[lbo-talk] Jon Stewart

[Michael Pollak]

Last month the NYT ran an article on Jon Stewart saying he was a centrist,
which baffled me since his perspective is so clearly to the left of
liberal.  And suddenly it stuck why they'd say that.  It's because he
criticizes both the Democrats and the Republicans.  And in the limited
universe of the NYT, that means he must be the center.

But what actually happens is that he criticizes them both from the left.
He criticizes the Republicans for being lying, imperialist plutocrats. And
he criticizes the Democrats for offering no opposition.

A perfect example of this was his presentation the other night of the Bush
tax cut.  He said "Now that many of you out there have lost your jobs, and
having trouble finding new ones, and have seen your 401k's shrink
drastically if not get stolen entirely, I'm sure the foremost worry on
your mind is whether your ex-employer is paying too much dividend tax.
Well -- worry no more."

Cut to the visuals and a few follow up lines, and then "And what have the
Democrats been doing to stop this?  Well, it's hard to tell, because, as
you all know, it's very hard to *find* a Democrat.  [Visual of Max Baucus]
Oh look!  There's one!  Shhh.  Don't make any sudden moves.  You might
startle it."

And his perspective on the international scene is also unmistakeable
uncentrist.  On the same show he said, "The G-8 is a group of eight
countries that control half the world's wealth.  Topic for this week's
meeting: how to get the other half."

Michael