Last night's showdown between Jon Stewart and John Yoo was a shuddering disappointment. Stewart didn't lay a glove on Yoo. He began by admitting he doesn't understand this stuff, which is sometimes a feint interviewers use before showing that they, or the people who wrote their questions, really do understand this stuff. Not this time.Yes, it really was disappointing. Stewart should have gone for the kill here, but he didn't. That is Jon Stewart's problem. Where it becomes your problem, Ezra, is about right here:
This outcome was predictable, though. Anyone who watched Stewart's interviews with Amity Shlaes or Betsy McCaughey saw it coming. Stewart's early takedowns came before people understood that this late-night comedian did takedowns. When Stewart appeared on Crossfire, a scolding was the last thing the hosts expected. At this point, though, Stewart's interviews are well known and so too are his political opinions. It's obvious who he'll take down and how. And so his guests come armed to rebut, and they have more experience defending themselves than Stewart has attacking them. At this point, Stewart is doing more harm than good by giving people whom he thinks are liars and frauds a platform on his show.Nope, still not getting it. In that case, let me explain it to you:
You, as an employee of the Washington Post newspaper and using your forum provided by that newspaper, are complaining that a late-night comedian is having trouble taking down Village-enabled Bush-era liars in interviews, and strongly implying that it is the job of the comedian to debunk the lies.
PROTIP: How about laying off Jon Stewart and demanding your employer debunk John Yoo's lies? Sure would have been helpful say, oh, 2003 or so, wouldn't it? How about your own employer not give John Yoo a kick-ass book review? The one guy you did have at the WaPo who took on the Bush torture regime? Yeah, your bosses
The fact that anyone is complaining about Jon Stewart not hitting hard enough while using a Village perch to do the complaining from? That's both hysterically funny and depressing as hell at the same time.
EPIC FAIL, Ezra. EPIC FAIL.
I have to agree with ya here, I just finished reading the piece in fact, Ezra is so busy talking about how ineffective Stewart is now (something I disagree with btw) that he doesn't even take the opportunity to show the silly clown how it's done.
ReplyDeleteIf there is one thing members of the media like to do more than anything else it is point fingers, and even Ezra Klein (who I respect and read daily) is guilty of it. I remember listening to an NPR round table of journalists, and they were a pretty legit group, when a poll was mentioned with politicians getting an abysmal approval rating. Of course immediate laughter at how no one likes the government follows, even though the same poll put the next lowest group as the media... hmm, wonder if those two are connected?
To Stewart's credit, he did lament the fact that Yoo was prepared and that he wasn't able to really stick it to the guy.
ReplyDeleteTo Yoo's credit, he came to the Daily Show with his most effective arguments. He had Stewart arguing about what torture was, not whether or not torture was acceptable, and he beat Stewart fair and square.
The point is, we shouldn't be depending on Jon F'ckin Stewart to wreck John Yoo on national television.