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Jon Stewart Tag

A gaunt and scruffy Jon Stewart took over Colbert's Late Show Desk Thursday night. The retired Daily Show host compared Fox News host criticism of President Obama to some of those by Donald Trump. Those not thrilled with Trump leading the GOP ticket have complained he's far too much like the current president for their liking aaaaannnnd Stewart's mashup makes that argument hard to refute.

It's ironic and perhaps not accidental that tonight marks both the first Republican Primary debate on FOX News, and the final episode of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I look forward to a ratings comparison next week. Stewart's political shell game occupies two sides of the same coin. On the first side rests Stewart's claim that he speaks truth to power---as long as Republicans are in charge, anyway. Once Obama became president and Democrats controlled everything else, Stewart became a protector of the powerful. On the second side we find what the Daily Caller's Jim Treacher calls the "clown nose on, clown nose off" routine. When Stewart says something that helps Democrats, he's hailed as a serious news analyst. When he says something outrageous about Republicans, hey---he's just a comedian. In honor of his last show, Justin Monticello and Alexis Garcia of Reason TV have put together a reel you won't see on Comedy Central any time soon:

Jon Stewart isn't a Social Justice Warrior for the left, he's a four-star general. In his many years as the host of the Daily Show, he's never backed away from an opportunity to make conservatives look like backwards, racist hicks. Now one of his former staff writers named Wyatt Cenac, who is black, has come forward with allegations which make Stewart look rather hypocritical in hindsight. Cenac claims that when Stewart used a stereotypical black voice to lampoon Republican Herman Cain, he objected and was screamed at in front of other writers. Deadline Hollywood reports:
When Jon Stewart’s Black Impersonation Crossed The Line For ‘Daily Show’ Scribe Wyatt Cenac On a recent episode of WTF With Marc Maron, former Daily Show writer Wyatt Cenac recalled a moment when host Jon Stewart exploded at him in front of the entire late night show’s staff. It all pertained to Stewart’s imitation of 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain; an impersonation that just went too far for Cenac. At the time prior to the 2012 presidential election, Cenac was the only black writer and found Stewart’s knock on Cain coming from “kind of an ignorant place.”...

The NYT published an article last week pretending Sen. Rubio's traffic tickets from the 90s were scandalicious. Mockery of the "troubling" allegations ensued and the NYT was rightly mocked. This week, the NYT again dropped a ridiculous "scoop." This time, they portrayed the Rubios as spendthrifts who had luxury speed boats and a house with extra-large windows... As these things go, the NYT report found its way into national and local news coverage, providing perfect mashup fodder. Yesterday, the NYT received the Jon Stewart treatment:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali just published a new book which calls for reforms in Islam and she's been making media appearances to promote it. This week she appeared on the Daily Show and came off as intelligent and well informed despite Jon Stewart's repeated disrespectful attempts to take her off topic. As you'll see if you watch the video below, it's as if Hirsi Ali was being interviewed by a member of the Obama administration. I kept waiting for Stewart to bring up the Crusades. This is a woman who is risking her life by speaking out against Islam's treatment of women, a subject that a liberal like Stewart should care about and yet his every response was: yes, but Christianity. If you think I'm exaggerating, just watch: I wasn't the only one who noticed Stewart's bizarre approach to the interview. Peter Malcolm of Truth Revolt: