Daily Show's Stewart 'Quietly Visiting' Ailing Iraq Soldiers

Comedy Central's Jon Stewart was in Washington, DC Tuesday night for the USO-Metro Awards Dinner, where the Daily Show host was honored with a Merit Award from Joint Chiefs vice-chair General James Cartwright. If it seems an odd fit for a comic who consistently lampoons the Bush administration, the Washington Post's Reliable Source informs readers that all the comedic comfort Stewart gives critics of the Iraq War is matched by his efforts to comfort our wounded soldiers:

Turns out the comedian has been quietly visiting soldiers at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals, trips he began in 2004 to better understand the Iraq war. "I felt that I was living in a world of theory," he told the audience, "but I hadn't touched the reality and the humanity of it." The first patient he met was "funnier than I was" -- and Stewart's been a regular ever since.

Stewart told the Post, "I certainly get a lot more out of it than they do...If anything, it's made me angrier... You can be for the war, against the war, but you can't be uninformed about it. To see the human cost is part of the equation."

RELATED:

The 3,999th Was Important, Too [HuffPo]
Alive Day Memories From Iraq: A Focus On The Walking (And Wheeling, And Crutching) Wounded [HuffPo]
America Supports You: Star-Struck Marines Meet, Greet Celebrities [Military Connection]
Cause and effect [TONY]
Greg Mitchell: The 'Unsung Heroes' in 5 Years of War -- Even Stephen Colbert [HuffPo]
Paul Rieckoff: Troops Die While Bureaucrats Blunder: The Fight Against Red Tape [HuffPo]
Jon Soltz: Helping The Wounded During the Season of Giving [HuffPo]

The Bob Woodruff Family Fund

Comments

[marykins123]

Thanks Jon. What is great about this article is that Stewart had to get an award before we hear about it.....that shows me that is was done from the heart, not like a Bush/Cheney/McCain/Leiberman/and many on the other side of the aisle - just a photo op.

[zona9]

Let me get this straight..Jon Stewart visited soldiers, not to comfort them or make them laugh, but for his own selfish interest? This is a man who has done everything in his power to undermine the soldiers efforts in Iraq(literally, from day 1 when he refused to show the celebrating Iraqis on the Daily Show for more than a nano second-going so far as to scold the audience for feeling happy on the Iraqis behalf)has the balls to pick up an award for..what? Using injured soldiers for his own selfish curiosity? And you people are praising him for that? Most of the people on this board would spit on a soldier if given the chance but Stewart is a hero for exploiting them?

[rini]

Let me guess. You didn't like Jon before you read the article and you didn't like him because he is against the war.

I guess you are one of the few stragglers that still think that the administration was actually honest about freeing the Iraqis, despite papers written by Cheney, years ago describing his desire to control mideast oil, despite the massive profits his corporation has earned through no-bid contracts and despite the proven lies and misinformation about Saddam and previous business deals with this evil tyrant. You probably believed the predictions that we would be out of there in weeks or months as well.

Jon was curious because he CARES about what our brave soldiers have been through and wants to see the costs of this war in person, so that his opinion is well informed....really selfish.

[jbunyon]

I bet you have a support the troops magnet on your SUV or Hummer. More like support a magnet comapny. Jon makes me laugh because he exposes the medias inability to ask one meaningful question. That's why you don't like Jon. He visited the troops because it's the right thing to do. What when Bush visits them it's the kiss of death. "Bring em on"

[ethancorso]

What a vile post. You should be ashamed.

[AnotherMike]

zona9 isn't an idiot.
...As far as I know.

[jukesgrrl]

LOL.

[Binx101]

Funny ... I thought the underlying article was about Soldiers honoring Stewart.

Goodness, wait until General James Cartwright realizes what he's done !!!

[mamacat]

In an age when the so-called news media can do no better than Anderson Cooper, Jon Stewart holds up their idiocy to the light of day.
It wasn't bad enough that Fake News carved a niche for itself, the rest of the media have pretty much competed among themselves to see who can be the most irrelevant. Today, Comedy Central and PBS are the closest thing that we have to actual electronic news outlets. Those people who cannot get cable TV, or the NYT or foreign newspapers over the internet, are left with little more than the RNC spinmeisters spewing their lies and hate. Can our democracy survive without a fourth estate?

[Durango]

Yeah, and PBS, with thee HUGE exception of Bill Moyers, hasn't done that great a job. Yes Frontline last week was excellent. But it was 5 years too late.

[indypete]

Man, this story has stirred up a LOT of fights! The threads are outrageous! First time my short attention span has lasted through 5 pages of comments!

[DietrichMoody]

Well, LET IT STAY QUIET. There are a lot of others doing it quietly too.

[march1950]

Your a good guy Jon Stewart.

[karela]

Thanks Jon.

[Meah]

I don't always like Jon's guests, but I always like Jon.
I think he wants us to know what these nutcases are like.
He never actually agrees with them; he often takes the opposite view.
Except Kristol. It annoys me to see that guy.
Regardless.
All in all:

Jon Stewart has class.

[Aanya]

Jon Stewart is a magnificent human being! The difference between the rethugs and the Dems is that we have all the good and decent and caring people! People who feel for others! People who care about others. People who would willingly pay a few more dollars in taxes to make life better for others!

[WomanInOrangeSweater]

I'm sure if you really tried you could come up with some decent, caring republicans. And some absolutely hideous democrats.
When you start lumping people into groups and judging them before you know them, isn't that a form of bigotry? I'm an independent because I don't think down any party line. Where do we fit into your world view?

[alkamm]

The problem with postulating "decent, caring republicans" is that they wish to define who is decent, who is caring, and who is patriotic in terms that are remarkably similar to the bills they pass in Newspeak.

Instead of the cold eye of conservative practicality, they have substituted the empty rhetoric of their corporate and Bush crony masters.

We have seen Clean Air bills that pollute the air further, Healthy Forest acts that cut down forests, and a war that must be won by continuing to lose it.

The Republicans have lumped themselves into a group of very self-satisfied reactionaries, and their misplaced loyalties have brought the country to a level of incompentence that is beyond belief. Their narrow partisanship and win by any means tactics translate poorly in both domestic and foreign agendas.

Independents need to realize that they should take positions that will lead the country away from the hateful politics championed by Republicans that have devolved into simple minded, borrow and spenders who will support anybody who promises to cut taxes on the rich and reduce compassion for those the rich oppress here and abroad.

Republicans may be decent and cariing, but when they try to win elections by fear mongering and appealing to our baser nature, or by calling the war in Iraq successful, they not only strain credulity, but also their own moral and political compasses.

[MACS]

.
I notice that none of the flag lapel wearering self proclaimed PATRIOTS from FAUX NOISE received equal mention.

[TabysGrandma]

The people like Billo just complain about the USO without knowing the things they do. They don't just put on the shows overseas, they make sure our service men and women have care packages, food at the airports, etc. I don't think he ever apolized to them for his negative comments about them.

[MACS]

.
Jon understands the compassion of Bob Hope.
.

[transendentilist]

And Al Franken. Al has been to Iraq 5 times now to entertain the troops.

[MACS]

.
Jon, a man teaching the fundamentalist conservatives how to be compasionate. Another great job completed.
.

[redisright]

fundamentalist conservatives all go to church and donate. The second largest charity (next to the US government) is christian churches.

[fatmo]

The fundamentalists believe in the Bible and are pushing to have the 10 commandments put in all our public buildings as this is the only thing written by the hand of God.

Now the only problem is The lord wrote thou shall not kill, he did not put in any fine print or signing statements giving any ecceptions to this rule. So if you really believe in the Bible you have to be against this war. All other things in the Bible calling for war were written by men.

[lanny6]

Bless you Jon.

[irishgawdess]

Well, I guess I can forgive Jon now for putting repeats of the Daily Show on this week. ;-P)

Jon has managed to keep his personal life out of the rags, but when you read something like this it makes you proud to be a fan. Colbert as well; nothing could ever beat his public service "performance" at the 2006 White House Correspondents dinner.

[Oridaman]

John Prine has a song that says, "your flag decal won't get you into heaven any more." How true!

[Joeblue]

Don't forget "Sam Stone".

[transendentilist]

Or Tom Traubert's Blues, by Tom Waits.

[Cathy11-]

A fine person and a real patriot.

[happycat]

That he is Cathy. He's amazing.