The TV Report, episode 1.
Last night saw another shining example of why the "left" is better than the "right", at least with regards to popular media. General Colin Powell appeared for his 15 minutes of fame on Jon Stewart's infamous late night "news" programme, The Daily Show.
Although Stewart's criticisms of the Bush administration (and on occasion of Powell himself) have been at times virulent (but nothing short of hilarious), Powell and Stewart were able to relate to each other with a level of respect altogether absent in Stewart's right winge contemporaries such as Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly.
The differences were profound, with Stewart asking difficult questions while never raising his voice. losing his temper or resorting to childish name-calling (O'Reilly's modus operandi). In turn, Powell came off as an intelligent, dignified man who (while choosing the wrong team to play ball with) was worthy of respect nonetheless. He still stood by his former administrations decision to go into Iraq, and admirably Stewart stood by his opposition to that decision all the while thanking Powell for making an appearance on his show. And the fact that Powell was appearing as a guest did not stop Stewart and Corddry from taking shots at the Bush-Blair love affair going on overseas, nor making jokes at the vast quantities of information Bush seems to have discovered regarding global warming in the last five years (uh, that'd be none).
Perhaps the most important guest Stewart has ever had, and certainly - by his own admission - probably the closest he will ever get to the Bush admin, and yet never once did we see displays of idiocy generally considered the exclusive domain of Fox.
Although Stewart's criticisms of the Bush administration (and on occasion of Powell himself) have been at times virulent (but nothing short of hilarious), Powell and Stewart were able to relate to each other with a level of respect altogether absent in Stewart's right winge contemporaries such as Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly.
The differences were profound, with Stewart asking difficult questions while never raising his voice. losing his temper or resorting to childish name-calling (O'Reilly's modus operandi). In turn, Powell came off as an intelligent, dignified man who (while choosing the wrong team to play ball with) was worthy of respect nonetheless. He still stood by his former administrations decision to go into Iraq, and admirably Stewart stood by his opposition to that decision all the while thanking Powell for making an appearance on his show. And the fact that Powell was appearing as a guest did not stop Stewart and Corddry from taking shots at the Bush-Blair love affair going on overseas, nor making jokes at the vast quantities of information Bush seems to have discovered regarding global warming in the last five years (uh, that'd be none).
Perhaps the most important guest Stewart has ever had, and certainly - by his own admission - probably the closest he will ever get to the Bush admin, and yet never once did we see displays of idiocy generally considered the exclusive domain of Fox.
posted by elise at 2:04 PM
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