During the Democratic primaries in 2008, Rush Limbaugh famously launched “Operation Chaos” to keep the divisive contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton going. The Jon Stewart “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” might as well have been the product of an “Operation Diversion.”
How to keep as many liberals as possible safely in thrall to their own smug superiority and distaste for the rough-and-tumble of political persuasion? Give them a rally a few days before the election in which they can amuse themselves with their ironic signs and their highhanded dismissal of anyone not as exquisitely reasonable as they are. “Yes, We Can (Congratulate Ourselves).”
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The host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Stewart gets credit for sincerity. He made repeated heartfelt pleas for civility in our political discourse, and zapped offenders on both the right and the left. He’s a sharp wit with a rock star’s following, as the estimated crowd of 200,000 attests. His weakness is a magnificent lack of self-awareness.
Stewart lectures about the tone of our politics and our media as if he’s Charlie Rose or George Will. Of course, he’s neither. He’s the host of a comedy show that relies on mockery and japery to make its points, and depends on the conceit that the other side is a collection of reprobates and idiots.
The morality tale that framed Stewart’s rally had all the subtlety of “The Pilgrim’s Progress” or a WWE skit. Jon Stewart, the reasonable liberal, does battle with Stephen Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” who pretends to be a self-parodic conservative. The question is whether to give into fear or not, with Stewart pleading “no” and Colbert using underhanded means to argue “yes.” Colbert did everything but don a Snidely Whiplash mustache and tie a damsel in distress to the railroad tracks.
This was a merely a more amusing, less partisan gloss on the Democratic plaint this year that Republicans are exploiting fear. But doesn’t every political party? When Democrats said George W. Bush was violating our civil liberties, pursuing “endless war” and plunging us into a depression, they weren’t trying to evoke feelings of affection or trust.
What shouldn’t be underestimated — although it is all the time — is how affirmative the Tea Party is. Listen to a speech by, say, Tea Party–infused Republican Senate candidates Ron Johnson in Wisconsin or Marco Rubio in Florida, and you’ll hear the expression of an achingly earnest love of country. Although that’s the kind of thing Jon Stewart makes fun of, too.
Stewart scored his most telling points against the hyperbole and scaremongering of the media. At bottom, though, this speaks to a nostalgia for the more sedate, consensual media environment of the days of Walter Cronkite. Those days aren’t coming back, and Stewart should be glad. There wasn’t any room back then for “fake news,” and people prone to call the president of the United States “dude” — as Stewart did when he appeared on the show last week — weren’t typically granted presidential interviews.
Now, we have more contentious, diverse, and sprawling media, in keeping with our contentious, diverse, and sprawling republic. In his closing statement, Stewart inveighed against that very contentiousness, complaining that we cooperate everywhere in America but in the place where representatives of two different philosophies are sent to contend over the nation’s future, namely Congress.
Should Obama have scaled back his ambitions in the interest of congressional comity? On the contrary. In his interview with the president, Stewart said Obama’s program “has felt timid at times.” This reflects the childish liberal belief that, upon the triumph of hope and change in November 2008, a wondrously new dispensation had arrived. When Obama now bows enough to reality to say “yes, we can, but . . . ,” Stewart fans laugh bitterly.
They can comfort themselves with all their “reasonableness” and “sanity” — compared with, you know, most of the rest of the country. “Operation Diversion” proceeds apace.
Your observations couldn't be more correct. The rave reviews on liberal websites that practically worship Stewart are quite telling. Slate's photo journal titled "Signs of Sanity" induces the most eye-rolling.
Overall, agree with the characterizations: but, these statements seem to be to be in conflict. How do you reconcile them:
(A) "you’ll hear the expression of an achingly earnest love of country. Although that’s the kind of thing Jon Stewart makes fun of, too."
(B) "Stewart inveighed against that very contentiousness, complaining that we cooperate everywhere in America but ... Congress"
I was at the rally. I found the closing statement to which you refer ("we work together every darn day, everywhere except here and the media") to be a fundamentally pro-American message, one we don't hear from our Lecturer-in-Chief. To wit: we don't *need* to work together; we *do* work together, all over the country, and it's great. We need to remember that.
That message is maybe a little smug, maybe a little facile, but fundamentally is not disrespectful of patriotism -- just the opposite.
I always wondered why he wanted to restore sanity and civility since the lifeblood of his show(literally) relies on those two things being on full display.
I also never really appreciated being lectured about civility by someone whose job it was to be snarky and smug. He does his job very well, but this rally has to be seen as the pot calling the kettle black.
The "liberals are childish, while conservatives are real adults" theme is as tired as "Bush lied, people died." Both sides are guilty of turning disagreements over whether the tax rate should be 30% or 35% into some basis for painting the other side as something other than rational beings. It's gross.
I'm certain Stewart's lecture is nothing like George Will, because I didn't fall asleep while listening to it. And it's rich to refer to Stewart and liberals as "smug" when Will and yourself are the living embodiment of "smug superiority". (I swear, just watch Mr. Will on any episode of "This Week"--he wins for most pedantic pundit). Tell me, would you have been more impressed in Jon Stewart had winked at you? ("He winked at me!")
Honestly, do you ever consider how you must appear to moderate, normal Americans? Do you even care? This seems to be the common ground between left and right-wing pundits--an utter lack of regard for compromise and discovering common ground. The only commonality between reading your piece and reading one by Ariana Huffington is that both are guaranteed to be extremely smug. I guess smug sells. But I would never be able to live with myself knowing that I was nothing more than an ideological sycophant who has no genuine ideas of his own.
I'm certain Stewart's lecture is nothing like George Will, because I didn't fall asleep while listening to it. And it's rich to refer to Stewart and liberals as "smug" when Will and yourself are the living embodiment of "smug superiority". (I swear, just watch Mr. Will on any episode of "This Week"--he wins for most pedantic pundit). Tell me, would you have been more impressed in Jon Stewart had winked at you? ("He winked at me!")
Honestly, do you ever consider how you must appear to moderate, normal Americans? Do you even care? This seems to be the common ground between left and right-wing pundits--an utter lack of regard for compromise and discovering common ground. The only commonality between reading your piece and reading one by Ariana Huffington is that both are guaranteed to be extremely smug. I guess smug sells. But I would never be able to live with myself knowing that I was nothing more than an ideological sycophant who has no genuine ideas of his own.
Stewart is merely today’s purveyor of the faux intellectualism that the condescending left just loves. He's regularly inconsistent (if not contradictory) and just like, “Hope and Change” his, “Why can’t we all just get along?” spiel is not a blueprint for running a country. His brilliance is that by putting on the clown's nose no one really takes him to task for the the failings of his opinions.
Controversial Statement Alert!! Just as Lebron James is not an oppressed minority in the NBA (even if you believe he still might be in a society that has made him a multi-millionaire), John Stewart is not an oppressed minority in the entertainment industry. You will disagree if you believe that only white protestant males can discriminate, but I'm not expecting to persuade that population of anything rational.
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