Sunday, October 31, 2010

Tom Tomorrow grumps about Jon Stewart's simplistic call for moderation on the proverbial both sides

I'm glad to see that Jon Stewart's and Stephen Colbert's rally drew a good crowd in Washington yesterday: Bigger than Beck? Huge crowd attends Restore Sanity rally McClatchy Newspapers 10/30/2010.

But I'm not thrilled about the increased blurring of politics and show business this kind of thing represents. And this was political satire on a grand scale. But it wasn't free from the taint of High Broderism, with Stewart encouraging the proverbial both sides to cool it.

Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow wasn't impressed with Jon Stewart's speech Saturday drawing false equivalencies between Democratic progressives and the screaming mimmies of the Tea Party right. He tweeted on it several times, including:

Seriously all, no one consistently makes me laugh as hard as Stewart (except maybe colbert.) Just don't entirely agree w/him today.
Shall we take it down a notch, work with our right wing friends on defunding science, outlawing abortion, eliminating social security?
Rt @KeithOlbermann I wish it were otherwise. But you can tone down all you want ... the Right will only get LOUDER. // <--this. [for non-tweeters, the "rt" means re-tweet, meaning that comment was a tweet by Keith Olberman]
I should note for the record that I generally love Jon Stewart to death, but really hate the false equivalency flag he likes to fly.
Jon Stewart 1861: the North and the South both make some pretty good points.
Jon Stewart 1964: let's just agree to disagree on this whole "civil rights" issue.
The trouble with "reaching across the aisle to get things done" is that ppl disagree on "things" -- abortion, gay rights, etc.
Aggressive moderates: please unfollow. Not interested in calls for pre-emptive surrender to the crazies.
Like Digby says, right wing isn't going to listen to any of this. So basically DFH's just got told to STFU.
This is sounding like a college freshman stoner session. Dude if we just all remember we're like human beings you know?
Please Jon Stewart explain to me the difference between racists and Tea Partiers carrying racist signs.
And yeah to the extent this is perceived as a "liberal" event, can't help but take wind out of Beck's sails, which is a good thing.
That latter comment was meant to be kind of a compliment.

Tags: ,

| +Save/Share | |




FEATURED QUOTE

"It is the logic of our times
No subject for immortal verse
That we who lived by honest dreams
Defend the bad against the worse."


-- Cecil Day-Lewis from Where Are The War Poets?


ABOUT US

  • What is the Blue Voice?
  • Bruce Miller
  • Fdtate
  • Marcia Ellen (on hiatus)
  • Marigolds2
  • Neil
  • Tankwoman
  • Wonky Muse

  • RECENT POSTS

  • Mystery of the Blue Dog Dem mystique
  • Ron Brownstein on Obama's drama
  • Tennessean series on anti-Muslim demagoguery
  • Bipartisan harmony after the elections?
  • Dana Milbank gives the Village sneer to Jon Stewar...
  • Obama on cutting Social Security
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Vietnam War
  • The perilous ideological foreign policy of the US ...
  • A cheatsheet for the horserace in next Tuesday's H...
  • Aqua Buddha goon applies Cheney Rules

  • ARCHIVES




    RECENT COMMENTS

    [Tip: Point cursor to any comment to see title of post being discussed.]
    SEARCH THIS SITE
    Google
    www TBV

    BLUE'S NEWS





    ACT BLUE











    BLUE LINKS

    Environmental Links
    Gay/Lesbian Links
    News & Media Links
    Organization Links
    Political Links
    Religious Links
    Watchdog Links

    BLUE ROLL


    MISCELLANEOUS

    Atom/XML Feed
    Blogarama - Blog Directory
    Blogwise - blog directory

    Blogstreet
    Haloscan


    Blogger

    hits since 06-13-2005

    site design: wonky muse
    image: fpsoftlab.com