John Stewart just ripped a new one into

[bossfish]

Rep Henry Bonilla (R - Tex) on the GOP "response" team, etc.

The best was the whole "Kerry #1 liberal, Edwards #4 liberal" deal

(paraphrase)

John: Who does these rankings?

Bonilla: These groups, both conservative and liberal

John: Ok, but what are they called?

Bonilla: Oh, lots of groups

John: No, but who is behind the #1, #4 thing?

Bonilla: I told you, these groups.

John: Actually, the rankings were done by the National Journal

Then John kept drilling this tool on how context is forgotten, etc.

It was freakin' beautiful.

[DaveSZ]

1. I saw it

He ripped Kerry one as well.

Kerry looked very un-commander in chief like.

[bossfish]

2. Oh, the little riff on Kerry's "turn the corner" thing?

That was nothing...

Unless I missed something.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. You mean Bush's "turn the corner" thing. nt

[leftistagitator]

3. Actually he critisized Kerry the candidate more than Kerry the President.

Unless being able to spout meaningless sound-bites makes one a good president.

[PeaceProgProsp]

5. This was an amazing interview.

I loved when Bonilla said something like, "the purpose of the rapid response team is to make sure that people know the truth." Stewart responded that that was assuredly NOT the reason for the rapid response team.

Stewart was great. Bonilla really should have watched an episode before appearing on the show. He was way to used to be interviewed by the mediawhores. I can't believe that he thought Stewart was asking him the same question ("but who are the people who said Edwards and Kerry were the most liberal senators?") 1000 times just to let him off the hook.

And the more the guy lied ("it was a bunch of groups that all come to the same conclusions") the more satisfying it was when Stewart finally told Bonilla who it was. (And then to hear Bonilla lie again when he said it was a lifetime ranking...ugh, what and asshole!)

That really was a beautiful interview.

[Dem2theMax]

6. Jon was like a dog with a bone.

He wasn't going to let go of that for anything.
Which groups? Which groups? Which groups? LOL.
I have a feeling that the DNC lit something more in Jon. He seems like he's on a much more direct attack. And I LOVE it.

[PeaceProgProsp]

7. Stewart did a great segment on that statistic a few weeks ago

I was thinking that he'd be a hypocrite for not setting Bonilla straight -- which I was starting to think about half-way through the interview. Patience, PeaceProgProsp. I should have had more faith in Stewart. He was just setting Bonilla up so that the point would be as sharply made as possible.

[psychopomp]

21. Was it the DNC?

Or, perhaps, was it the Daily Shows' receipt of the Television Critics Association award for news and information programming? Either way, Jon Stewart has really hit his stride and is a pleasure to watch.

[CatWoman]

22. but he said that he had watched some of TDS

on the net, and also had someone on his staff tape it for him in anticipation of this interview. He had never seen the show before.

I agree with everyone on this thread -- I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the sofa.

Jon made a complete ass of Bonilla -- basically told him that both he and his "rapid response team" were full of shit.

[defoliate_bush]

8. "am i not doing a good job of explaining this?"

Stewart: "No, I think not". John made him look like a complete fool.
I wonder what John did with those stupid "GOP rocks" boots.

[Justice]

9. Was Bonilla Stupid or Playing Stupid?

I was trying to gauge whether Bonilla was stupid (he didn't know the answer to Stewart's question) or he was playing stupid (he knew the answer but purposefully kept it fuzzy).

It takes time to read the articles, do the research and analyze the information to understand the full picture - it is easy to repeat a few talking points.

I concluded Bonilla had no clue where the information came from - he seemed like a lightweight to me - trying to tell Jon ratings are based on votes - finally Jon said, I am not retarded, or something like that. When Jon started telling the facts, Bonilla looked surprised, he said "national review is a newspaper" as if they couldn't do surveys/polls.

I noticed at the DNC more progressive reporters (guy from MTV for example) would call republicans on stupid statements. The progressives would say things like - actually, I've never heard anyone say that, or that is not true because...." It was refreshing.
Jon Stewart was asking Bonilla last night - hey, you can say this, but just say it with all the details - national review, based on one year, blah blah blah. It occurs to me that that is what Jon is doing -- he is providing the "rest of the story" so that the public gets all the facts, not just the skewed half story. So his "fake" news is really more like "let me fill in the rest of the story" news -- and that is why the republicans are so upset.

[GOPisEvil]

10. Henry Vanilla is an idiot.

Trust me. Not smart at all. He's a total whore.

[underpants]

15. They don't want anyone to know that it is only from one source

and covers only one year -National Journal and only for 2003. The last time NJ ranked Kerry #1 liberal was 1990 there was a great article about this from the Progressive posted here yesterday I will see if I can find it.

[PeaceProgProsp]

16. He was playing stupid. You could tell because

he was repeating the mantra so many times. He had a message that he wanted to get across (a lie about the ratings being an average or a compilation of dozens of different ratings which take in a broad range of votes over a lifetime). That he stayed on message shows that he knew there was another truth he needed to avoid.

[Ducks In A Row]

23. I sat there thinking someone in the GOP hates Bonilla

because Bonilla said he hadn't watch DS before, then watched some tapes.

Oh yes, someone higher up set Bonilla up, and Jon did try to be gentle.

[AmerDem]

11. There is only so much of Steward I can take!

Hell, I jump for joy when he nails shrub and his cabal for the endless clap trap they try to spew but with all of the crap Kerry takes from so called news networks, radio pukes and late night tv I see no reason for Steward to endlessly bash Kerry further.

Steward has to ask himself, is he really helping the situation by going along with all the crap these other slimebags propagate ( ex: yesterday he did a scit on shrub's " just around the corner" tag line. he goes to Kerry saying he is ready to hit it out of the park then shows Kerry given a longer reply then the quick sound bite he was looking for, he then follows it with some kind of condicending comment ). This goes on all the time and at times very much a Kerry bashing session.

So i'll take Steward in very small doses but beyond that he comes across as a bratty snivveling talking head.

[leesa]

12. You don't understand that he has to bash the Dems too or he would be

discredited as biased? Also, why should everyone be a cheerleader for Kerry? He has some very twisted things he's proposing. It's called looking at it with clear eyes. If you pretend Kerry is the second coming, you are making the same mistake as the Republicans. They are politicians and it is best to ALWAYS hold their feet to the fire.

[AmerDem]

14. he DOESN"T have to bash Dems like that

That whole idea is just plain nuts. In that warped way of thinking America would have to be bashed as much as Hitler during WWII so as not show "bias".

Sounds like they have alot of folks taken with the way they want a debate to flow. It's our right and duty to speak openly about the vile scum they are. We are not mandated to in turn paint Dems the same way. The second that starts happening is the second the CNN, Fox and others will understand they can't get away with what they are getting away with.

[lojasmo]

20. Don't watch it then, for christ's sake.

You'll be poorer for it, less able to handle ambiguity, and less informed, but at least you won't have to deal with anybody bashing your precious democrats.

[PeaceProgProsp]

17. Furthermore, if his Dem bash is that they're thoughtful and articulate

and think in sentences and paragraphs, I'll gladly take it.

[JHB]

13. Bonilla forgot that 'The Daily Show' is a COMEDY show, not a news show...

...so where the structure of 'news' shows would pressure reporters to "respectfully defer" to vacuous partisan blather, the structure of TDS calls for John to call the bluff and make a chmp look like a chump.

That's why Comedy Central has arguably done a better job of covering elections for the last few cycles than the 'news professionals' themselves.

[PeaceProgProsp]

18. B: "you see, we vote on bills." S: "I'm not retarded." (paraphrasing)

That was another great part -- when Stewart asks where the rankings come from, and Bonilla tells him that congresspeople vote on laws.

[ASanders84]

19. He also pointed out

that Kerry and Edwards are to the right of old Democrats like JFK or McGovern. But, the GOP doesn't recognize the shift when they talk about the "MOST LIBERAL TICKET EVER!!!".