The Daily Show's Primary Wrap: West Virginia And A Chris Matthews "Douche-Off" (VIDEO)

The Daily Show dissected network coverage of the West Virgina primary Wednesday night. From misinformed West Virginia voters to Hillary Clinton taking a kid's money to a heated exchange between Terry McAuliffe and MSNBC talking head Chris Matthews (a "West Virginia Douche-Off"), Stewart covered it all.

Watch:

Comments

[GeorgeGlass]

The reappearance of Smug Jon Stewart. He pops up once every few months (usually when Chris Matthews is involved.) I prefer regular funny Jon. Ah well.

[pithy]

Thought the show was funny, but never have understood the Clinton's delight in having their main support come from blue-collar, under-educated folks.

Hmmmm - what does that say, exactly? That people who don't know, or don't care to know, about the issues, other than lapel pins and middle names, are the folks they brag about as pulling the lever for them?

Not getting it here in upstate New York, where a little edumucation tells me that our Senator, Sen. Clinton - has done bupkus for us bumpkins.

[Phylmom]

Moonie - no way to reply below
You seem to misunderstand that I am criticizing the Confederate flag. Of course I am. But I would point out it is much more common down south than in West Virginia. I used to live in North Carolina and saw it all the time. They don't seem to be being criticized now though.

Is that supposed to be good that people in other parts of the country hide their racism and sexism? And West Virginians are more honest about it? God love honesty. One thing I love about Appalachian people - no pretense, no fakeness, no posturing. And will give you the shirt off their back.

So. When Barack wins in November I will celebrate also, wave my yard sign, and then hope and pray that prejudice against Appalachian people will be the next to go.

[KarenKaren]

Appalachia is beautiful country with good people a plenty.

[MrWinky]

No doubt. But also full of plenty of people who are underinformed and hates them some black folk

[moonie]

No it isn't good that people hide their racism and sexism, heck at least I knew where they stood on the issues! But trust me, I wasn't looking for this information, it was just "given" to me. Trust me, I'd rather stick to the weather. I am also in the business of dealing with a "variety" of people, so my daily interactions were considerably different then yours. Trust me, both of my parents are teachers and we often compare horror stores. My job has put me in situations that my life has been threatened and I even had a gun pulled on me. After doing some research I will concede that Hillary may have done better in WV because the Clintons are very popular there, and yes, West Virginians are very loyal (except for Rich Rodriguez-I know-low blow). Perhaps Obama would have done better if he campaigned. I just hope they are loyal to all Democrats :) Go 'Neers!

[MrWinky]

Well, certainly nobody can say they are hypocrites, but I think I am going to wait awhile before I applaud bigotry, whether straightforward or concealed.

[Kaur]

O.K., for anyone who DOESN"T think it was totally funny, you take yourself too seriously and need to come up for air!

[NicoleAnonymous]

I just thought of a really funny show - they should have O'Reilly go on Colbert's show and be interviewed.

[spec4F]

It's been done already.

http://www.jimmyr.com/blog/Colbert_Interview_O_reilly_18_2007.php

[kempis]

Wow. Jon Stewart.

He was funny once.

[Phylmom]

Help! I started reading Huffington Post because I heard it was for liberals. I keep reading and I only see two or three liberals posting here. Where are all the liberals?

[wolfgangmo]

Dude, it is still an enclave for liberals, but it has been suggested by certain right wing nutjob radio shows that the great Fighting 101st Underpants Brigade of the right wing blog-o-sphere engage from their mother's basements.

Believe me that the liberals are still here, it is just that we are being engaged by trolls right now. This is a recent thing.

This reminds me of a joke that I heard in Oregon. During the great migration when pioneers first came to the west coast on the Oregon trail the early pioneers would come to a crossroads where one road lead north to Oregon and another lead south to California [probably the OC area]. The road to the north had a sign that said "This is the road to Oregon." The road to the south had a sign that was just an arrow pointing south.

The joke is that the settlers who could read went north. [with all due respect to those of you in CA]

For some reason this joke reminds me the current group of misguided and thinking impaired fools who jerk their knees at anything that even smells of sense.

[Phylmom]

Well, I hope it is all the conservatives who are posting bigoted remarks about West Virginia.

[Phylmom]

And while we're at it, let's investigate all those feminist organizations in New York and Washington who are supporting Hillary. I bet they have all been infiltrated by covert West Virginia operatives, ignorant inbred hillbillies who are posing as feminists. And once they have caused havoc, they will slink back to West Virginia and start picking their banjos.

Obama '08

[Phylmom]

I've got an idea. Let's just nuke West Virginia. Then we would be a great country. Without West Virginia, we would be progressive. After all, West Virginia made us invade Iraq. Oh, and it's West Virginia's fault we're too ignorant to provide national health care. And those ignorant West VIrginians made us allow the oil companies to get away with highway robbery. And if it wasn't for West Virginia, we wouldn't have any hate crimes in the US. And without West Virginia nobody would have voted for Bush and Cheney. And without West Virginia we would be protecting the environment. Oh, those dastardly West Virginians. They have so much power for evil. Let's just get rid of them.

[PuffAndStuff]

Funny stuff, as always.


And here's some GREAT new song to listen to. This is sure to be a #1 hit, it's going platinum ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2YDq6FkVE

.......... Gotta get this thing downloaded onto my ipod!

[Phylmom]

Oh, I see where lots of NARAL chapters are supporting Hillary and protesting the endorsement of Obama. I see a plot. They're all West Virginia women. And they've disguised themselves so it won't be noticed they are ignorant and inbred and are pretending to be NARAL people. And then when they succeed, they'll go on and disguise themselves as other types of Americans. Oh, those devious hillbillies! We have to stop them in their tracks.

Obama '08

[NicoleAnonymous]

It reminds me of the Borat movie where they make fun ignorant Americans - it was funny but at the same time I felt bad for some of the people.

There are ignorant Americans everywhere even in "sophisticated" cities including SF sometimes.

[Phylmom]

Isn't that the truth. And one of the strongest lingering stereotypes is the one about people from Appalachia. You can sure prove it by this thread. Pretty appalling, actually.

[NicoleAnonymous]

There is always the possibility that they weren't even real people - they could have used actors to make it funnier.

I'm not an expert at political campaigns but the only thing I would have done slightly different with Obama is had him spend more time with people in smaller towns around the country, speaking to them, eating at their restaurants, walking around with them, instead of making speeches to thousands of people in large arenas not because I think it's important myself but because some people think of him as an elite liberal type.

But they haven't shown him hanging out with many celebrities and I think that is really smart - I've never thought celebrity endorsement were a good idea.

[Roses]

I had my eyes open when I had to move around the country because of a job. I lived and worked in both rural areas and urban areas. Trying to explain my local friends to my friends and relatives in other areas caused me to run into so much prejudice, I would never have believed it! Lucky my kids saw it first-hand. They are much more open-minded. They are Obama supporters too.
My motto became jerks is jerks no matter where you are, no matter who you talk with.
Obama '08

[Phylmom]

Yes, I think it works both ways. People in rural areas need exposure to other cultures, but people in cities also need exposure to people in rural areas and small cities. It cuts both ways. And unfortunately the Appalachian region has a history of over a hundred years of stereotypes which allowed the country to justify ripping off our natural resources. Based on the comments here they also don't seem to understand it's pretty much the same here as it is everywhere.

Nice to have an intelligent and reasonable exchange here for once. I get the sense most of these posters are about fourteen years old. At least I hope so, that would be a bit easier to take.

[NicoleAnonymous]

I think the problem with states that don't have many major cities is just that people need exposure to other cultures and sometimes that doesn't happen in smaller states with lots of rural cities. And when people don't interact with people different than them then they might start believing the stereotypes.

But then again people seem kind of segregated even in major cities - when I was living on the UWS in nyc there was less diversity than I had expected. It was mostly white people and the UES is the same. The only minorities I saw were nannies or people working in restaurants.

[PoliticJunkie]

"I want you to say the douchiest things possible to each other while still smiling..." isn't that exactly what Stewart was doing in this segment? He's funny but he can be so hypocritical when he gets on his soapbox.

[MrWinky]

I think I would assert Stewart's point on Crossfire (sort of):

Matthews: Face of a major network and journalist/pundit
McAuliffe: Head of a Campaign of former First Lady/Senator/ and Presidential Hopeful.
Stewart: Comedian whose show follows puppets making crank phone calls.

Now, who out of these threes should aspire to a higher level of behavior?

[Pometacom]

The test for race in the WV primary is simple: would John Edwards running against Hillary have been defeated so badly (74-26)? I don't think so. Edwards might have won, since white male voters probly would have selected the man over the woman candidate. There is no question that Obama lost a sig. # of votes due to the media's portrayal of him as a "black man." I thought it funny that the first woman interviewed seemed unaware that Obama's mother is white -- guess that doesn't count.

[PoliticJunkie]

Overall the segment was pretty funny and the Matthews/McAuliffe segment was skillfully edited. On the other hand its disturbing to me that Stewart keeps leveling these personal attacks against Matthews, who I respect for his gutsy interview style. Its almost like Stewart has some kind of personal animosity that keeps him dragging up Matthews for attacks fit for the like of Bush cronies.

[elbzee]

Could you be inferring that West Virginians are uninformed?

[Scarllatti]

Wow, I have never know how bad ignorance permeates folks in WV until now. This is eye popping.

[Phylmom]

You're the one who is ignorant. You are judging an entire state by three women.

[MrWinky]

Actually, he may be judging by the 41% margin which Obama lost by. Didn't seem to jive with the results in the rest of the states, which was kind of the whole point of the skit.

I guess the people of Appalachia are just really more into health care mandates than people suspected....

[dairyair]

I don't think he/she was judging the whole state by 3 women. I think it was by their lopsided voting. The 3 women just portrayed the states thoughts.

[Phylmom]

Look at national polls, for example, about how many people think Obama is a Muslim. There's a sizeable percentage. They aren't all in WV. Why would assume WV is different from the rest of the nation?

[Phylmom]

How did those 3 women provide the state's thoughts? Most West Virginians don't think that way. Why would you assume that because people voted for Hillary Clinton that they feel that way? Do you assume that about other states that voted for HIllary Clinton?

Obama '08

[LoloZ]

Is there still "strange fruit" hanging from trees in West Virginia????

[Phylmom]

No, you idiot. How about in your state? When's the last lynching you had?

[LoloZ]

Stewart has never been funnier. I think WV will never live down some of the scary glimpses we have seen. I don't care how "nice" people on this post say West Virginians are, from what we have seen they are still bigoted, close minded, ignorant and uninformed. These people are an embarassmen! Before I vote i look at the candidates' views, read about them, make a semi-intelligent decision. These people are incapable of rational thought, and the brief clips we saw are something out of the twilight zone.

[Phylmom]

You are the embarrassment. You are totallly bigoted prejudiced person. Look in the mirror and then point fingers.

[Johnagain]

"from what we have seen they are still bigoted, close minded, ignorant and uninformed."

This is not true. Only 74% of them are.

[Phylmom]

So where do you get your 74 percent? I suppose anyone who votes for Hillary is ignorant? That's a lot of ignorant Americans out there.

Obama '08