As smart people were watching the GOP debates last night, the uninformed, low information voters were watching the mercifully last episode of Jon Stewart’s low-rated Comedy Central show. And as far as Karol Markowicz is concerned, Stewart is a hypocrite who is exactly the sort of “partisan hack” that he claimed to hate.
Markowicz has a piece at Time magazine that just eviscerates Stewart.
Like a musician lecturing into a microphone onstage, Stewart only permitted one-way mockery. When anyone questioned his opinions and methods, he would say his show was just comedy. In 2013 when it seemed that Stewart was mocking the Obamacare rollout a little too often, he got pushback from his liberal followers. Stewart was quick to point out it was just equal-opportunity joking, and he wasn’t taking a position. He, of course, did not offer similar explanations when hammering President George W. Bush’s policies.
In a famous exchange on the CNN debate show Crossfire in 2004, Stewart called Republican Tucker Carlson and Democrat Paul Begala “partisan hacks” who poisoned the discourse. When Carlson pointed out that Stewart had given a softball interview to John Kerry, whom Stewart admitted voting for, Stewart blew up and said, “You’re on CNN! The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls! What is wrong with you?”
Yet Stewart was exactly the kind of partisan hack he eviscerated. Politico recently reported that not only had Stewart met in secret with President Barack Obama right before big stories were set to hit, but Obama’s aides had also worked with Daily Show writers so that their side of the story was well-represented.
…When your writers are taking tips on how to joke about politics from the White House, it’s safe to say it doesn’t matter that your show is on Comedy Central. It’s a bad sign for the country that any percentage of people got their news from this compromised comedian. Goodbye Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. Good riddance.
As for me, I think Stewart acts like a ten-year-old and has the mentality of one, too. With all his childish mugging for the camera, his cartoonish facial reactions, and his simple-minded “points,” Stewart is a hack of the worst order.
So, it’s good riddance to “The Daily Show.” Sure a new guy is taking it over, but it will be canceled before the next season starts, most likely.