The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Comedy Central
2004
Rating:

Television newscasters and pundits from FOX News to CNN have commented on what a sad state of affairs it is that today's youth trusts Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show" more than any other news program. It's sad indeed. Sad that no other news outlet had the balls to actually hold the President accountable for the things he has done, leaving a comedy show to do the heavy lifting. Take, for example, Stewart's deconstruction of President Bush's visit to Bill O'Reilly's "Spin Zone" and O'Reilly's comments about liberal bias.

Stewart: All the president did was deliver a simple thank you aboard a Viking warplane under a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. But if you listen to the press spin, it was like he had prematurely declared victory!
[Cut to file footage of Bush on the USS Lincoln.]
Bush: In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.
Stewart: Spinners! If you listen to the liberal elite, they implied that Bush said we were about to find weapons of mass destruction!
Bush: We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated.
Stewart: Wanna know how that turns out? It's, uh, very similar to Al Capone's vault. But those hippie press freaks! They would make you believe that the president implied Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were allies!
Bush: We've removed an ally of al-Qaida and cut off a source of terrorist funding.
Stewart: Damn you, liberal file footage! Damn you, TiVo! Actually, O'Reilly realizes the left-wing media isn't the only problem. There's also left-wing academia.
O'Reilly: You went to Yale and Harvard and they're all pinhead liberals over there.
Bush: (laughs) I haven't spent a lot of time analyzing why professors feel the way they feel.
O'Reilly: You just want to get out of the class. I was the same way.
Stewart: Seriously, education is for jackasses.

Conservatives have complained that "The Daily Show" is too liberal for its own good, apparently ignoring Stewart's scathing attacks on Sen. John Kerry's inability to give answers that weren't focus-grouped and rambling to the point of incoherence. If by liberal they mean this is the "No Bullshit Zone," then, fine, yes, "The Daily Show" is liberal — and damn good, too.

Posted Saturday, April 16, 2005

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/tv/daily.show