London Calling: Enough Jon Stewart/John McCain Comments Already -- An Explanation

I'm writing a post script on Jon Stewart's ongoing relationship with Senator John McCain because the first piece I wrote provoked such a strong reaction.

I've written five pieces for the Huffington Post and the most comments any of them had drawn was just over one hundred. This last article has attracted 285 comments and counting.

Apparently, I've struck a nerve.

First, let me deal with those (relatively few) of you who called what I wrote an "attack piece".

Remember how I started the article?

Where I said "I'm a fan of Jon Stewart... The Daily Show is a welcome breath of tart air...(that) struck a collective chord amongst Americans... Stewart's contribution to the Iraq debate...desperately needed to be heard...should not be underestimated...his skill as an interviewer is something to behold... at times, it is pure genius...(Stewart) provided a public service when he went on Crossfire...blowing that broadcast and Tucker Carlson right off CNN's airwaves."

And, yes, all that positive stuff was followed by a "but", but it was there.

Many of the comments you posted agreed with my argument, so I'm not the only one who thinks John McCain has been on the show far too often (eleven times, more than any other guest).

And many of you were vitriolic about McCain, far worse than what I wrote about him, but that's typical of the kind of language in the space.

Overall, three main themes emerged from your arguments.

1/ Relax - it's a comedy show!

2/ You're wrong - Stewart doesn't always give McCain a free pass, sometimes he can be tough on him.

3/ And there was the issue of whether it is appropriate that The Daily Show continues to feature interviews with war supporters, be they politicians like John McCain, or hawkish pundits, like Bill Kristol.

Dealing with them in reverse order:

Despite what many of you wrongly inferred, I have no quarrel with Stewart interviewing people of that ilk on his show. Let me refer you back to the piece:

"I get that Stewart likes to have people on his program who see things differently to the way he does. He is already broadcasting to the converted; he shouldn't always be interviewing them. He understands, too, that the conflict of ideas and ideologies makes for good TV."

Are we clear on that? As for those of you who believe there is no place for the pro-war argument on The Daily Show, I happen to disagree. But let's leave it there.

On the second point; that Stewart has been tough on McCain in the past, so it's OK to lob some softballs his way now and again.

I am aware of previous encounters that have been more confrontational than the happy-talk interview from the campaign bus, which is why I have never complained about the relationship before.

This is how I see it: much of journalism (and, yes, I consider what Stewart does to be a form of journalism, more on that later) comes down to context. And the problem I had with the happy-talk, campaign bus interview was the context.

It took place immediately after the Petraeus Show in Washington, in which John McCain played a shameful, supporting role.

He went on Meet The Press and mischaracterized (or lied about) what the general said. He mischaracterized (or lied about) what others had said about the general's testimony. Senator McCain even misquoted (or lied about) what he himself had said to the general in the Senate committee.

This was a candidate for president, lying repeatedly in order to prolong an illegal war that has already claimed tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of innocent lives.

Then he went on the road and said that MoveOn should be thrown out of the country for running that ad in the New York Times.

That was the context in which Jon Stewart and John McCain did their little happy-talk number from the bus.

And that was my point: this was no time to play softball with a warmonger. The stakes are just too high.

Finally, on the "Relax - it's a comedy show!" argument.

I'm sorry, but I don't consider The Daily Show to be just a comedy show. And not because I lack a sense of humor.

I don't doubt that back when Jon Stewart took the job, a comedy show was what he had in mind.

But, as the song says, a lot of things changed after 9/11. The first time Stewart went on the air after the attacks, he wasn't at all funny. He was deadly serious and emotional, because it was no time to be cracking jokes.

And, in the years since, we've been tuning in to The Daily Show in huge numbers, and not just for laughs.

Political satire is only funny when it contains an element of truth. Truth is what mainstream US media have been lacking, post 9/11. And truth, couched in humor, was what Jon Stewart had to offer.

We watch The Daily Show because we have come to rely on Stewart to ask the kinds of questions that mainstream media have failed to ask, because they've been afraid of the political or commercial repercussions.

Does anyone out there think that, if this was just a comedy show, Fox News would have felt the need to respond to it, with that awful Half Hour News Hour (R.I.P.)?

That was a strategic, political response from Fox, in order to blunt the impact that Jon Stewart was having in the debate on the war, particular among young Americans.

In a way, I feel sorry for the guy. Jon Stewart is a comic, who through circumstance, and a rare combination of talent, insight, conscience and courage has become an important voice at a time when too many Americans have remained silent.

There are probably occasions when he scratches his head and wonders how it happened; that a guy who plays it for laughs has come to be relied upon by so many people.

But he's plenty smart enough to understand why we hold him to the standards he has set for himself.

It comes with the territory.

Yes, Jon Stewart is an accidental journalist. But he is one of the biggest dogs we have in this fight. And we need him to be on his game.

Even, in fact, especially, when he's got John McCain on the show.

Comments

[Opus007]

Maybe a little too much McCain. Jon is brilliant. Last night's (Tues 9/25) interview with the president of Bolivia was GREAT! You would never get this stuff from the networks. Never.

[Ryan007]

Right on Mr. Gizbert and many of the posters above! As you point out, the Daily Show is great and hilarious, but it's great and hilarious in large part because the times we live in are so ridiculous and the "real news" and many "real journalists" are so awful. In that environment Jon Stewart and the Daily Show have become very important and provide a serious service to keep us all sane and keep once seemingly decent guys-turned sellout fools like John McCain from getting a free pass in front of large audiences. The one thing I will say though, I have some confidence in most Daily Show viewers to see through the crap, even if its crap from our guy Jon Stewart.

[stlrfan]

Jon Stewart could difuse this whole contraversay by wearing a tinfoil hat when he interviews McCain.

[dinger]

Despite how you may view him, Jon Stewart is not a journalist. You are very, very wrong.

[in4success]

certainly not in the journalistic league of o'reilly, hannity, beck, gibson or tucker.

[JimR]

Points taken, though I still think you are taking this WAAAAAAAAAAY too seriously.

[transendentilist]

Yes, I think so too. The people you want to be serious are those that have the pwoer to change things. Stewart is a comedian, not a politician. It's Congress and the white house that need to be forthright and say when things are wrong.
Stewart is a mirror, and narcissitic politicos like McCain just show us how foolish they are by preening their own reflection.

[LanceThruster]

I see your point. When virtually all we have left is a jester to speak truth to power, we cannot afford for them to pull any punches.

[MHainds]

I buy -- your argument.

[nowaterboardUSA]

My 2 cents worth. I think Stewart may have the same problem with getting as tough with McCain as he deserves because he doesn't want to be perceived as being like the Rove attack machine in the year 2000 campaign that implied McCain was crazy amoung other things. I respect McCain's service to our country, but about this war he is dead wrong. It's a conundrum.

[ljsfolly]

I too question why McCain shows up too often on the Daily Show. Since he has lied and danced with Bush and approved of the death caused by a war built on lies I find him hard to even look at much less listen to. I love the Daily Show and Jon because he has walked the line and at times crossed it to be the one person who would tell the truth about what is happening in our country and in the war. I do not understan why Jon feels he must show any support or extra tube time with McCain and so I turn it off when he has him on now. I don't want to be examined for for I turn him off the time he has McCain on I just no longer want my head filled up with crap and that is what McCain is full of. Whatever reason Jon has I will leave it with him but I have to qoestion why it's so important to Jon to support him as that is all I can see.

[deedrdo]

an excerpt from stewert's interview with bill moyers:

MOYERS: You don't think of yourself as a social critic, do you?

STEWART: Social critic? No.

MOYERS: Media critic?

STEWART: No.

MOYERS: You don't?

STEWART: I think of myself as a comedian who has the pleasure of writing jokes about things that I actually care about. And that's really it. You know, if I really wanted to enact social change… I have great respect for people who are in the front lines and the trenches of trying to enact social change. I am far lazier than that.

I am a tiny, neurotic man, standing in the back of the room throwing tomatoes at the chalk board. And that's really it. And what we do is we come in in the morning and we go, "Did you see that thing last night? Aahh!" And then we spend the next 8 or 9 hours trying to take this and make it into something funny.

[LaFilleEnRose]

My only concern with your post, sir, is that Jon Stewart really dislikes being depended on for anything and he really resists criticism.­..sometime­s pushing him the other way. So while your comments may indeed be legit, I didn't see that show, we really don't want Jon Stewart shoving it in your face and booking the war fanatic on once a week just to make a point. That's Jon's only weakness. Like all artists, a bit too touchy.

[realpolitic]

And Jon Stewart's approach shows the very different questioning style of those on the left and the right. Stewart asks thoughtful questions designed to get at the underlying philosophy of the guest. He can point out contradictions or misinformation, however. He always has a respectful, if bemused approach.

Screamers on the right, O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, for example, rarely ask questions which solicit more than a yes or no answer from their interview subjects and always try to back them into a corner with continual interruptions.

The left just doesn't have this whole propaganda thing down as well as the right.

[sandyfeets]

I'm glad to see I was not alone in my observations regarding the treatment of John McCain. Every time he has been a guest I've ranted to my wife and the TV about the free pass John Stewart has given him, which is so uncharacteristic of the rest of his interviews with conservatives. One has only to look at the last visit by Bill Kristol, whom he demolished recently. Sure, John McCain puts on an affable face when he's on the show, but that belies the fact that he's become one of the biggest political whores out there, and deserves to be taken out behind the proverbial woodshed and verbally spanked for his positions.

[shades3]

Because Jon Stewart is not afraid to have guests appear on his show, he has given us a rare glimpse into the minds of those with whom many of us disagree.
He allows them to speak, uninterrupted, but counters that by asking the questions we, if we had the chance, would ask them.
Don't we all want to know why the right wants to continue the war in Iraq? Don't we all want to know why invasion of Iran is a real possibility?
Jon Stewart asks those kinds of questions.­..........­and gets answers!!
May he live long and prosper.

[Bulbul]

I am glad, I am not the only one who thinks McCain appearing on the daily show was a bit too much to digest. Something is very wrong with this picture. A grown man, and press calls his some straight shooter, is nothing but a greedy manupulator. The day he sold his soul to the devil, the bush, that is the day he lost all his credibility to anyone. Is it worth McCain to finish your career by distorting every bit of the truth ? If Stewert can not say it to his face please stop bring him back over and oner again !