(NOTE -- 10/15/04 -- If you're Googling for Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire today, I've written about it here and you can find the transcript here.)
(NOTE II -- 10/16/04 -- You can watch the video of Stewart on Crossfire here.)
---Original Post Below---
I considered transcribing this segment from The Daily Show last week, but I didn't get around to it.
Thankfully, there are one or two other people in the world, and one of those has done it for me. Joy!
The Wonkette cribbed it from Progressive Review, and now I crib it from her. And the beat goes on.
JON STEWART: "Talking points. That's how we learn things. But how will I absorb a talking point like 'Edwards and Kerry are out of the mainstream' unless I get it jack hammered into my skull? That's where television lends a hand."
-- video clip montage --
FOX NEWS: "He stands way out of the main stream."
CNN Terry Holt, Spokesman for Bush Camp: " way out of the main stream."
CNN Communication Director, Bush-Cheney: "He stands so far out of the main stream."
CNN Lynn Cheney: "He's so out of the main stream."
CNN Terry Holt: "they're out of the main stream."
CNN Frank Donatelli, GOP Strategist: " . . . well out of the main stream.
JON STEWART: I'm getting a feeling. I think, I think they're out of the main stream. But, what if I wonder why?
-- more video clips --
CNN Frank Donatelli: " two of the foremost liberal senators of the US Senate." CNN Crossfire: . . ." two of the foremost liberal senators of the US Senate." MSNBC Ed Gillespie: . . ." the most liberal rated senator in the US Senate." HARDBALL Lynn Cheney: " . . . the most liberal senator of the Senate." FOX NEWS: " . . . who was rated as the number 1 liberal in the US Senate." FOX NEWS Elizabeth Dole: . . ." the number 1 most liberal senator in the US Senate."
JON STEWART: Wow! Those guys are liberals!! In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say they're the first and fourth most liberal in the whole Senate. Wow! And while we don't have any idea what that means and where those rankings come from and how they were arrived at or whether it's even true, I don't like the sounds of it. And it's certainly not something for the media to question. As a matter of fact, I would imagine people like that, liberal and out of the main stream, hang out in some pretty extreme places.
-- more videos --
ABC This Week Lindsey Graham: " talking about the hate fest." CNN: "Hollywood hate fest." FOX NEWS: ". . . last Thursday night's hate fest." PAT BOONE: " Radio City Music Hall hate fest.
JON STEWART: "Yeah. See, out of the main stream, liberals, and hate fest. Keeping up with current events is easier than you thing. Talking points: they're true because they're said a lot."
I'm sure Jon Stewart would agree that we live in scary, scary times when the organization doing the best and most honest journalism in this country is Comedy Central.
I agree with Wonkette that this doesn't prove that the media has a conservative bias; it just proves that they're lazy as hell. Remember the "group think" of the CIA? Well these guys have it bad.
I also forgot to transcribe the time Jon Stewart befuddled Wolf Blitzer by pointing this out. The sublime beauty of The Daily Show is that they now have enough credibility and a hold on such a desirable demographic that politicians and other bigshots feel they have to go on, and Stewart just tears them apart.
It's a beautiful thing to watch.
Here: Watch some. Someone has posted clips of The Daily Show's report on the election postponment story. There's also some great stuff in there on the above theme of repeating something until it's true, as the president says "America is safer" 8 times in a 20 minute speech. The server is really slow right now, so you might want to just let the download go and go for your evening constitutional. It's worth it.
