I thought I would just go ahead and name this piece what too many on the left will call it. I know that as a liberal, I should say how much I liked Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, but I can’t.
There was nothing wrong with the rally. It simply lacked substance. I believe that Stewart has greatly missed the mood of the country. It’s quite surprising because he does understand the issues.
When Barack Obama appeared on his program, there was clearly a tension between them. The President resented some of Jon Stewart’s satire as of late. Stewart’s suggestion that he was “timid” greatly rankled the President. Many of us on the left agree with that characterization. Stewart, out of respect or timidity, backed off.
This rally ironically showed Stewart taking a page out of the President’s handbook. The attempt to find middle ground by both rejecting and equating the “far left” and the “far right” was much the same as the way the President and his Administration insulted the Progressives who were responsible for his election. Progressives voted for a Barack Obama who was much different as a candidate than he has been as President. The Stewart rally did the same thing. The Jon Stewart who soared to popularity because of the liberal, progressive wing of the Democratic Party has devolved into someone who calls Bill O’Reilly “reasonable.”
I, like many Progressives, will vote the Democratic ticket on November 2 because the Republican alternative is ghastly. But we will remember those who sold us out, who talked one talk, but walked a different walk.
©2010
Southbridge and Beyond
They taught us a valuable lesson.
ReplyDeletePolitics are useless. SEE. I told you. They just do what the most powerful say, not necessarily what the majority need.
Jon Stewart's only political views involve the view of the back of a twenty dollar bill, on weed.There's an important building on the back that has something to do with government, and I don't think he cares and neither do I.
Then again, I'm not running for president...I also am not sure what political office he was running for...BUT..I'm not...the presi...dent.
AND...ummm.
Have you ever seen people on weed get violent because they were high? You know why?
Because it's impossible.
"HEY BUDDY!"
Yeah, WHAT!?
"Huh?"
HEY!
"Hey."
...hey...
"Hey man!"
Alright!
"Yeah."
I was at the rally (see http://doobster418.typepad.com/mindful-digressions/2010/11/half-baked-rally.html) and I couldn't disagree with you more. I think Stewart actually did capture the mood of the country...the vast majority of us, anyway, who are sick and tired of the extremes on both sides of the aisle doing everything they can to intensify the flames of divisiveness that the 24 x 7 cable news pundits have been fanning.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that you, too, have decided that the word "reasonable" is a pejorative.
Doobster4,
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting. Since you find that the "far left" and the "far right" extremes are equivalent, I would appreciate some examples of Tea Party tactics on the part of the left.
The word "reasonable" is not a perjorative, but I would have to learn from someone like you the art of finding reasonableness in Sharron Angle or Carl Paladino.
Brent, I'm sorry that you didn't take the time to read any of my blog postings before posting your response. If you had, you would have seen that I am actually much more sympathetic to you and your political ideology than I am to the Tea Party. I find nothing approaching reasonableness in Sharron Angle or Carl Paladino, or any of the other Tea Party candidates (as well as with most conservative Republican politicians), but there are some on the left with whom I have trouble finding signs of reasonableness, as well.
ReplyDeleteBeing reasonable is a positive attribute. As Steward said in his closing remarks on Saturday, "...we can have animus and not be enemies."
I lean to the left and I vote mostly Democratic. But I think both sides need to tone it down a bit.