Showing posts with label Daily Show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Show. Show all posts

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Rick Sanchez Fired From CNN.



I find this really sad. Rick Sanchez has simply destroyed his credibility with an astonishing attack on Jon Stewart, by calling him "a bigot" and implying that CNN and other networks are run by Jews.

CNN have now fired him.

Clearly Jon Stewart has got under his skin, but this outburst is astonishing. It's obvious that he feels, as an American of Cuban background, that he is in some way being persecuted.

PD: Stewart's a minority as much as you are.

RS: Yeah, a very powerless people.


PD: Whoa.


RS: He's such a minority. You know, please. Are you kidding me? I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority?
Yeah.
Later in the conversation he backed off these claims, saying that Stewart was merely "prejudicial" and stating:
"I grew up in Miami. Every one of my best friends was Jewish!"
But, by that point, the damage had been done.

I can understand why coming under the scrutiny of Jon Stewart would be embarrassing and infuriating. None of us would like to be subjected to that guy's laser-like comedic scrutiny. But to imply that he does so because he is "a bigot" and a member of some Jewish cabal which runs the networks?

Oh dear.... Sanchez is ignoring that fact that there are an awful lot of very successful Cuban Americans in the entertainment industry. He's not the only one.

He would have had more credibility if he had claimed that the US entertainment industry was run by Scientologists.

Clearly it is his perception of being singled out as a minority which has led to him feeling, in some way, persecuted. But it is his own sense of persecution which has brought about his downfall. That's sad.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Beck: "This country will have a very short future if you base it on the friends" of Oct. 2 rally.



It was inevitable that Glenn Beck would react badly to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's determination to hold a spoof rally mocking the rally which Beck held.

Beck takes himself too seriously not to react. Indeed, he thinks his rally will go down in history. It takes quite an ego to make that claim.

But I didn't expect him to describe the Stewart/Colbert rally in the over-the-top way in which he does here.

He describes the friends of One Nation as "radicals, revolutionaries, Communist, agitators, that's all they are. They haven't been brought together since the 1960's. This is the point that I have been warning about for a long time. When their poll numbers go down, and when they get desperate, they will take to the streets and they will agitate."

See, how that works? When people who support Beck take to the streets, we are watching "good decent people"; however, when Colbert and Stewart hold a rally we are suddenly asked to see "agitators."

And I love how anything less than two million people on the mall for Stewart and Colbert will be "a failure". Is Beck seriously now claiming that he attracted two million people to his rally? Is he seriously claiming that more people attended his rally than attended the inauguration of America's first ever black president?

It's impossible to take this guy seriously.

Friday, April 23, 2010

O'Reilly: Jon Stewart Loves Us.



Billo gives his response to Jon Stewart's latest salvo... and it's weak, weak, weak.

Stewart makes mincemeat of these guys and, judging by Bill's response, they have simply no reply.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Jon Stewart Dismantles Conspiracist Beck.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Jon Stewart shows what happens when you take "straw man, slippery slope, dumb guy" Glenn Beck's arguments to their logical conclusion.

If people who think that there should be such a thing as social justice are on a slippery slope towards totalitarian China, then it naturally follows that people who love Jesus run the risk, according to Beck's logic, of wishing a theocracy upon everyone.
This is Glenn's blackboard, so we have to play by Glenn's rules. Which are, if you subscribe to an idea then you also subscribe to that idea's ideology, and to every possible negative consequence that that ideology remotely implies when you carry it to absurd extremes.
Jon Stewart's humour is the perfect foil for the idiocy of someone like Beck. He's holding a mirror up to this lunatic in a way which even someone as thick and egotistical as Beck should be embarrassed by.

He's playing Beck's game right back at him.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Newt Gingrich lies to Jon Stewart, claims shoe bomber Richard Reid was U.S. citizen.



First off the bat, let me admit that I am simply a stupid limey who probably misunderstands American culture; but it does strike me that, whenever a Democrat gets elected, the American right wing almost immediately goes bat shit crazy. (That link will take you to Glenn Beck's latest insane rantings.)

But the other thing I notice about the American right during a Democratic presidency, is how little the truth appears to matter to them.

I spoke during the election of the sheer amount of untruths being perpetrated by McCain and Palin, something which Palin continues to do concerning "death panels", despite the fact that her ludicrous claim was named as "Lie of the Year". But that didn't stop her claims about death panels being held up as a positive thing when she was introduced to the Tea Party Convention. I paraphrase, but the convention was told something along the lines of "she was the first person to highlight the death panels" as if what she has stated then was true, when everyone now surely knows that not to be the case.

And here we see Newt Gingrich try to justify the fact that Richard Reid was tried in a civilian court, by stating that Richard Reid "was an American citizen".

Richard Reid was, of course, British.

Stewart: But why do you say they’re more radical?

Gingrich: Well, if you had gone to Bill Clinton and said, ‘We’ve just found this guy with his underwear burning because he tried to blow up an airplane’ --

Stewart: Wait, what? Woah. All I heard was Clinton and burning underpants – now I’m not sure what we’re talking about.

Gingrich: You’ve gotta keep focus.

Stewart: If you had gone to him and said –

Gingrich: Why don’t we make – Because he lived through Jimmy Carter’s sending prisoners to Arkansas, it helped him get beat in the 1983 election. And he understood there are certain things the American people have an aversion to, like trying to try terrorists in New York City, which is the place the terrorists tried to destroy. And that the American public doesn’t understand reading Miranda rights to terrorists in Detroit when it’s fairly obvious they’re terrorists.

Stewart: The only thing I would say to that is, didn’t they do the same with Richard Reid, who was the shoe bomber?

Gingrich: Richard Reid was an American citizen.
Gingrich either doesn't know what he is talking about or simply doesn't care.

Because the facts get in the way of this most recent Republican attempt to write Obama off as being "soft on terror" because he didn't put the Christmas Day bomber in front of a military tribunal.

I wonder how often this lie will be repeated. Because Palin's "lie of the year" regarding the "death panels" hasn't stopped some right wingers repeating it as if it were true.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Jon Stewart on The O'Reilly Factor Round Two.



Part two of Billo's interview with Jon Stewart. The right wing clichés fall out of Billo's mouth with such speed that they are tripping over each other.

UPDATE:



What were they thinking? Fox have put the whole unedited version on their website. I think Stewart takes O'Reilly and Fox News apart.

My favourite statement from Stewart about Fox News and their blatant hypocrisy now that a Democrat is in the White House was this:

I know what this is. I come from Jersey—it's the same thing: "I'm not saying your mother's a whore. I'm just saying she has sex for money. With people."

[..]

[F]ox News used to be all about, you don't criticize a president during wartime. It's unacceptable, it's treasonous, it gives aid and comfort to the enemy. All of a sudden, for some reason you can run out there and say, "Barack Obama is destroying the fabric of this country."
O'Reilly was the one who used to insist that people should back Bush at a time of war or "Shut up!" The US is still at war, but the rules have changed now that a Democrat is in charge.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Stewart: Fox turns "reasonable concerns" about Obama, economy into "panic attack about the next coming of Chairman Mao."



I simply love this guy. I can fully understand why he is one of the most trusted people on American television.

Here he tells O'Reilly what's wrong with Fox. And I simply love O'Reilly's notion that Glenn Beck is an "independent." If that's right, then I'm a ballerina...

UPDATE:





Here's the whole thing. I love how he compares O'Reilly being the most reasonable voice on Fox News to "being the thinnest kid at fat camp."

Friday, November 06, 2009

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Fox News: The New Liberals.

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Jon Stewart makes fun of the entirely new Fox News habit of defending protesters.

Indeed, he looks at the unique 180 degree turn Fox have taken since the election.

It's one I have pointed out several times. It used to be unpatriotic not to support a president at a time of war, now it is one's greatest patriotic duty to work to, "take back our country".

Their hypocrisy simply knows no bounds.

O'Reilly last night attempted to defend this by attacking Stewart. It was weak beyond belief.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Stewart Slams CNN & Fox For Coverage Of Clinton's North Korea Rescue.

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Why were none of us surprised by the negative tone some took?
Stewart's glee didn't last long, though, as he moved on to the coverage of Clinton's trip. CNN had nothing to say so they discussed how airplanes operate and showed color bars of North Korean TV. Fox News, on the other hand, was upset that the journalists were freed in the first place. John Bolton said the situation turned out better for North Korea than the U.S., and Dick Morris argued that the journalists should have "lived with the decision to go there."

"Does the sun ever shine during a Democratic administration? With Obama in office now when babies laugh do you hear only the sound of kittens drowning?" Stewart asked, before eviscerating Fox for their choice in anchors.
As Stewart points out, it really is too much to listen to the Repuglithugs complaining about America possibly "giving up something" to make a deal happen; when their lifelong hero, Reagan, did the deal he did with Iran, in order to funnel money to the Contras so that they could attempt to bring down a Sandinista government elected through fair and free elections.

Hat tip to Huffington Post.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Kristol admits to Stewart that government run health care is THE BEST!

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Jon Stewart gets Bill Kristol to admit that government run health care is the best health care, even if it is slightly more expensive.

Once Kristol has said that he has nowhere else to go, other than to the ridiculous place he finds himself, arguing that the public don't deserve the same health care as the military.
Stewart: Why no health care, Why no health care reform for Americans because the military fighting for us, gave it up. Why do you hate America?

Stewart: Why not? Why shouldn't the government provide some sort of care to the 50 million that are uninsured?


Kristol: No, well the military has a different health system than the rest of Americans.


Stewart: It's a public system, no?


Kristol: Yea, they don't have an option they're all in the military.


Stewart: Why don't we go with that?


Kristol: (Stupid look comes across his face.) I don't know. Is military health care what you really...first of all it's really expensive, they deserve it, the military...


Stewart: But people in public do not?


Kristol: No, the American public do not deserve the same...


Stewart: Are you saying Americans shouldn't have access to the same plan health care that we give the soldiers?


Kristol: Yes, to our soldiers? Absolutely.


Stewart: Really?


Kristol: I think the one thing if you become a soldier...


Stewart: So you just said, Bill Kristol just said that the government can run a first class health care system.


Kristol: Sure it can.


Stewart: A government run health care system is better than the private health care system. You just said that...


Kristol: I don't know if it's better.


Stewart: No, you just said it was better.


Kristol: I didn't say it was better all around.


Stewart: No, you said it was better. You said it's the best, it's a little more expensive, but it's better. I just want to write this down. The government runs the best health care...


Stewart: I understand that so what you are suggesting is that the government could run the best health care system for Americans, but it's a little too costly so we should have the shitty insurance companies health care.


Kristol: I'm suggesting our soldiers deserve better health care...


Stewart: They deserve the best. They have the best government run health care money can buy.
So, it is possible for the government to provide "the best" health care available, Kristol simply doesn't think that the American people deserve it. That's an astonishing admission.

The level of health care you deserve, as far as Kristol is concerned, is based on what you can afford either financially or due to your level of service. He's not denying that different levels of healthcare exist in the US, he's actually celebrating and defending such a notion based on what he perceives as your entitlement.

Hat tip to Crooks and Liars.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Who Is The Most Trusted Man in American News?


Notice how keen both of these newscasters are to assure us that no-one would laugh more at the fact that Jon Stewart is the most trusted man in American news than Jon Stewart himself. Apparently, it's simply a joke that Stewart could top such a poll.

But it's simply a lie to say the Stewart would find this funny. Indeed, he's spoken out before about how he feels the news media are failing the people of the United States.

Here he is on Crossfire, berating the news media.



The reason that Jon Stewart is the most trusted of all the newsmen - despite the fact that he is actually a comedian - is that Stewart, at least, cuts through the bullshit.

But I find it funny that these two newscasters are so keen to make out that Stewart leading this poll is such a joke. He actually has more integrity than any of the others, which is why we all respect him so much.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Drawing a Chorus Line in the Sand.

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I swear, sometimes Jon Stewart is the only person on the planet who is left talking sense. Here, he takes on the non-release of the photographs and gays in the military.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Jon Stewart Inflicts Discomfort on Cliff May.

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Cliff may turns up with a rehearsed and utterly disingenuous argument. And, when he argues that it's ridiculous to expect anyone to abide by the Geneva Conventions when it comes to terrorists, Jon Stewart does well to remind him that those are actually the rules America signed up to.

Cliff May insists that this is simply an argument about where to draw the line. Stewart says that he draws the line where America has drawn the line for 200 years.

And that's the insanity of the current Republican position, they no longer even sound like Americans.

What Stewart is talking about is how the US should treat prisoners. Chris Orr covers this point:
...when a group of combatants are badly outnumbered, or surrounded, or otherwise very, very unlikely to win a conflict, they have a considerable incentive to surrender--but only if they believe they will subsequently be treated with mercy. That is why individuals, and nations, surrender. If, by contrast, a group of combatants believes that, by surrendering, they are only making themselves vulnerable to further harm--specifically torture and/or death--they have no incentive at all to stop fighting.

Friday, April 03, 2009

The Ever Spending Story

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Stewart takes apart Republican reaction to Obama's budget. But nowhere is their hypocrisy clearer than in their reaction to the process of reconciliation, where a simple majority is enough to pass legislation.

Here we see Judd Gregg denounce reconciliation as an affront to democracy, but Stewart has also managed to find a video clip in which Gregg defends the Bush administration's use of reconciliation with the words, "Reconciliation is a rule of the Senate set up under The Budget Act. Is there something wrong with majority rule? I don't think so."

Of course, once Bush used reconciliation to push through his tax cuts for the wealthy, it was only a matter of time before the Democrats realised that they too could do this. Which makes Republican outrage all the funnier.

One of the things which always amazed me about Bush and Cheney's claims of expansive executive power is that one day this power would reside in the hands of the Democrats.

Of course, I was unaware that the Republicans - having spent eight years arguing for something - would simply U-turn and claim that they very things which they spent eight years defending were now illegal again.

It's as if they didn't know that we have things called TV's and that we can record and replay stuff which they said before...

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Former Congressman Calls for Investigation of CNBC's Jim Cramer .



I thought something might come out of Cramer's appearance on the Daily Show as Cramer did seem to falter when Stewart pushed him on whether or not he was admitting to have taken part in certain activities or simply giving a "hyperbolic" example when he stated:

“You know, a lot of times when I was short and I was positioned short, meaning I needed it down, I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the futures,” Cramer said in the three year-old video. “Similarly, or if I were long, and I would want to make things a little bit rosy, I would go in and take a bunch of stocks and make sure that they’re higher and maybe commit five million in capital to it and I could affect it.”
This prompted this exchange:
Cramer: "I didn't do this."

Stewart: "It sounded like you were taking about that you had done it."

Cramer: "Then I was inarticulate."
Now, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., once chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, is saying that Cramer is the reason why hedge funds should be considered for more regulation.
“I think he’s become a poster child for why hedge funds need more regulation and transparency,” Davis said.

When asked if what Cramer said was illegal, Davis admitted that it was not, but “should be. He may well have crossed the line.”


Davis suggested the powers that be “ought to be looking at” Cramer’s confessed manipulation from 2006. “I think the tragedy is over the last few years nobody’s been looking at this at all.”
The irony of all of this is that Stewart was never actually going after Cramer specifically, he was going after CNBC's coverage of the markets and Cramer inserted himself into this battle by decrying Stewart as simply "a comedian" with Scarborough correcting him that Stewart was actually "an ideologue."

Anyone who saw the programme will know that Cramer made a huge error taking on "the comedian" as "the comedian" had done his homework and knocked Cramer repeatedly to the floor.

Now there are even Republicans calling for Cramer to be investigated. I feel this is one battle he would have been wiser not to have engaged in.

Click title for full article.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Gibbs on Stewart vs. Cramer: 'I Enjoyed It Thoroughly.'



Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, talks of Cramer's appearance on Jon Stewart's Daily Show and admits that he "thoroughly enjoyed it" and that he is not surprised that there is no mention of it at all on the CNBC website.

It just goes to show how much Stewart creamed Cramer that the subject should actually be raised during a White House press call.

UPDATE:



Even Lou Dobbs has to admit that Stewart took Cramer to pieces.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Jon Stewart DESTROYS Jim Cramer.

Part 1.



Part 2.



Jim Cramer has spent the last week going around every right wing talking shop that will have him and complaining - with the help of Scarborough and others - that Jon Stewart is making cheap calls when he slags off CNBC for the financial advice it dispenses.

Last night, Cramer finally appeared with Stewart on the Daily Show. I don't think Cramer was in any way prepared for what Stewart had in store for him. Using clips, which Cramer couldn't have possibly known that he had up his sleeve, Stewart utterly creamed him.

By the end of the numerous clips, Cramer practically held up a white flag.

Jon Stewart may be a comedian but, in this instance, he acts almost as if he is the prosecutor. Cramer would have done better to stick to moaning to Scarborough and others, because Stewart decimates him here.
"It's disingenous at best and criminal at worst."
Ouch...

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Cramer Responds to Stewart w/ Help from Scarborough.



There's something really odd about the unhinged Jim Cramer's reaction to this piece by Jon Stewart. The man is simply unbalanced.

And it's hysterical to listen to Scarborough bemoan the fact that, when Bush was in office, Stewart used to "speak truth to power" and now that Obama is in power there's "nothing funny about attacking the president".

I feel like saying, "Physician, heal thyself."

The truth is that Stewart mocks people and Obama, at this moment in time, simply does not lend himself to mockery as easily as Bush did or, indeed, as the financial wizards who assured us that all was well before the financial collapse do.

But the notion that Stewart is "an ideologue" and that the people at Fox News and other cable stations have not changed their tune towards the president - now that a Democrat is in office - is simply ludicrous. O'Reilly and others, who demanded that one must offer total support to the president "at a time of war" have now performed a 180 degree turn and now view "holding the administration to account" as their most patriotic duty.

So, Scarborough is accusing Jon Stewart of a crime of which he, himself, is equally guilty.

But, one thing is very clear; Stewart has really, really got under their skin.

Saturday, March 07, 2009