WTF? Jon Stewart attacks Belafonte for remarks on W?

[robbedvoter]

It was a long disgusting segment - did Jon get the "talk"?
he played belafonte's comments about W being the biggest terrorist and mocked him. Also mocked the Bolivian elections "what kind of a society is that?" One with elections, Jon! You wouldn't get it.

[Cleita]

1. One word.

:sarcasm:

[robbedvoter]

4. Sorry, I don't buy it. They trivialized him in the Cordry segment -

reducing him to a calypso singer - I think belafonte has done a few more things in life than Stewart. It was vile.

[Tarc]

18. It is called "humor"

The Daily Show isn't news, it is entertainment, stop trying to take it so goddamned seriously. Stewart's point about many being unable to find Venezuela on a map, much less show direct support for Chavez, was quite amusing.

[krkaufman]

26. Yes, those bits *were* funny...

... because the target of the joke was American ignorance, rather than relying on American ignorance (and a little of his own) when attacking Belafonte.

Really, though, Stewart jumped on Belafonte, mostly, the "UN Goodwill Ambassador", for calling Bush the "greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world." Stewart takes the superficial route and attacks Belafonte for these comments, and puts up a pic of bin Laden w/ a "Greatest Terrorist in the World" mug that "he received from his grandchildren." I'd be interested to see God's body count attributed to each man.

[krkaufman]

25. No, it *wasn't* sarcasm

It may have been "humor," but I'm tired of humor at the expense of the people. There's enough obfuscation and misinformation about Chavez and Morales; we don't need Stewart -- a critic of the establishment news orgs and their loss of journalistic integrity -- to pile on.

[Cleita]

34. Lighten up.

I too have South American roots and one thing I'll say is that the people of those countries don't shy away from making fun of their leaders even the ones they like. Stewart is a comedian and you can be sure if we Democrats take back the government, he will be poking fun at all our sacred cows as well.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Um... Satire.

They are now pounding the snot out of Cheney. I don't think anybody got "the talk."

[Beelzebud]

3. Hear that WHOOOSH sound?

It's the sound of satire flying over your head.

[robbedvoter]

6. Geez! My head thought satire was from the powerless against the powerful

not the other way around.....he wasn't mocking GOP talking points about belafonte - was trivializing on his own.
Geez, so glad W got defended from big bad Belafonte!

[Bucky]

16. Actually sarcasm is the powerless vs the powerful.

Besides, Belefonte is a rich guy using his public noteriety to make headlines. You may agree with his politics, but you can't call him powerless. Hell, Daily Show is a comedy show. They look at what's in the news and see how they can get a snicker out of it. If all they did was ridicule Republicans, it wouldn't be comedy, it'd be ideology with snickers.

Snickers?

No, you dingus, snickers the laughing style, not Snickers the candy bar. Sheesh.

(That joke would be funnier if Snickers were more powerful)

[krkaufman]

27. Exactly. It was *not* satire.

A lame attempt at humor, against a powerless figure. And simple-minded in concept, since the relative evil of Bush and bin Laden *is* arguable.

[Botany]

5. It was great!

One sided humor is not funny .....

DAY OOOOOO
DAY OOOOOOO

Besides he dropped a bomb on * & cheney w/ the Rice cut.

[robbedvoter]

8. Like it ...bipartisan, don'tcha?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. How Dare That Political News Pundit Spew That Garbage!!!!!!!!

Oh Fuck..... That's Right.... He's a Comedian...

My Bad.....

[robbedvoter]

9. Yup. And he told a bad joke. Being a comedian doesn't insulate him

from occasional bad taste. But sorry I intruded in your little fan club here.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

11. Firstly, I Thought He Was Hilarious As Always. Secondly, If

we were to pretend, for a moment, that you are right and it was a bad joke, does one bad joke make one all of a sudden under the grip of the maniuplative propagandic government? A tad to the extreme, I'd say.

But Jon was funny as hell, as always.

[KaryninMiami]

23. Me too- I was laughing out loud (and that's rare when you live alone!)

Sure it was a tad bit sick but it was a joke and it was funny. And total satire. And besides, Chavez is not a bad guy and it's true that most people in America don't know where Venezuela is...

[Atman]

10. My parents were friends of Harry's!

He was by our house once when I was a kid, and they hung with him in Jamaica a few times. Hanging with a black dude in the sixties was pretty radical. My dad was a civil rights activist. I wonder why I turned out the way I did! You go Harry!

(All that said, as much as I might agree with him, his remarks were a bit over the top for a "goodwill ambassador.")

[robbedvoter]

12. Someone speaking for ME - IS good will! As it is, everyone tends

to identify all of us with Bushco - I am happy for a few brave people to tell the world it ain't so.

[TahitiNut]

14. Harry's about as in tune with global opinion as one man can be.

He doesn't get much 'say nice things' diplomatic shit ... since the people he deals with are mostly in the trenches. I've got to regard the global opinion of Junior to be 100% aligned with Harry's remarks. He's not a person to go "off the reservation" on something like that. No way.

[merwin]

13. Jon has always said he makes fun of everybody. If somebody says

something that makes a good joke, be it helpful to the liberal cause or not, he's going to mock it :-)

It just so happens that right now there's enough republicans making asses out of themselves to fill up 3 hours a night, so they're usually the focus.

[Gregorian]

15. Same reaction here.

It didn't sit right with me. I've been watching since the first day of the show. And this was the one time I was upset. No, that was not sarcasm. What it was was not being able to push the boundaries. We all know who the biggest terrorist is. But they can't say it on that show. They have sponsors and producers.

I understand. But it's still upsetting.

[Atman]

17. Belafonte is defined by the DAYO song.

He might have a hell of catalog, and be a world class statesman, but he is known by that song. What did you think they'd use to poke fun? It was a natural.

[Gregorian]

21. The Belafonte part was fine.

It was making Bin Laden out to be the big bad guy, when we all know it's Bush. Am I wrong about that? (That's me asking myself out loud). I honestly think Bush is far far worse than Bin Laden. And that's what I found upsetting.

And yes, it was also misleading of them to belittle Belafonte's visit to Chavez.

[Beelzebud]

22. I must have missed the memo that Bin Laden is not a bad guy....

WTF?

[krkaufman]

32. Which one's worse?

How many cold bodies is bin Laden responsible for? And how many the Boy Prince?

Personally, I'd say it's too close to call. (Unless one wants to weight American bodies in the count as more valuable than those in other countries -- or maybe by actual weight.)

[krkaufman]

30. What makes it even more painful, to me...

> And yes, it was also misleading of them to
> belittle Belafonte's visit to Chavez.

Yes, agreed. And what makes it even more painful, to me is the feeling that this government is bound to make a move against the leadership of the South American countries, and misinformation spread through late night comedy -- just like during the 2000 Presidential Election (see: "Gore invented Internet") -- plays into the hands of the corporatist establishment.

Stewart positions himself as a righteous comic when he attacks Tucker et al for their failures, so it's disappointing to see him being so lazy.

[krkaufman]

28. THAT was funny. The defense of Bush ...

... and discounting Belafonte's comment as extreme was simplistic, and plays to the worst characteristics of his American audience.

[G_j]

33. "But they can't say it on that show".... you nailed it

that is right he CAN'T say Bush is a terrorist.
and neither will you ever hear "Bush war crimes" and other taboo phrases.

He wouldn't be allowed to read most of MLK's (who was a close friend of Harry's BTW) "Beyond Vietnam" speech either because the truths in it are just 'too much'.

The show is over-rated IMHO. I guess it just shows how desperate people are to find this show to be 'cutting edge'.
Give me some Lenny Bruce.

[Sydnie]

19. It was funny - If you can't handle that, then you won't like him at

all when we regain power and he is poking fun at us every night.

[Mr_Spock]

20. And now a post that TOTALLY misses the point

WOW!!! :eyes:

[orleans]

24. now i have to watch it after malloy is over. n/t

[WCGreen]

29. I suppose you roll around laughing when he points his

wit at Bush and company.....

He is a humorist.... Didn't get a talking too...


My advice, get a sense of humor....

[orleans]

31. okay, saw it. it was ironic contrast when he said harry

was a u.s. good will ambassador and then harry calls bush a terrorist.

they kicked it with the pic of osama,
and the topper of the joke was the appearance of osama's coffee mug given to him by his grandchildren: worlds biggest terrorist


and the rob cordrey bit was just an easy use of the song day-o.

i really like belafonte--he really IS a great guy.


on edit: all the above is IMO