The Gospel of Jon Stewart

Townhall.com ^ | June 22, 2011 | Ben Shapiro

[Kaslin]

Jon Leibowitz -- aka Jon Stewart -- is a liar.

This week, he sat down with Chris Wallace of Fox News and promptly made an ass of himself. The left cheered, as they are apt to do when they spot the Smirking Smarm-smith, but the truth is that without his trusty audience to cheer his every move, Stewart looked like what he was: a bully, a manipulator, and an intellectually dishonest partisan hack.

His hackery began when he refused to call The New York Times a "liberal organization." While standing by his labeling of Fox News as "a relentlessly agenda-drive, 24-hour news opinion propaganda delivery system," he refused to say the same of ABC, CBS, NBC and The Washington Post. Instead, he said their bias "is toward sensationalism and laziness. I wouldn't say it's toward a liberal agenda." This is plainly idiocy. All news organizations of any stripe are biased toward sensationalism because it sells and laziness because it is cheap. But that doesn't preclude them from playing for a political team, as the mainstream media clearly does.

Wallace then called Stewart on his own political bias. Stewart is a liberal. That's no shock. When I interviewed Doug Herzog, president of MTV Networks, for my book, "Primetime Propaganda," he said that Stewart was obviously a leftist. "I think there is no discussion where Jon's heart lies," Herzog told me. "I think he wears it on his sleeve to a certain degree." In fact, Stewart's lackeys refuse to have conservative pundits on his show, as they told my friend, comedian Steven Crowder.

But Stewart insisted that his political viewpoint was irrelevant because he was a comedian. "I'm a comedian first," he told Wallace. "My comedy is informed by an ideological background. There's no question about that. The thing ... that in some respect conservative activists will never understand is that Hollywood, yes, they're liberal. But that's not their primary motivating force. I'm not an activist. I'm a comedian."

But, of course, Stewart can be and is both. He uses his comedy to propagandize. That's not against the law and not immoral, but it is a betrayal of his self-proclaimed primary motivating force: to be funny. True comedy attacks the targets at hand. It does not pick and choose based on political affiliation. Stewart does, and that's why the quality of his comedy has declined dramatically since Bush's re-election.

Stewart is a mass of contradictions. He admits that he wants his voice heard, and says, "That's why I got into comedy." But in the same sentence, he denies that he is an ideologically partisan activist. He believes he should speak for good media practice, but refuses to practice it because he can always put on his Johnny Carson hat.

This, unfortunately, is endemic of Hollywood. The same folks Stewart believes are unbiased with regard to their news agenda -- people like Les Moonves at CBS -- have actually considered using Stewart as their nightly news anchor. Hollywood entertainment folks pretend that they are not politically motivated for public consumption, but in private, they will admit that they enjoy using their entertainment to promote their own political point of view. Stewart's boss, Herzog -- an executive who is charged with raising stockholder value -- says that he believes that "through the medium of television, we try to make the world a slightly better place." By "better," Herzog means leftist. So does Stewart.

Stewart is a liar because he pretends that he cannot be both a comedian and a political propagandist. He can be both, because Hollywood is full of people who are both. There is no question that his audience of trained seals see him for what he is: a master of liberal hackery, unwilling to attack President Obama harshly or to call out journalistic malfeasance from the left. That is why when he once dared to make a joke about President Obama, the audience didn't laugh. "You know, you're allowed to laugh at him," a grumpy Stewart chided. How would they know that? After all, Stewart hasn't trained them to laugh at everyone -- he's trained them to laugh at his political enemies.

At the end of his interview with Wallace, Stewart claimed that "there is not a designed ideological agenda on my part to affect partisan change." It may not be designed, but it is an agenda. And Stewart is an expert at pushing it while pretending to be an honest comedian rather than a comedic propagandist.

[laweeks]

"I'm a comedian first," he told Wallace.

I'm well aware of what's funny, and this jerk is not a comedian . . . he's the modern-day Dennis Miller, nasty, narrow minded, relentless, and a partisan hack . . . and J. Stewart hates anything that has to do with a strong America.

And it's a stinkin' shame that a lot of young people think they're "up on politics" because they watch this insipid ba$tard.

[digger48]

Dennis Miller was a Liberal until 9-11.

[dandiegirl]

FOX sure has been giving Stewart alot of attention lately. I wonder why?

[Romulus]

Dennis Miller was a liberal till he got a well-paying neocon gig.

[Romulus]

Jon Leibowitz -- aka Jon Stewart

What's the deal with the outing? Is this an issue in some circles?

[FiddlePig]

Stewart is poster boy for Leftie thinking. “Truth” is ideology (facts be damned), if one disagrees (facts or not) with LooneyLeft beliefs they “lie” (Fox lies!). Same for “morality” you can sext yer junk to 14 year olds, and still be “moral”... if you assert a woman’s “right to choose”, global warming and single payer healthcare. How you actually behave doesn’t matter (same for smart or stupid... all conservatives are idiots).

This mindset cannot be reasoned with (as it knows no reason... it must be defeated). They want what they want and demand that what others produce… (aka: “fairness”). Be damned if it bankrupts the nation (see Greece for further study). Wise old sage once said: “as long as larceny lives in the heart of humankind, there will be Liberals”.

[chickadee]

I really enjoyed the interview. Chris Wallace had Stewart's number from the gitgo and he knew how to push his buttons. Stewart came across as mean-spirited, ill-tempered and shallow. Wallace sat quietly by and let Stewart hang himself. For those who didn't see it, click on this link and enjoy.

[JusPasenThru]

Dennis Miller was a liberal till he got a well-paying neocon gig.

People around here have been crapping on Dennis Miller lately. I believe his conversion was/is real. He is also carefully pondering Christianity.

I'm sure this will arouse catcalls from the usual suspects.

[PushinTin]

He is just another Liberal with the typical Liberal disease. The refusal to grow up and become an adult.

Democrats, "The Party of Children."

[laweeks]

Dennis Miller was a Liberal until 9-11.

Maybe, but I still don't trust him . . . He was rather vicious with Reagan and very much a liberal hack . . .

[School of Rational Thought]

MICHAEL Moore is not a leftist with an agenda, he is a film-maker. ;-)

[Matchett-PI]

bttt

June 20, 2011

Jon Stewart: Schmuck, Putz, Liar, Fraud or All Four?

I always love the moment when the carefully constructed media mask slips off and we get to see the "star's" real face. Jon Stewart, long a staple of the "too cool too fool" generation of know-nothings had his moment this weekend when we saw emerge from his carefully constructed schtick his more carefully hidden ugly face:

Jon Stewart loses his cool with Fox News host Chris Wallace: 'You are insane'

After repeated prodding, Wallace then played a clip of Mr Stewart comparing a video of Sarah Palin's recent bus tour to a herpes commercial.

Mr Stewart erupted: 'You're insane... Here's the difference between you and I.

'I'm a comedian first. My comedy is informed by an ideological background, there's no question about that. But the thing that you will never understand...is that Hollywood, yeah, they're liberal, but that's not their primary motivating force. I'm not an activist. I am a comedian.'

Addressing issues of bias in the main stream media, Stewart responded: 'Do I want my voice heard? Absolutely, that's why I got into comedy. Am I an activist, in your mind? A partisan ideological activist.

Well, yes Jon. Now that you ask. You know it and we know it and now, if they care, the world knows it.

[philled]

Dennis Miller was a liberal till he got a well-paying neocon gig.
No, DM did not change his politics for his career. Actually, his career became shaped by his politics. He has always been more socially liberal (more small "l" libertarian) but conservative-leaning elsewhere. He cites the reprehensible treatment of Vice Presidential candidate Adm Stockdale as peeling back the scales to the true nature of the Democrat party and the "enlightened" people. He does mention 9/11 as another awakening. Al Franken (the hard left lunatic comedian/Senator) says of his friend Dennis (paraphrasing) "People ask what changed with Dennis? Nothing. He's always been that way."

[Mamzelle]

Are you saying making an issue of his father issues, rejecting his family name, is a cheap shot?

Very well, we should save every cheap shot in our arsenal for this cowardly, pint-sized Zeppo.

Works for me. I can't think of a more worthy target for a cheap shot.