progressive politics and regressive entertainment. like peanut and butter.
August 31, 2012 5 Comments
THE DAILY SHOW: A party too patriotic for facts. A candidate too successful for taxes. A city where flip-flops are evening wear. From Tampa, Florida, this is the Republican National Convention: the Road to Jeb Bush 2016.
June 18, 2012 Leave a comment
Conservatives have a habit of attacking President Obama for actions and agenda items that do not exist, whether it’s lying about his place of birth (as they’re desperate to point out that he’s not a WASP) or his record on taxes (yes, Obama has provided significant tax cuts). One of the many unfortunate consequences of the Republican penchant for fantasy is that, when Obama does do something which deserves criticism, we do not have a loyal opposition there making the reasoned and rational case against him. Case in point: Obama’s Kill List.
June 16, 2012 2 Comments
While most of the news media can’t keep in mind what happened four months ago, on Thursday The Daily Show reminded us of what happened four years ago.
JON STEWART: Somewhere around four years ago, our economy experienced a cyclical fiscal phenomenon known as a catastrof*ck, when our largest financial institutions began to collapse after making incredibly risky bets, basically using our pension money to gamble on the value of our houses. Because apparently the business of just taking your money and and loaning it out to other people at slightly higher interest rates is just too reliable.
June 14, 2012 Leave a comment
If I understand the platform correctly, the Republican platform — or at least the more conservative Republican platform — is: “Government cannot be helpful in solving problems, so watch while I demonstrate.”
– Jon Stewart on The Daily Show (June 4, 2012).
June 9, 2012 6 Comments
Reason #253 why MSNBC is not a left-leaning partisan alternative to the far-right political activism of Fox Republican News, is that MSNBC allows the establishment conservative Joe Scarborough to host more hours on their network than anyone else. Could you imagine Fox allowing an establishment liberal like Chris Matthews to host their morning show?
It’s part of a fairly common media double standard against progressives, one which Scarborough embraces wholeheartedly when he attacks The New York Times for reporting on Mitt Romney’s opulent homes, in their “Home” section. The Daily Show played clips of an outraged Scarborough wanting to know when the Times had ever applied the same standard to John Kerry.
SCARBOROUGH: Did the New York Times ever dispatch reporters to John Kerry’s homes — because John Kerry’s worth a lot more money, obviously, than Mitt Romney…
May 30, 2012 5 Comments
No, this isn’t about the news and opinion manufactured out of hot air over at Fox News, the official propaganda outlet of the Republican Party. It’s about Roger Ailes and a story he tells about how Jon Stewart once told him (Ailes) that he (Jon Stewart) is a socialist. This apparently happened twelve years ago in a bar in Philadelphia.
Now, I wouldn’t blame you for assuming that Ailes made the story up. That’s kind of a habit with him, at home and at work. Ailes doesn’t seem to notice whenever outside reality is different from his inside fantasy. (Hint: it’s a lot.)
April 25, 2012 8 Comments
When I consider which Daily Show correspondent might branch out from the main show and found his or her own Comedy Central project à la Stephen Colbert, my vote goes to John Oliver. True, there other plausible choices, as the Daily Show is stacked with talent. Oliver impresses me with his ability to both write and perform, to handle sketches as well as stand-up, and with a distinct political take on the world.
April 22, 2012 7 Comments
Part of the way that Fox fulfills its function as the main media division of the Republican Party is the way in which it works to shape how news is framed. A prime example is their recent outrage that the Democrats would use the term “War on Women” to describe the anti-women policies of the Republican Party. Rather than argue about the merits of the policies, Fox and the Republicans have turned their focus to the Democrats’ rhetoric, which is a significant hint that the Democrats should keep using that language. It’s working and it’s accurate.
April 20, 2012 2 Comments
Robert Reich appeared on The Daily Show Thursday night, making much sense on taxes, government spending, and the influence of money.
On taxes.
REICH: Under Dwight Eisenhower, the highest marginal income tax rate was 91%. He was a Republican. He was a former general. And, you know, nobody accused him of being a communist or a socialist. And I’m not suggesting we go to 91%. I’m just saying, in those years, we had three decades after the second World War, the economy grew faster than it’s grown since and even after all the deductions and tax credits, people at the top were still taxed around 55, 56 percent.
April 19, 2012 5 Comments
On Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Show, they discussed the Republican’s blocking the Buffett Rule, which would ensure that the very rich paid their fair (and fairly low) share of taxes. You know, thirty percent, which is still less than a lot of the rest of us have to pay.
Some rich Republican senators got up to protect principle principal.
SENATOR JON KYL: The Buffett tax would raise a mere pittance in the scope of federal budgets.
