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."

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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

[PlanetKansas]

John Stewart has class. Let's not forget G.D Trudeau of Doonesbury who the US miliary also honored for similar efforts which includes a lot of visits to veterans health counseling centers. Read the strip and you see no judgement, but a lot of subtle inside commentary of what a soldiers life is like.

These two men are common targets of the right wing, but I don't think the soldiers would be as impressed by a visit from the likes of Rush Limbaugh. They can see behind their agenda.

[Jeff1958]

Do you know why Garry Trudeau is off until mid-June?

[LivingStardust]

Jon, you seem like a very decent man. And despite your self-deprecation in saying that you are "just telling jokes", I would like to thank you for cleaning off the political eye of many who would otherwise have been marginalized into apathy by the MSM. Intentional or not, sir, you have done the U.S. a great service. Thomas Jefferson would gladly shake your hand and call you friend and a patriot, as would I. He might not have laughed at your jokes as much as me, but he was a bit dour at times. Thank you for visiting our wounded and providing comfort to those who pay for other's bad decisions with their lives and health. You are an example of what is good in America.

[kellygrrrl]

Jon Stewart 08 ;)

[Mr Grey]

Bravo! Well done.

[joelaf]

If I may paraphase a Stewart joke to illustrate America's position on the world front;

A group of student protestors gathered in the Middle East to protest the US's involvement.

They chanted F**k the US, F**k the US. They worked themselves into such a frenzy that they started attacking each other physically.

During the bloodshed, a new battle cry emerged;

"Where the F**K is the US ????????"

His original substituted the world Police for US.

[Mort]

My respect for you just went way up.

[bola47]

and where are the pro-war fox network people?

[oncesung]

Okay, okay...I guess I'll go back to watching the asscrack, even though I emailed CC to say I would NEVER turn the show on again after he invited the blowsy Clinton waft into the Daily Shew right before the Ohio/Tex/RI/Vt primaries. The jerk. But it's going to be hard to work up the guffaws like before.

[cowman]

You know he spent the entire segment before she appeared mocking her, right?

[WomanInOrangeSweater]

Jon Stewart is the greatest. The press could learn a thing or two from him.

[indypete]

Since Jon has been doing this since 04 and this is the first we're hearing of it, he seems to want to keep this to himself so perhaps we should respect his wishes and not go shouting it from the rooftops, much as we'd like to. Having said that, I think I'll shout it from the rooftops! Jon, you never cease to amaze... get in the race and run for prez! On a perhaps cynical note, I wonder what his CIA (or FBI or whatever B-I-bicky-­bo-alphabe­t-soup agency) tail makes of his visits? (You know a guy that says the things Jon says is under surveillance!)

[wndrwrthg]

Great Stooges reference.

[indypete]

Thanks for noticing!

[lucycountessofbedford]

And that is why he's my imaginary boyfriend.

[Delphine]

Look, I'll wrestle you for him. I'll bring the imaginary mud.

[FDRbyGodDemocrat]

I'll pay imaginary money to watch ...

[pattio66]

screw you hags, he's MINE!

[AnChicago]

Hey, he's MY imaginary boyfriend! I've got dibs.

[sleepless]

Jion, please ask our troops what they think about your kid glove interviews with McCain on TDS. Just askin.

[wisechild]

You must be sleepless to ask this question.

I take exception to the 'kid gloves' interview comment as the last several visits from McCain, he was grilled and in truth, there is some affection between them that goes back 8 years.

this is a comedy show, btw, and the fact that Stewart is able to gather these folks to his show says something about its impact. It also says that fair and balanced lives on TDS and not Faux News where they lie in wait to humiliate their 'opposition'

[Brainspore]

Just contrast Jon's classy behavior with Bill O'Rielly's self-aggrandizing visit with the troops he helped to put in harm's way. Now there is a man who can't do ANYTHING quietly.

[AreYouFibbing]

Jon Stewart is to be commended and admired. Bushco could learn a thing or two from him.

[ajax2]

It is no longer quiet.