Jon Stewart has given us a new Battle Cry: "Let's be Reasonable"

[johnaries]

I wish I had paid more attention and remembered the name of the guy that Jon interviewed tonight, because it was one of the best interviews I have ever seen! The guy seemed to be a big John McCain fan, but Jon kept taking it back to the basics that actually created our Constitution: Opposing views = open discourse = mutual education = compromise = REASONABLE conclusions.

Personally, I am not a Centrist - I am Progressive. I don't trust the DLC: I don't think they are "compromising" as much as they are "condescending". But, as a Progressive, I am always open to open debate and logical conclusions.

In that spirit, Jon summed it up best by saying "Let's Be Reasonable!"

Think of all the un-reasonable things that Bush has done, and think how things would have been different if we had

BEEN REASONABLE!

One last time: "Let's be Reasonable!"

[thebigidea]

1. trouble is, being reasonable doesn't help in a knife fight

[napi21]

5. Jon kina covered that by saiying that the middle doesn't show the

passion that the extremists on both sides do. You don't see the reasonable "middle" marching in the streets yelling "Let's be REASONABLE!" I didn't pay attention to the name of his guest either, but he has some very good points. The majority of Americans are in the middle, and as the majority, they have to start screaming, "enough is enough!" They have to stop the extremists on both sides.

It was a good show!

[johnaries]

17. Bullshit. Have you ever broken up a knife fight? I have.

I was a bartender. I broke up more fights than you have probably seen in your lifetime.

In particular, I remember one fight involving a Hockey Team. I watched one player grab a fellow bartender with one hand, pull up and over the bar, and throw him on the floor.

And who was the fool half the size of this Hockey Player? Who was the fool that jumped on his back and held on, screaming in his ear "Let Him GO! NOW!" while holding on to his shoulders and feeling steel bands where muscles should have been, and knowing that all this guy had to do was shrug his shoulders and he would have gone flying across the room?

I was that fool. Guess what, it worked. He let go immediately, like I had pushed some hidden button.

Oh, yes, I also helped break up other fights with knives and razors, but that was the one that I remember the most.

So, yes. We can make a difference by being reasonable. Even in a knife fight. I've done it.

[thebigidea]

21. well, have fun jumping on Rove's back and screaming, then

Next time we're in a political fight, we should just wait for the bouncer!

uh oh - we're in a metaphorical muddle now... there aren't really bouncers in politics!

next week on Taking Metaphors A Tad Too Seriously For Your Own Good, we look at leading horses to water, where a Mr. Greg Dull of Bolton will tell us of a fascinating incident that sheds new light on a horse's intelligence.

[burythehatchet]

25. or as Snoop would say

"you better strap your shank cuz this aint no fist fight"

[UCLA Dem]

2. You can't reason with crazies.

Trying to do so would go something like this: :banghead:

[FreedomAngel82]

13. I agree

If you know someone isn't reasonable you can't reason with them. Like with the fundies and freepers. They don't listen to facts unless it comes from Sean Hannity and his ilk. It was a good show other wise.

[GiovanniC]

26. Ah, But It Isn't Them We Have to Reason With

Fuck Hannity and Coulter, this isn't about them and one of our biggest problems is that we have let it be about them.

It's like we have a room full of 100 people. 5 cons, 5 liberals, and 90 centrists. Right now, the 5 liberals are fighting with the 5 cons and vice versa. And the 90 centrists are saying, "A pox on both your houses." We should be reasoning with the 90 centrists, and to hell with the 5 cons. Let them become marginalized.

[johnaries]

22. Well, yeah, but they are starting to wake up.

Most of them aren't necessarily stupid, they just tend to believe what they've been told. We just need to show them they shouldn't believe what they've been told before.

[evlbstrd]

3. Our Constitution was written during the Age of Reason. nt

[Melodybe]

6. I agree with that part but the bit about McCain made me ill

I know that Jon is just trying to be bypartisan, they made some great McCain jokes last year, but in no fucking way is McCain a moderate.

It made me sad.

But I'm all for the reasonable stuff, but tonite was disappointing.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. What I think with McCain

is if there wasn't such a republican hold on the government he probably would be moderate. Compared to some he is but now that the republicans have all the power he's pussy whiped.

[seabeyond]

4. the guy was good and smart, and all examples

were repugs. was waiting for him to be a centralist and go from one side to the other, but he didnt

but it was interesting, a good interview and he is right on, the majority is in the middle. what the middle is all about, having a majority, definition of middle, lol lol

[Melodybe]

7. The right wing has no choice but to pick some dick like Guilani and McCain

I hope they do both Guilani and McCain seem like easy pickens.

The whole thing felt like a set up, and I can't shake it.

[thebigidea]

8. he's a dick - a Guiliani speechwriter who writes for a RW propaganda rag

he was probably playing to the audience - even Hannity was on his best behavior on TDS.

[seabeyond]

9. well finally a smart guy on the right, hm.......really

he is guiliani's speechwriter, lol lol i was wondering where that name came from with htis man. and of course i could give example of mccain middle of the road not so middle. hm

well thanks for the information, tis interesting, bah hahahha. just another hm. hey jon stewart is in new york

[liberalpragmatist]

10. Interview was okay - but guy was extremely naive - Dems ARE centrist

The guy sounds like he means well but he's pretty naive. And I really get annoyed at pundits declaring that the two parties are "polarized" by extremes.

Please.

The Democratic Party is NOT EXTREME. One party is the party of moderation and reason, the other party is the captive of an extreme. I wouldn't argue that Dems are perfect. On some issues I do think they're a bit too orthodox - on many more issues I think they're not far left enough. And yes there are special interest groups that have sway over the Democrats.

But when you stack the two parties side by side there is no contest. One is extreme. One is not.

But yeah, I did like Jon's battle cry: "Let's Be Reasonable!"

[Dr Ron]

15. Democrats have centrists and people on the left

Basically I agree, although I wouldn't call all Democrats centrists.

The difference is that the Democrats are controlled by centrists and those mildly to the left, with the far left having little influence.

The Republicans are controlled by the far right, and they just show their centrists off for the pr value, but they have little influence. I also disagreed with the guest's portrayal of McCain as a centrist. Sure McCain is preferable to the neocons and to the religious right, but he is still a conservative, not a centrist.

[Erika]

11. Jon never acknowledged the GOP is ran by the religious

fanatics who will not listen to anyone but theocrats. Why don't some of these talk shows address the real issues?

[Dr Ron]

12. Reasonable or Republican?

While Stewart pushed being reasonable, I couldn't help but feel that the guest's real agenda was pushing Republicans. I noted that all the supposed centrists he mentioned were Republicans. Are there no Democratic centrists?

I also don't consider McCain to be a centrist. Sure he is preferable to the neocons and the religious right, but he is still definately a conservative, not a centrist.

[thebigidea]

20. of course it was, he writes for the New York Sun.

not exactly a centrist hotbed.

[Carolab]

16. The guest was John Pavlon, book is "Independent Nation".

http://www.independentnation.org/johnpavlon.htm

[Melodybe]

18. Correction: former Guiliani speech writer John Pavlon

[Withywindle]

19. Sounds like Unitarian Jihad!

Sincerely,
Sister Cattle Prod of Courteous Debate.

http://homepage.mac.com/whump/ujname.html

[ElectricIron Sweeney]

23. We are already compromised.

Virginity is behind us and prostitution before. It is no lie that Democrats are too much like the Republicans, and too radical. They are too republican because they accept on its face 90% of what the republicans believe, and they are too radical because the public is always right. The more desperate and hopeless people become the more they will cling to the past or numb their brains with religion. They are alway right and the Democrats make a huge mistake advertising as the party of change. They would do better going as the party of make it work, than that.

[ElectricIron Sweeney]

24. Republican Foreplay

There was a joke heard once that ghetto foreplay was 'stay cool bitch, I have a knife'. All Republican calls for reasonableness are just their idea of foreplay.

[marions ghost]

27. reasonable?...been there, done that...

while I appreciate Jon's harking back to the lofty principles that created the constitution, we are not dealing with a political environment that bears any resemblance to those warm and fuzzy mythological times. Today the Right just takes full advantage of any efforts to compromise because they are ruthless opportunists, whose abuse of power knows no bounds. We have so many examples of their exploitative behavior in every facet of government that it should be beyond argument at this point. The abuse has been so extreme that the legions of "reasonable" citizens are unwitting hostages. With whatever they've got left, the Dems need to get UNreasonable, like they did yesterday (see C-Span). Stop giving power to bullies. Stop aiding and abetting hijackers. Call them the thieves that they are.

As for Centrist Republicans, their guilt and complicity will propbably keep their heads firmly stuck in the sand or wherever their heads are stuck. There is some glimmer of hope that Centrist Democrats will pull their own heads out slowly. But they all act like they've been hit with a stun gun. Shock and Awe happened at home. We're in the same shape as Iraq--in the position of having to put a "democracy" together from scratch. In addition to all the pressing repairs and reforms on every front, we will need to recreate the system for greater resistance to internal power grabs. This shameful Domestic Violence must not happen again.