On Sun, 20 Apr 2003 17:21:03 -0400
>When King asked him what his politics were, Stewart said he
>was a 'democratic socialist'---and he definately was not
>joking.
>I love the Daily Show--watch it quite religiously, and at
>times I swear he trolls lbo-talk for some of his materials.
> But at the same time, it is hard to detect an outwardly
>leftist stanced in his jokes, aside from the softballs
>thrown towards the Bush admin.
I kind of wonder what people are thinking when they say they don't see his leftism. I have a regular update on his best stuff on my blog (see http://www.nathannewman.org/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?search=stewart for examples)
One of my favorites was from during the dockworkers strike:
Stewart replayed Bush solemnly talking about the economic harm from the continuing lockout of longshore workers on the West Coast. Stewart then commented: "Indeed, some experts estimate that the work stoppage has cost our economy $10 BILLION dollars. Meaning we would be unable to afford another three and a half minutes of war with Iraq."
Or in commenting on the GOP victory in last falls elections:
""Republicans more than prevailed in yesterday's midterm elections across the country. Voters turned out strongly to express support for huge tax cuts for the rich, reduced corporate oversight, relaxed environmental standards, geostrategic unilateralism, and an ideologically hardline conservative judiciary.
Oh what did you think you were voting for?"
Pro-union, anti-corporate (see his flaying of Halliburton), interviewing lefty guests quite often-- where is his leftism quiet? Stewart is brilliant in playing the "no one here but us stupid comedians" position, but that just makes him more subversive.
-- Nathan Newman