February 20, 2024

"I guess, as the famous saying goes, Democracy Dies in Discussion."

Says Jon Stewart, on "The Daily Show" last night, responding to critics who accused him of "bothsidesism" for aiming some of his humor at Biden:


The test is whether Stewart can stand up to these critics or whether he will take direction from them. He makes a joke of apologizing to them and offering them a fresh slab of the kind of comedy they demand — he goes after Tucker Carlson. Fine. That was well done. But I don't want Stewart cowed by his critics, and I hope as last night's show proceeded, he made fun of some Democrats too. I can't tell you whether he did or not, because they didn't put the whole show on YouTube as they did last week, and I don't currently have the Paramount streaming service. I was considering subscribing just to get this show. I still am. I want what's going to make Democrats get haughtily indignant and say "bothsidesism."

72 comments:

Christopher B said...

"bothsidesism"

When anybody consders a position, policy, or viewpoint that Democrats don't like to have the slightest hint of legitimacy.

See also "whataboutism".

Kevin said...

I suspect YouTube will be used to distribute left-leaning versions of each episode, with the anti-left content removed.

Progressives can then live in a world where Stewart only attacks Trump.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

“Bothsideism” has a long way to go, if you count how many indictments Biden has, compared to Trump.

Amadeus 48 said...

'I want what's going to make Democrats get haughtily indignant and say "bothsidesism."'

Good luck with that. I expect Stewart to dive deeply into "Onesideism" as the year goes forward.

Let us know how it goes.

Humperdink said...

It will be partialsideism until Jon Stewart caves, which he will.

rehajm said...

The ‘important’ attacks on conservatives will be on the public side of the paywall.

rehajm said...

But I don't want Stewart cowed by his critics

His critics get him fired. The cows have nothing to do with it.

Show us the clapter, funny man.

Goldenpause said...

Odds are that he will trim his sails. It’s not his network and the owners don’t want to lose their far left audience.

Breezy said...

Perhaps we need a pool - Will Stewart take the red pill?

My vote is yes. Comedy’s been hardest hit by onesidedness. He doesn’t need the job if he can’t do it the way he wants to do it.

rehajm said...

It’s election year February, the time when strategists begin to wake up the lemmings, making sure the rubes focus on the proper outlets. A time to give them a chance to exercise their anxieties before we lock that shit down. Yes, Biden is a cadaver but John Stewart is just a nonpartisan comedian you see, we say, with evidence (sort of)…

Humperdink said...

Stewart was brought back for the campaign season to resurrect Bribe'Em from the dead. As someone said, a zebra doesn't change it's spots *cough*. And neither will Jonathan Leibowitz.

Quaestor said...

Stewart's bothsideism is far removed from evenhandedness. If the man had a single non-reptilian bone in his carcass, he'd spend about two months' worth of his schedule apologizing to Donald Trump.

Mr. Forward said...

The best time to tip a cow is when it's standing up and sleeping.

Kate said...

We have Paramount because it's a perk of our WalMart subscription. If you ever buy anything there -- groceries or sundries -- it's a good deal. Same day home delivery included.

Birches said...

Jon Stewart is bigger than cancelation, but his writers aren't so his show will fall in line.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Jon Stewart will break your heart then, Althouse. He is constitutionally incapable of standing up to criticism from the Left, although he is making a great show of trying really hard right now. This too shall pass. He will return to the mean. By which I mean he will be vicious to Republicans and only occasionally gently poke fun at Democrats. It's his M.O. It's what he does. It's why people like me are not even bothering to tune in and give him a temporary bump in eyeballs.

And Gutfeld is still kicking his ass in ratings. By a lot.

Dave Begley said...

Jon’s mission is to mock Biden so that he decides to quit the campaign. Push Biden out. There’s plenty of material.

rhhardin said...

The argument is the reaction, in the same genre as the Trump Derangement Syndrome host reporting on Trump's misdeed of the day.

Ann Althouse said...

"We have Paramount because it's a perk of our WalMart subscription. If you ever buy anything there -- groceries or sundries -- it's a good deal."

Actually I never go to Walmart. Don't go to Target or any kind of store like that. Anything that I'd get there is something I'd get from Amazon, which is much easier to do and it has a streaming dimension too.

Ann Althouse said...

I suddenly realized we have Fubo these days. Got it for the sports. Not for me, for Meade. But I think it has Comedy Central.

Problem solved

Rich said...

Because as sleepy and uncharismatic as Biden is, at least unlike Trump — he is predictable and not a threat to world stability. Ultimately he’s a much lesser evil. Trump on the other hand is just four years younger than Biden and about 15 years younger in mental acuity and about 40 points lower in IQ.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I suddenly realized we have Fubo these days

Illustrating one of the common modern epiphanies. My brother recently said, "We don't do streaming" while we were standing next to an Amazon Prime box that had just been delivered to his house, which has excellent high speed WiFi. You can guess where the conversation went from there.

MadisonMan said...

Anything that I'd get there is something I'd get from Amazon
I'm not a big fan of the waste that comes from Amazon, meaning all that packaging. Sure, you can recycle some of it, but it takes energy to get it to your house, and then to the recycle plant. And it's not easy to find a place that recycles all those plastic bubbles.

Gusty Winds said...

Tucker Carlson is doing serious, risky work about the weaponization of the US Government against its own people.

John Stewart is a part of that weaponized apparatus; nothing more. He's just another Steven Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. All three arrogant assholes.

How original John. Go after Tucker Carlson just like EVERY OTHER LIBERAL MOUTHPIECE to kiss ass to your audience.

Gunner said...

Did Tucker really think his Excellent Shopping Cart Adventure would go over well in America? Was no one on his crew able to tell him that we have had coin operated carts for awhile and Russia is not innovating grocery shopping?

Gusty Winds said...

he goes after Tucker Carlson. Fine. That was well done. But I don't want Stewart cowed by his critics, and I hope as last night's show proceeded, he made fun of some Democrats too.

At this point going after Tucker is cliché.

What outcome are you hoping for with John Stewart returning for only the 2020 election to prop up Democrats? The guy has NEVER been a truth seeking comedian. Stewart is a sophist. He will turn more blatantly partisan. Just like Bill Maher who always returns home to his Trump Derangement Syndrome to fellate his core audience.

If you haven't seen Tucker's interview with Mike Benz regarding censorship and military rule already instituted here in the US you're missing EVERYTHING and still playing make believe.

Jon Stewart is an irrelevant side show. Total prick.

Iman said...

He’s clown nosin’ (buh da bah bah)
He’s clown nosin’ (buh da bah bah)

h/t Bobby Freeman

Enigma said...

Back when juiced Barry Bonds was with the SF Giants, the management came up with a way to win the World Series. They'd pay Bonds $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and then bring in a troupe of cheap near-retirement veterans to support Bonds fear-walks and potential grand slams. It got Bonds to the World Series (2002; which they lost to the Angels). This strategy continued without success until Bonds retired in 2007.

Management then used its super Silicon Valley techno brains and huge budget to hire a true team of young athletes. They won the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014 without the creaky old crew.

Beware of all organizations that bet their futures on the past and on fading veterans. The players surely don't get better as they age. Neither Biden nor Trump will improve in four years.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The left are so vile with their obsession to protect each other. You will not mock Joe biden or any leftist.... ever! Guards - seize him!

Aggie said...

Did Stewart take the 'once a week' job because he see's himself as a distinguished 'comedian emeritus' - or does he need the money? Either way, he's trading on his established screen persona. I don't predict a change of tack.

Humperdink said...

@Ann, with your FUBO subscription you can watch it on your phone or airplay it from your phone.

Rusty said...

He will cave to his audience. Which is leftist.

rcocean said...

Interesting that the rich Leftwing Jewish guy who changed his name to Stewart mocks Carlson as a "Mayflower bacgammon Kennebunkport III".

And then we get Stewart's tiresome take on Carlson's interview which brings up the Standard Liberal MSM "talking point" about Putin SUPPOSEDLY saying Poland started WW II. THis gives Stewart a chance to do his standard "Waaah??" face, and joke about how Mighty poland attack tiny little Nazi Germany.

I think Stewart is just doing his usual "I'm attacked by both sides" shtick. His only response to "bothsideism" is to just to claim his Leftwing critics want conformity. He doesn't attack them. He just snarks that he going to speak his mind. And then he spends 10 minutes attacking Tucker Carlson from the Standard MSM Liberal/left perspective.

Again, Stewart is just doing a variation of what liberal/Left MSM reporters and pundits used to do. "Hey, I just call 'em the way I see 'em. I'm attacked by both the hard left and by the Rush Limbaugh/Republican/hard right". And so Dan Rather, would pretend to balanced and neutral because "Both extremes" disliked him. SKipping over the fact that his so-called "Exteme Right" represented 45 percent of the USA, and his "extreme left" represented 5 percent.

Stewart is basically the comedy version of NYT Op-ed page. Its hard to see where his opinions diverge.

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

The Houston Heights HEB grocery store also has an escalator for its carts.
Maybe we have at long last closed the Grocery Cart Gap.

I do not watch the Daily SH\how or Tucker Carlson, so all I have to go on is what our hostess selects.
I agree that letting Putin talk about how Poland started WWII lets America know what a crackpot he is, and cements his image as a ruthless sociopathic dictator. I did not see Tucker's entire interview, but the part that Liebowitz shows about his sycophantic affair with that loaf of bread does TC no favors. We all know that such places are Potemkin Palaces not available to the average Russian, and it would bring back Khrushchev's epiphanic adventure in a typical American supermarket if TC had the wit or inclination to make that point.

Spending the majority of that segment on a (well-deserved) takedown of TC will help JSL get back in the good graces of the wokeleft.

Freeman Hunt said...

"Was no one on his crew able to tell him that we have had coin operated carts for awhile and Russia is not innovating grocery shopping?"

No kidding. Has Carlson ever been to a grocery store in the United States? We even have bread.

Incidentally, you find the coin-operated carts at the highest discount stores. It is a cost-cutting measure, not a mark of affluence.

Freeman Hunt said...

The segment drifts farther and farther into clapter as it goes. Clapter is not comedy, though both leftists and actual conservatives can come together to appreciate criticism of Carlson's Russia campaign.

Josephbleau said...

When I watch Stewart I just see a parody of my Democrat neighbors.

Joe Smith said...

Watching Stewart voluntarily is more than I can stomach, so good for you AA.

It's a studio full of worshippers like Rich and Gadfly, all clapping and barking like trained, brainless seals.

My version of hell.

Jupiter said...

"But I don't want Stewart cowed by his critics, and I hope as last night's show proceeded, he made fun of some Democrats too."

He's just AI anyway.

Lars Porsena said...

There are two kinds of comedians, those that want laughs and those that want applause. Stewart is the latter.

Gusty Winds said...

Found clip and quote on X:

Tucker in Russian Supermarket: “So the shopping cart is free, but there is an incentive to return it and not just bring it to your homeless encampment.”

Jon: "Really, truly a dick. I didn't realize America's entire homeless problem was caused by easy access to grocery carts."

Is that funny? Tucker visit to a Moscow grocery store was 1) they are not suffering economically like we are told they are, and 2) the place is clean, as is the city, and there are incentives in place to keep it so. Unlike America's crime and drug infested shitholes.

Tucker didn't say the homeless problem was caused by grocery carts. Stewart if flailing here for an insult. Throwing sand at a barn. His braindead audience will think its hilarious. Bark and clap like seals. Same as the Bill Mahar audience. But in actuality, it's meaningless.

We see Walgreens pulling out of Oakland, and Walmarts out of Chicago to the point where Chicago city gov't has to start it's own grocery store in the hood.

Jon Stewart is and arrogant prick. Blinded by his arrogance. If he doesn't see the clear message from Tucker's visit to a Moscow grocery store he's a moron. If he does see it and chooses to ignore it, he is nothing more than an evil pawn. Like Morning Joe and Mika.

Butkus51 said...

if i were in captivity they would make me crack by forcing me to watch the camera mugger

Joe Smith said...

Jonathan Leibowitz is looking a bit haggard these days.

And that's with professional makeup...

Ann Althouse said...

"@Ann, with your FUBO subscription you can watch it on your phone or airplay it from your phone."

Thanks. I know. I rarely watch TV shows on my iPhone, but "The Daily Show" might seem more like a podcast...

Ann Althouse said...

"Interesting that the rich Leftwing Jewish guy who changed his name to Stewart mocks Carlson as a "Mayflower bacgammon Kennebunkport III"."

And rightwinger Rush Limbaugh always called him "Chatsworth Osborne Junior." Same concept.

Ann Althouse said...

Rush transcript from 2020:

"CALLER: Hi. Mega dittos, Rush. My question is real simple. Why Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.?

RUSH: Well, you mean why do I call Tucker Carlson sometimes Chatsworth Osborne, Jr.?

CALLER: Yeah. I call him that now. My wife says, “Stop that.” (laughing)

RUSH: Do you know who Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. was?

CALLER: No, I don’t.

RUSH: Do you ever remember watching a television show — how old are you?

CALLER: Sixty. I didn’t watch much TV, though.

RUSH: Okay. Well, there was a very, very popular TV show in the 1960s called Dobie Gillis.

CALLER: Okay. I never saw that. That’s why.

RUSH: It was a college kids’ program. Dobie Gillis was a college student, and his buddies were college kids. It was kind of like a college kid version of Leave It To Beaver. And one of the characters was this uppity, elitist, snobbish, know-nothing character named Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. You know, who would name a kid Chatsworth? It’s obviously somebody’s last name. Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. So the kid was a preppie. And it’s a very affectionate nickname that I have developed for Tucker Carlson. I haven’t used it in a long time. But that is the source of it. You should YouTube Dobie Gillis and you’ll see the character.

CALLER: Well, I’m gonna now when I get home. I should be able to make it home tonight.

RUSH: You’ll probably recognize the actor who portrays Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. But that show is now, the sixties, that show is close to 70 years old. And it was in black and white, and I don’t remember who starred as Dobie Gillis, but that was the name of the show. And there were all kinds of great characters in it. And it was basically a bunch of smart-ass little college kids even back then. And it was just about their lives and how they interacted with the professors. I was nine or 10 years old when the show ran. I’m not even sure my memory of it is accurate. But what you need to know is that it was an affectionate nickname. (interruption) Yeah, Dwayne Hickman. That’s right. You’ll recognize him. Dwayne Hickman was Dobie Gillis, the star of the show. You’ll recognize Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. He’s a character actor that’s been in stuff for 60 years, 50 years at least. Anyway, I’m glad you called out there, Mark. Now, that’s a great Open Line Friday question. And, Mark, were you offended by that or were you worried that Chatsworth would be offended by it? (interruption) Okay, good. Good. ‘Cause there was no offense ever intended."

Rush and I were born on the same day, and Dobie Gillis was my favorite show.

rcocean said...

Nothing personal, but if you're going to comment on Tucker going to the Moscow supermarket can you not sound like a moron or a some weird Zelensky shill?

Tucker's points were that (1) Russia is not a USSR poorhouse and (2) Sanctions aren't hurting the Russians and (3) the Russians are living better than us. Why are they getting groceries in Moscwo at 100 dollars a week, and we're paying 4x as much? Where is vaunted and Great American standard of living?

Seems like being a nation attached to a gas station, isn't that bad. One of the dumbest comebacks from the "'murica rules" crowd is that the averge Russian wage is below that of the USA. This fucking Moscow, where people make a fairly good living thank you very much.

Anyway, all mockery and snark comes from people who want to avoid the issue. Why are our Subways full of crime, dirt, and homeless and Russia's are not? Why are rents and food so inexpensive while we suffer from massive inflation? Hey, lets not address that. Lets talk about Carlson not understanding some Supermarket technology!

Ann Althouse said...

Dobie Gillis was a college student?

I think that was high school.

Just high school with actors old enough to be in college.

rcocean said...

Its odd that Carlson used to be known as a wimpy moderate Republican and the subject of Limbaugh's wrath. Tucker used to complain about Rush pushing the Republican's too far to the right.

I'm sad every day that Rush isn't still here and doing his show.

loudogblog said...

I suspect that Jon Stewart will be able to stand up to his critics, but Paramount will filter his clips in the future to avoid upsetting people on the far left who haven't subscribed to their service yet.

mccullough said...

Stewart has fixated on Carlson a long time.

WASP envy. The Muslims will chop his head off but Stewart is still stuck on the WASPs.

Earnest Prole said...

So about that Tucker-in-Moscow video Jon Stewart features in this bit . . . I confess I haven’t been paying close attention the past few days and want to give Carlson the benefit of the doubt, but . . . the video can’t possibly be real, right? Surely it’s some kind of Deep State AI fake . . . the alternative, that Carlson has become an apologist for and fellow traveler of a grubby third-world dictator and assassin, is simply too much to bear (do pardon my leetle pun).

mccullough said...

When the median Russian income is $13,000 US dollars a year, then $5200 US dollars a year in groceries is expensive.

I generally agree with Tucker that the Russia/Putin obsession is nuts and just a way from the US government to distract from its corruption, incompetence, and impending implosion, but Russia is the worst White country on other, followed closely by Ukraine.



Freeman Hunt said...

"This fucking Moscow, where people make a fairly good living thank you very much."

Median income in Moscow is 124,000 Russian Rubles.

This is $1,339.20 US Dollars.

Moscow median annual income: $16,070.

New York City median annual income: $67,046.

Getting groceries for $100 a week in Moscow doesn't seem like much of a bargain.

Freeman Hunt said...

I used numbers there more in Moscow's favor, using the median salary rather than median income which is lower.

Iman said...

The Daily Show is more pudcast than podcast.

And it comes up short, every time.

tommyesq said...

Anyone else find it odd that the subject of the press with respect to this interview is entirely about how Tucker Carlson did? Other than the "Poland caused WW2" statement, I have seen literally zero reporting on anything that Putin said.

PM said...

Down the stretch to election day, Stewart's 'bothsideism' will have long evaporated.

Joe Smith said...

'And rightwinger Rush Limbaugh always called him "Chatsworth Osborne Junior." Same concept.'

To be fair, Carlson looks exactly like the guy who would have had a cardigan knotted over his shoulders while hanging with Biff and Muffy on the South Quad...

Freeman Hunt said...

That New York median income is per household, so cut it in half. That's what I get for being in a hurry.

baghdadbob said...

And don't forget Gilligan, aka Bob Denver.

Jim Gust said...

Certainly Dobie Gillis started as a high school student, but did he graduate and go to college with Zelda in later seasons? I'll have to look that up.

Zelda was my favorite character on the show. I believe the actress went on to become a CA politician.

Josephbleau said...

“The teen characters graduated from high school halfway through the second season, and Dobie and Maynard (along with Chatsworth) subsequently did a brief stint in the U.S. Army.[3] Dobie continued to break the fourth wall and narrate the episodes, with the park set eschewed for an abstract set with the same reproduction of The Thinker.
At the start of the third season, Dobie and Maynard received their Army discharges, after which they, Zelda, and Chatsworth enroll in S. Peter Pryor Junior College, where Mr. Pomfritt was now a professor after having resigned from his position at Central High. Dobie's science and history teacher at the college was Dr. Imogene Burkhart (Jean Byron, whose real name was used for that of the character). In season four, Dobie's teenaged cousin Duncan "Dunky" Gillis (Bobby Diamond) moves in with the Gillises, and becomes something of a tag-along for Dobie and Maynard. The fourth-season episodes tended more towards surreal plots and situations featuring Maynard as the central character rather than Dobie.”

My favorite players were Tuesday Weld and Maynard G. Krebs.

Earnest Prole said...

Keith Olberman and Althouse’s dopey commenters are butthurt because Jon Stewart said mean things about both sides, but here’s the deal: A majority of your fellow citizens are neither Republican nor Democrat; somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of your fellow citizens believe both candidates in this election are objectively awful.

Put differently, y’all need to unplug your interwebs and get out more.

Rabel said...

Ann Althouse said...

"Actually I never go to Walmart."

Seems like a terrific blogging opportunity. Throw Meade in the truck, take the camera and inform us on the state of the hoi polloi in Madison.

Might want to dress down a bit. But it's probably safer than a visit to the Capitol across the lake.

I just got back from the local one myself. Lot of empty shelves, which has been the case since Christmas. But then, I don't live in Moscow.

Rabel said...

You can find nice American style grocery stores in just about every large city in the world. The prices are relative to local factors.

And I'm not sure Carlson's purchases were meant to reflect an ordinary weeks worth of groceries.

I'll agree that he sounded like a country boy going into town for the first time in this particular case.

Or Althouse in a Walmart.

Iman said...

“Zelda was my favorite character on the show. I believe the actress went on to become a CA politician.”

You’re damning her with faint praise

Mea Sententia said...

Growing up, I grew accustomed to journalists presenting both sides of an issue. Even if I could tell which side the journalist favored, I appreciated the nod toward the other side. It took a long time to realize this idea of two sides was a fiction. There could be twenty sides to an issue, but because of space limits in a newspaper, and the pressure to produce new stories every day, they would simplify a matter to two sides. It has only been in the last few years that this idea of two sides has fallen by the wayside. I actually hear people say, "There aren't two sides to this," and I see how dissent has been relabeled as denial. This trend troubles me.

rcocean said...

The bottom line is the majority of people in Moscow live just as well as those in NYC. And they dont have to put up with NYC levels of crime, drugs, homelessness, and a filthy subway with rats.

NYC should be better than Moscow, because the USA is a much richer country. Russia has a GDP below that of Texas. People going "'murica rules!" should be angry that all that propaganda about Sanctions "destroying Russia" is wrong and that we don't have much better cities than we do.

Its really pathetic that the "'murica rules" crowd has to point to our being a magnet for poor 3rd worlders as proof of our Greatness. Why everyone in Haiti and El Salvador wants to live here! "we're number 1" Woo hoo.

And if you're an American foaming at the mouth about Putin and Russian loving "traitors" I wonder if you're mentally stable, or what your REAL motivation is. Because its super weird.

Oligonicella said...

Ann Althouse:
Dobie Gillis was a college student?

I think that was high school.


Both with a stint in the military between.

Narayanan said...

from Professora wording can I conclude Stewart still choose to kow-tow to admirers of Emperor wearing New Clothes

Rusty said...

Rich said...
"Because as sleepy and uncharismatic as Biden is, at least unlike Trump — he is predictable and not a threat to world stability."
See. This is why your intelligence is suspect,(I can't put it in any of a nicer way).
Your lord and savior, Biden, has allowed Russia to invade Ukraine and has caused saber rattling all over Europe. Not to mention the threat of nuclear war. Because he is a weak leader Biden has allowed China to make moves in the South China Sea and China has threatened Taiwan. China has put building up its nuclear arsenal in overdrive. Biden has given Iran billions of dollars which they have used to finance terrorism in Israel, Gaza, Lebenon and Yemen. They are also building a nuclear arsenal.
Please don't post anymore. It's painful to read your.................................drivel.