BCT Editorial – 10/15/08

This page was last updated on October 18, 2008.

Comic truth; Editorial; Beaver County Times; October 15, 2008.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“After watching clips of the anger and fear expressed by some members of the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies and the candidates’ silence in response to them, the truth of a remark made by Jon Stewart of ‘The Daily Show’ on the Comedy Central cable network a few weeks ago became self-evident.

“‘Republicans don’t hate America,’ the commedian [sic] observed. ‘They just hate half of the people in it.’”

[RWC] “Republicans … hate half the people in [America]?” This is pretty sad, even for the Times.

That the Times considers “The Daily Show” – and its spinoff “The Colbert Report” – to be sources of “truth” is sad, though completely predictable. Since October 2004, at least 11 Times editorials have afforded credibility to these shows. Why? These shows (not infotainment?) tend to give favorable treatment to those on the left while jumping on those on the right. For example, “The Daily Show” put up a billboard in Minneapolis for the Republican convention. Demonstrating a bit of projection, the billboard read, “Welcome, Rich White Oligarchs!” As far as I can tell, “The Daily Show” didn’t have any billboards in Denver skewering Democrats.