Jon Stewart Isn't Funny Any More

Back in 2002 Jon Stewart was pretty darn funny. Heck, if it was a choice between laughing or crying -- I'd rather laugh. And Stewart was mad as hell -- and willing to poke his finger in the eye of the administration. Slowly, I found that he was the only voice I could manage to include in my daily news diet.

I'm beginning to wonder if this Is this really a Democracy any longer?

I've taken to listening to people on the Subway. Around me, as I ride to work, people talk about their children, about their jobs, about their love lives. The chit-chat about the day and the weather and life... mostly mundane things that make up daily life.

No one talks about the war. There's no talk about the economy, or the national debt, or the environment, or the number of soldiers who are dying around the world.

If a tree falls in the forest...

Now Jon Stewart seems exhausted. It's like he knows its no longer a laughing matter. Heck, for all his hard work to lampoon, expose, and humiliate the Bush Administration, it seems to make them stronger. The bigger the lie, the harder it is to truly believe its a lie. Bush wouldn't actually be trying to bankrupt the country... could he? Bush isn't actually trying to make the war so big, so inevitable that the Democrats won't have a way to wind it down. Could he really be that fatalistic in his vision of the future. Clearly, its not funny.

We're not talking about what's happening.

Today Frank Rich reminded me of what has been eating at me most. That in some way I've given up. I've stopped going to protest marches (do they have those any more?). I've stopped calling my congressman. I've stopped thinking that supporting a political candidate can make real change. I've resigned myself to the fact that I don't have the ability to make a difference, or change political tides, or have my voice heard.

I wasn't always this way.

At first, I thought that the Bush administration was engaging in a political coup. That the neo-con's would be seen for what they are, that the war profiteers and oil barons would be arrested, jailed, convicted. Stopped. But then 2004 happened. The passion, drive, anger and hope that fueled the election resulted in a strange ratification of the Bush Administration. You can accept any theory you want, that Kerry was a bad candidate, that there was voter fraud, that the media didn't do it's job as a watchdog, but -- as Jim Loftus, Kerry's Head Press wrangler, said in the gloom of the post election fallout -- "The Universe Hardly Cares."

Ugh. Right he was.

Now, 2006 arrives to set things right. And with great joy and feeling of accomplishment the Democrats win back both the House and the Senate. With great anticipation, i look forward to the righting of our democracy. The prosecution of those who knowingly lied to congress, who mis-led the UN, who pocketed billions of dollars in war proceeds as young men and woman died.

And so Frank Rich.

Wow. He called me a Nazi. Or a Nazi sympathizer. Or at least a Good German who shrugs his shoulders as if to say: "heck, i didn't vote for the guy."

I'm stung by the accusation. As a Jewish American the charge is deeply painful. Does that make Jon Stewart the court Jester? And what about the democrats?

With an election on the horizon (ok, its more than a year away -- but in my current political state of mind, I'm willing to believe that's right around the corner).

My deep sense of foreboding about the health of our Democracy reached a new low two weeks ago as I watched the Democratic Debate at Dartmouth from a hotel room in San Diego. One by one the Democrats acknowledged that the war had no end, that even in the abstract they couldn't imagine a timeline to end our misadventures in Iraq. Sure, not every Democrat said that. But the leaders of the pack, Edwards, Obama, and Clinton all did. We're staying. That's for sure.

So -- on November 5th, when I've gone to the polls and voted for Hillary (probably) and she announces a blue ribbon panel to begin to consider how we can begin to draw down troops over the next 6 years... and at the same time continue to pay blood money to mercenaries (oh, sorry -- 'contractors') who have some strange 077 license to kill... how will I look myself in the mirror.

My party will have the House, the Senate, and the White House. We'll have the political trifecta. And we won't be getting any further out of Iraq than we are now.

What will I say to Frank then?

And -- perhaps worst of all -- what will Jon Stewart have to laugh about?

Follow Steve Rosenbaum on Twitter: www.twitter.com/magnify

Comments

[ConnieInCleveland]

Jon Stewart is the bright spot in my daily life. He makes sense from things that make no sense. I hope he keeps it up until we are eating popcorn watching the Bush/Cheney trials, life on TV. It will beat the Nixon, OJ trials hands down. The FISA laws alone require jail time. It's time we start using our Constitution and recover what respect we as Americans have left.

[castlerider]

Hey, if that fat numbskull Rush can continue to entertain his flock, and continue to be productive then so can the likes of Stewart,
Face it, we have a long, long way to go to get back to the America we once knew, and then on to an even more free and liberated America.

[blackchaps]

Jon Stewart will always be funny. You need a better editor.

[AnotherunhappyDemocrat]

I think the point is that while Jon Stewart is still entertaining, he is not funny, because we have gone past the point of funny.

[josephpatrick]

Please check out:
http://www.politidose.com for my opinion on this and more.

[Ethics101]

It feels like the abyss.

[avergejoe]

Great Post!

[mommadona]

You are suffering from not seeing the forest for the trees.

It happens in every 'tussle' for the soul of a country we all believe we own a part of.

I felt the same in the late 1980s, with Reagan dancing around waving that "football" - it looked like the ideological old fool was going to blow us to Kingdom Come.

If you are on the cutting edge of knowledge and then the protest, sometimes it helps to stop marching forward for a bit, step back, turn around, and look down that long hill at all those people JUST LEARNING THE WHOLE PICTURE.

There is a HUGE 'information flow' gap in this country right now.

People need the information to make the correct analysis of the situations.

The internet and the access to it provides a 'cutting edge' for people lucky enough to have access to it in a timely manner.

That's why I carry postcards I've had made up with the basic facts about BUSHCO, the Mayberry Mafia, and it's effect on our country.

I've never had a person hand one back.

[nunzia]

Mommadonna - if you put your postcard here, I know I can't print from these comments, but I - and probably lots of others here - will copy it and hand them out also. Thanks.

[DavidJames]

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of it, always." Gandhi

Gandhi used homespun to defund the British colonial system. It isn't flashy, but you can defund the Bush administration by maximizing your tax exempt saving and contributions.

[trevor01]

I don't take Frank Rich so seriously. He's hysterical and I don't mean very very funny. Which isn't to say he's wrong - just that when someone is always shouting fire it doesn't much matter to anyone what he has to say.

[nunzia]

trevor01 - you just made his point.

[winterjim]

I wonder why john stewart changed his name?

[CriminallySane]

I wonder why you're asking.

[rabun666]

Probably so he wouldn't be branded Jewish. Some people in this country will not patronize anything Jewish. Ask my mother.

[CriminallySane]

That must also be why he makes so many self-deprecating Jewish jokes.

[lakecat]

Yes it's tempting to feel powerless and it's tempting to be depressed. But we can't give up. It's our country. Yes they do have protest marches but the media doesn't cover them. Sitting in a corner feeling sad is an option. For five minutes. There are good people in government and they are trying to change things (John Conyers, Barbara Lee, dozens of others)and they need our help. They need an informed, involved citezenry. Many of our fellow citizens don't care about anything except themselves and their own comfort. That's not news. It's our country too. Everything you do to help, helps. Even if you can't see it

[jones]

Hello Mr. Rosenbaum,
You sound very depressed. I am too sometimes and reading Frank Rich's column early this morning didn't make it any better.
You will vote for Hillary but I will hope that I can vote for Mr. Obama because he has two little girls. They symbolize the next generation and I believe he wants to make the US a better place for them to inherit as so many families with children do too.
Americans are known for their humor. We got it from the early Jewish immigrants and Black Americans who moved to the city during the Industrial revolution. It saves us because we can laugh at ourselves. That may be our only salvation from what the Bush Administration has done to this country. We can only hope that somehow, in the next year, Americans wake up from this nightmare and take a good look at themselves in their mirrors and want to see something better for their children.

Ann Frank gazed from a window while in hiding and wrote in her diary that people were basically good. I believe this too and despite what has happened, we will continue to bravely laugh at evil as Jon Stewart does. It will keep us from going insane.

[thinkbig]

A question for the group:

Hillary has to talk tough or she will be painted as a weakling woman.

The other pack leaders might be unwilling to make an absolute promise in order to seem pragmatic. Indeed, we don't know what will happen between now and during the next term.

Is it possible that they really do want to end the war as fast as possible but aren't willing to offer absolutes?

What possible motivation would a dem president (not candidate, president) have for keeping the war going?

Seems to me the most likely option is that they are slightly hedging their bets but will end the war as we want them to. Thoughts?

[mommadona]

"What possible motivation would a dem president (not candidate, president) have for keeping the war going?"

The promises made.
The people of influence.
"It's the economy, stupid"
"Some are more equal than others"
Strange Bedfellows
Seeing the light of day
During election time...

I refer you to
THE ALFALFA CLUB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Alfalfa_Club_members

[iburl]

I believe that Hillary is so eager to prove her militaristic credentials that not only will she not say we are getting the troops out of Iraq, she will also NOT get the troops out of Iraq, and I have no doubt whatsoever that she will be just as compliant as Bush was when the Neo-cons roll out their plas for Iraq. After all, she has already voted part of their military to be a terrorist organization. Hillary Clinton will be like Margaret Thatcher, a woman so eager to play in the big boy's club and win the respect of the hawks that she will become a huge, overcompensating chicken hawk, just like them. To hope and pray that Hillary still has some delicious creamy liberal filling is just a fantasy. I'm afraid that there is nothing being held back. A lifetime of triangulation, politics and fake smiles has hollowed her out, and all that is left now is a republican-lite DINO. She takes money from Rupert Murdoch, what else is there to say?

[trevor01]

Only this - Clinton times were relatively good times. Maybe we can never go back but we can hope we can.