stewart ignores the comedy on the left, he’s ”part of their strategies.”  He’s a “partisan, what do you call it, hack[].”

UPDATE:  When the political establishment relishes what you’re doing, maybe it’s time to take a step back and reexamine things.

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