Jon Stewart just eviscerated a member of the GOP 'rapid response team'

[jpgray]

The fool was touting the talking point 'first and fourth most liberal members of the senate', and Jon handily proved that he had no idea how the ratings were calculated, AND that he had no idea which group gave them the rating. He falsely attributed the rating to 'all of them' when Stewart correctly gave the National Journal as the source, and then he proceeded to claim that it was measured over their careers, when in fact it was only for one year. Stewart also nailed the 'voted to raise taxes 350 times' by pointing out that some of those votes were to keep taxes where they were.

The Daily show is awesome. They told the truth about every one of these talking points, whereas CNN and MTP have been bombarded with the same and take a supine position that would disgust a two dollar whore.

[NWHarkness]

1. John made him look like an idiot

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. *sigh* *pitter-patter my heart*

That was wonderful! Stewart hit it with showing the "spin" with a moderate's viewpoint. Knocked him down and slapped him silly!!!

I loved the comment about why the Rabid Response teams were there! LOL!!!!! It was a beautiful thing!

[Justice]

18. You know, I said that on another thread, but now that I see it

The guy (bonilla) is an idiot (not just looks like one) - Jon just revealed it to us.

[Cha]

2. We were wondering if Jon would talk about all the

"terror alerts" in NYC? For those of us who don't have standard cable..thanks!

[Jacobin]

5. Yes. Jon talked about it

Outed it for what it was.

[jpgray]

6. Yes! He did a great job too

He was in the middle of speaking about how united and energized the Democrats were when an aide suddenly handed him a note, and he interrupted to say 'forget that, suddenly we have a major terror warning'. It was hilarious. He also played the clip of Ridge attributing the safety of the nation and the interception of the threat information to the strong leadership of GWB--the obvious political pandering there was quite clear, and it was very funny to the audience.

[Cha]

16. Thanks you guys ...you're awesome for reporting this...and

Jon just basically ROCKS! That was perfect and just what I wanted to hear!

[Cooley Hurd]

25. ...and Jon said Ridge was retiring so he could spend more time

...at home, scaring his family.:D

[Cha]

30. Ouuuhhhh! That was a good one!

[LuminousX]

3. It was awesome

Jon even had to take pity on the guy and explain how the rankings were established. Damn, that guy was just overwhelmed.

[dennis4868]

24. It's because.....

the repubs have NO SUBSTANCE to their arguments.....

[mfritz]

4. It was beautiful

I just watched it. Stewart played dumb, and let the guy spin like crazy, then lowered the boom with the actual facts.

As usual Stewart seemed to feel sorry for the guy after exposing him as a liar. Why can't the REAL media challenge spin like this?

MF

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Welcome to DU :^D

[jpgray]

34. Welcome to DU. We've been asking that question here an awful lot

There are entire threads devoted to the subject. :(

[newyawker99]

39. Hi mfritz!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[southernleftylady]

7. please let me know when this show is on the web please..

i love this show and i missed it tonight.. thanks

[jpgray]

9. It repeats at 1AM EST. Also at 10AM EST and 7PM EST the next day

And they usually put the best clips up on the web site in a day or so.

[DemoTex]

13. DirectTV also re-runs the night before at 7 pm EDT.

FWIW!

[jpgray]

15. Thanks, forgot to put that one up there. (nt)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. That was incredible!

good job Jon!

[buycitgo]

14. this represents a MAJOR change, for JS to have the facts at

his fingertips

not long ago, he used to be Brian Lamblike, letting guests spout the most outrageous BS, then he became slightly skeptical, turning some of the most ludicrous statements against his guests, but not by using stats like he employed tonight.

this is an exTREMEly good sign

if he's going to toss their lies back in their faces with specifics, so much for the better

[Feanorcurufinwe]

17. Really? cool

this is only about the 4th time I've seen him.

[LuminousX]

23. I think he always has the facts

but he isn't there to counterspin, just provide balance to some of the overboard comments. In this case the guy was so clueless, Jon had to educate him.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

32. I don't know whether or not that's so, I would guess yes,

but I don't agree that 'the guy was so clueless, Jon had to educate him' -- to me, it looked like a total setup, and I don't think the guy was clueless either, he knew he was caught in a lie and just didn't care. Because that's the secret of a lot of the Bushies that is hard for us to understand: they know Bush is lying, they know they are repeating a lie, and they just don't care.

[dennis4868]

33. they dont care....

that they are lieing because the media is not going to call them out on the lie.

[LuminousX]

37. I think he was clueless

because when Jon mentioned The National Journal, the guy laughed and said that it was a magazine... he didn't even know where the talking points he was repeating were coming from. He was given a list of stuff to say and his job was to repeat it over and over.

He may know the needs of his district inside and out. He may understand all sorts of things better than anyone else, but when it comes to campaign spin control, this guy was way out of his league.

[BlueStateGirl]

10. Jon Stewart is the only real journalist on TV. And he's on a comedy

network.

[jpgray]

12. We're living a Shakespearean tragedy--only the fools are telling the truth

:crazy:

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. IN this fictitious times you only find the truth

on a fictitioous news network... to paraphrase Michael Moore

[JHB]

40. That's what the structure has come to...

The imperatives on 'news' shows pressures them to defer, not judge, no matter the level of BS coming from the RNC.

The imperatives on a 'comedy' show are to burst bubbles, and these days no bubbles are bigger than the clouds emitted from RNC spinmeisters.

Ergo, only the jesters point out the truth.

[rumguy]

21. I didn't see it but god damn it's about time

someone knocked down this lame talking point. They took one year, ONE YEAR of votes during which time both Kerry and Edwards were running for president and only voted on the 'close' bills. Their overall records show them to be moderates.

Now we need to thoroughly and completely smack down the 'they voted against funding for the troops' BS talking point.

[funkybutt]

22. To all you Jon Stewart haters...

you're freakin paranoid! you're wrong! Get your head together!

[Jacobin]

26. Huh? Haven't met one on DU.....

:shrug:

[funkybutt]

38. Last week they were out in force

complaining about his democratic convention coverage and how he was too hard on the dems...

[kentuck]

27. I think this guy actually pissed Jon off.....

The guy was slicker than snot on a doorknob...

[jpgray]

31. Hell, the GOP-shilling baby boots pissed the crowd off (nt)

[buycitgo]

28. dig this article in the chicago tribune about DS/JS

they LOVE it, and even this wingnut cultural critic understands the significance of the way in which shows like his have supplanted (at least for the youthsters) regular BS news

she doesn't go halfway far enough, but it's more than one can expect from the mainstream media

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0408020102aug02,1,5634920.story?coll=chi-leisuretempo-hed

Buried in the mirth were two exceptionally significant observations by Stewart about media -- observations that made you glad about the show's popularity among young Americans, that demographic Holy Grail for advertisers. Last week's "Daily Show" installments were up 20 percent over the same period a year ago, according to ratings figures provided by Comedy Central, and an average of 1.2 million viewers tuned in each night. The first of Stewart's incisive remarks about the mainstream media's preoccupations came as he chatted on Wednesday's show with Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

The "real news" people had been falling all over themselves to cover the brief dustup between Teresa Heinz Kerry, the Democratic contender's wife, and an obscure journalist. With a wide-eyed innocence that only he can pull off, Stewart said, "We go to war and the Senate Intelligence Committee comes out with a report and says, `You know that whole thing about the weapons of mass destruction and the links to Al Qaeda? Yeah, sorry about that.' Isn't that what I would imagine to be the scandal of our times -- and yet Teresa Heinz Kerry saying `Shove it' seems to be a bigger deal."

Stewart's second great moment came on Thursday's show after various pundits had skewered the Rev. Al Sharpton for his long, fiery screed about the sacred history of the right to vote -- an issue that, given the problems in the 2000 presidential election, might have a modicum of relevance. After a clip that showed MSNBC's Chris Matthews drowning out Sharpton's speech with his disapproval, Stewart opined, "Clearly, Chris Matthews and MSNBC had more important things to do than cover the content of a speech that galvanized the convention more than any other." Stewart then rolled a clip of Matthews previewing a chat with an actor from "The Sopranos."

[dennis4868]

29. There used to be.....

a time when a network like CNN would challenge a repub the way Jon did tonight....with the facts....when you do that they look truly silly indeed!

[LuminousX]

35. Can we email all the networks and ask

them to watch The Daily Show to see how journalism is supposed to be. Jon seems very fair. He never shouts down his guest (unlike tonight when the weasel just wouldn't give an answer).

We need to ask the media to go beyond the talking points. We need to beg them to be our advocate not the politician's echo chamber.

[LunaC]

36. And what in the hell is wrong with being Liberal?

Demographically, the Repugs need to remember that the MAJORITY of voting Americans did NOT select G.W. Bush as their President. LiberaLs are MAINSTREAM even if they are loathe to admit it. It's time for the damn demonizing to STOP!