I do not watch “Scarborough Country” on MSNBC. This is because of the pedestrian lameness and the ‘he said/she said’ black hole of nothingness that infects most of these types of shows (sorry Joe, your “Is Bush An Idiot?” episode doesn’t rescue you).
Recently, it came to my attention (via channel flipping as I caught a headline) that Scarborough was doing a segment about the negative effect of Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” on the youth of America. My jaw dropped and my blood pressure rose as I issued a string of epithets at the television screen.
I thought there needed to be a segment titled “Is Scarborough an idiot?” I then decided to find the transcript.
Here’s what Scarborough had to say:
“Is The Daily Show harming youth?
Only Jon Stewart can have it both ways
It’s called having it both ways.
The fake news champs at The Daily Show love blasting politicians and pundits. And why not? We turn ourselves into comic cannon fodder every day. But whenever someone like Geraldo Rivera or Bill O’Reilly challenges a cheap shot, Jon Stewart squeals with delight.
“We’re not even a real news show!” Stewart will declare with a chuckle that lets viewers know how the protesting target is a real stiff.
But the Comedy Central host will also take interviews with the likes of Tom Brokaw and Ted Koppel, allowing these news giants to bestow great meaning to his fake broadcasts. It is all the rage with the kids, after all. How they get their news. The next generation of information. An ironic look at blah, blah, blah.
While on his “I-Am-An-Important-Pundit” tour of 2004, Stewart even dared to mix it up on CNN’s Crossfire. He used his soapbox to lecture Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson about how their show was overly partisan and divisive. Of course, when prodded by Carlson, Stewart replied by famously calling the conservative commentator a “dick.”
Hmmm. Is this how Stewart would bring together our fractured nation?
Funny how none of those press hounds who spent the 2004 election year licking Jon Stewart’s face missed the hilarity of his real life act.
It’s also funny how someone who makes his millions mocking others every night is so shrill and thin skinned when taken out of his own protective wrapping.
Last night in Scarborough Country, guest Flavia Colgan mocked Geraldo and O’Reilly for responding to Stewart’s fake news broadcast. But the Huffington Post’s Rachel Sklar gave insight into just how powerful the Daily Show has become. For millions of younger viewers, it really is their main source for news.
That’s why Stewart’s “fake news” bit seems a bit disingenuous. You either rub chins with Tom Brokaw or run a real fake news show.
You can’t have it both ways. Unless, of course, you’re Jon Stewart.”
________________
Okay, Jon Stewart can quite ably defend himself but isn’t it Scarborough having it both ways in the above piece?
He rightly admits that the hot air blowhards deserve being made fun of but then completely derails.
Yes, Stewart and Company do blast pols and pundits at times but more often, it is these very same people offering themselves up for such fodder. Can anyone recall Alaska Senator Ted Stevens describing the internet? How about the heavyweights of the Bush Administration providing everything but a laugh track with such comments as “Mission Accomplished,” or “I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency…” or “democracy is untidy, freedom is untidy, liberation is untidy…” or “my belief is, we will in fact, be greeted as liberators…”
This is being handed readymade material on a platter.
And where in the world did Scarborough pluck the assignment for Stewart to heal our fractured country? Huh? Joe, we’re talking a comedy show, unless you somehow have let that fact escape you. Brokaw and Koppel desire to be on the show in an attempt to expand theri cred with a younger demographic, not the other way around.
And why is it inappropriate for Stewart and Company to operate a “fake news show” while having guests on such as real life newspersons, authors and the like? Often, they or their talking points deservedly get skewered too.
What Scarborough just doesn’t get is that Stewart and his troupe point out and say what many of “The Daily Show” viewers at home are thinking. They call people on their BS, when it’s BS, unlike the many political interview show hosts or even the various anchors of the nightly news shows.
Does viewing “The Daily Show” really harm youth? It may add a degree to the onslaught of righteous cynicism that the purveyors and proponents of such outrageous lies so soundly deserve and create. But get to the heart of the matter Joe–it is the warped politicians, CEOs, church leaders and the like whose behavior is harming this country. Those who command the spotlight but who should be shunned and donned with sackcloth and ashes for their fraud and hyperbole.
Joe, no one ever was killed by watching “The Daily Show.”
There would be no need for “The Daily Show” if enough of the various forms of mass media were truly performing their respective duties.
In this situation, it’s another case of shooting the messenger.
Methinks what Joe Scarborough is really suffering from is a case of ratings envy mixed with myopia.
