Joe Scarborough: Jon Stewart and The Daily Show are "Hacks for the Democratic Party"
Here's Joe Scarborough from earlier this morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" talking to Mika Brzezinski and CNBC's John Harwood about the New York Times article on Jon Stewart and other comedians' supposed difficulty making fun of Barack Obama…
Joe Scarborough: I don't want to hear anybody from The Daily Show or any of these other shows ever saying again, "We speak truth to power." Because you know what they do? They speak truth to Republicans. Republicans are funny. they've been idiots and jackasses over the past seven years. But, please, don't be subversive, because you're not. Because you're a hack. A hack for the Democratic Party, and you only tell jokes about one side.
Mika Brzezinski: No, this is not about being in the tank.
John Harwood: I don't think they're hacks for the Democratic Party.
Joe Scarborough: They're hacks.
Mika Brzezinski: You are unbelievable.
I know I should make a joke in here somewhere, but I just can't find anything funny to say about Joe Scarborough. He's not buffoonish in any way.
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Actually, isn't the oldest known depiction of Jesus in Greece? Isn't he depicted with dark skin and kinky black hair?
Apology accepted.
I think Joe is hoping to become relevant by getting some attention from The Daily Show.
I hope someone at TDS is combing through some of the Scareburro Cuntry footage back when the war was just starting… joe was giving "handjobs to power" 24/7 back then. Joe only stopped cheerleading for Bush when Bush's poll numbers tanked. What a phony.
Praise be Obama caligrrrrl! You got it. In the name of the Father, Obama, and Holy Spicket…..Amen.
When I saw that BS on msn.com this morning I actually went and Wiki'd Joe Scarborough since I didn't know the name of the dumbass that pushed his opinion to the top of the show. For the most part I'd prefer NPR and PBS for them just giving the facts and not the BS that all major news outlets give to the public on a daily basis on top of the news. It's all for ratings and they just have a loud mouth Rush type on with Mika trying to make him see the other side of the coin. Just MSNBC trying to appeal to multiple audiences where as Fox and CNN are generally seen as right and left. I actually posted a comment on The Morning Joe to tell him to go look at the old videos when Clinton was in the White House and see that TDS is a equal opportunity satire show.
I'm getting a little tired of how Joe has been treating Mica. He always talks down to her.
There's a difference between the creators of a show having a more liberal perspective on issues (if my liberal you mean opposition to racism and homophobia, contempt for bad school programs like creation science and abstinence-only, and a belief that we shouldn't just bomb everyone who looks at us funny) and being a hack for the Democratic party. Especially since the Democrats took control of the Congress, the DS has ridiculed them as ineffective, incompetent pushovers. Not to mention how they've slammed Code Pink and other idiotic liberal groups over the years. Nor have the refused to allow conservative authors and politicians to come on their show, and for the most part John treats them civily, even if he adamantly disagrees with them, something that cannot be said of Joe Scarborough.
As for making fun of Obama, there was a rather funny editorial by Joel Stein in the LA Times on this very issue (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein18-2008jul18,0,5763715.column) that I think the DS would agree with. So far what they've mostly gone after is the media's two-faced pattern of alternately fawning over him while still spreading every rumor about him they can get his hands on. Take, for example, their recent "Obamaquest" segment lampooning how making a 3-point shot somehow proves he has foreign policy experience.
They have tried to take shots at his credibility, but some of it comes down to what appeals to your audience, and viewers of the DS, it would seem, tend to like Obama, and we do have a hard time laughing at people we like. We'd rather mock his deification than face the hypocritical things he's done, because they hurt; he's disappointed us, and that makes it harder to laugh.
So, to summarize: DS may be more liberal on issues, but is not above mocking others with the same views; they treat conservatives politely on their show; they've mocked Obama's messianic portrayal and have tried to point out his political pandering and about-faces as much as audience approval will allow. I mean, come on, their entertainers, not newsmen. And they're damn funny.
I've seen both shows and, frankly, both have a clear slant to a particular side. The fact that Scarborough (who comes off as a hack to the right) calls out DS as a hack for the left is funny. It may be true…but who cares…it's comedy.
Scarborough, Cramer and the rest of these media morons fail to understand the reason Stewart's resonated with so many people – it's not so much that he attacked CNBC, it's because he attacked incompetent, arrogant media personalities that are never held accountable for their words and actions.
They can criticize and beat up on anyone they want, without having to defend their position. Stewart is holding them accountable and they don't like it one bit.
Scarborough can't figure out why Jon Stewart doesn't like him. The rest of us know. It's kind of sad the way it bothers him so much, and he can't get over it.