[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Xantar

Jon Stewart wasn't on Crossfire as a comedian. Obviously, his excuse for being there was to plug his book, but it became abundantly clear that he wasn't joking. As you know, it's possible to be joking sometimes and not joking other times.

Thats a little too much like having your cake and eating it to, for my tastes. Plus, his comments on that show could easily be swung around and shoved in his own face. He said that Crossfire did not inspire good public debate and made people adversarial. Well, at least Crossfire presented both sides on every show and didn't edit information that would ruin their "joke".

Of course it's clear that the Daily Show has an agenda. Any comedy show that deals with politics is going to. That said, I want to point out that the Republicans have control of all three branches of government. They're the ones taking action right now while the Democrats basically sit on the side and make objections. So which party do you think is going to provide more material for the Daily Show to make fun of?

Yes, The Daily Show lampoons all news and politics, but there is definite skew to the left. They go after Michael Wilson, yet let Michael Moore slide even though his films are perfect for lampooning. Stewart's interviews conservative guests he puts them to the task (but is more than fair and polite), but his interviews with liberals are more than merely softball, they're close to idealogical fan-worship.

Honestly, its the obvious attempts to gain applause over laughter that worry me the most and have changed my opinion of the show. I want to laugh at a comedy, not cheer. Cheering denotates a serious agenda. Also the fact that in many of their jokes their punchlines aren't funny to me because I know the information that they have left out in their attempts to be funny.

Actually, I'm genuinely interested to see what happens to the show when a Democrat becomes president.

Honestly, I am too. I used to love The Daily Show, but their material on the last election made me wary, and they've continued on their current opinion-making path. Here's to Lieberman running again and hopefully winning. And I'm serious when I say that.

Is that an indictment of the Daily Show or the sad state of all other media? After all, if the real news were considered reliable, then people wouldn't think of the Daily Show as the most trustworthy news source, right?

Well you know how much I love the media...

I find the fact that you don't find it hilarious when it's being overtly biased or stretching the truth hilarious.

I would find it funnier if so many people didn't seem to take it so seriously or get a lot of their information from it. Yes, they joke about how silly it is for people to get their news from them, but they do allow the show to help form their opinions or at least reinforce them. Thats what worries me about the show.