Thursday, February 24, 2011

A Brief and Slightly Sad and More Than a Bit Befuddled Note

I have no video clips to back this up, mainly because I'm lazy. But. I think Jon Stewart thought his Rally to Restore Sanity was something very different from what roughly 90% of its attendees thought it was. I remember, when he and Colbert announced the rally, wishing I could go, because I thought it was meant to be a giant STFU to Beck, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, and their Tea party minions. And if you look at some of the signs people had at the rally, you'll notice about an even three-way split among pro-liberal/anti-teabagger signs, generic pro-civility signs, and pure comedy gold. Which tells me that a lot of the people had the same expectations that I did; of the hundreds of pictures I've looked at off and on since October, I saw exactly one that might be construed as saying well, both sides do it with equal vitriol and stuff, you guys.

But that last appears to be Stewart's new mission statement. Why, the rally wasn't aimed at the Tea Party or any commentators in particular! It was aimed at telling both sides to play nice, because they're totally equally culpable! Rachel Maddow is equivalent to Glenn Beck! Maybe George W. Bush was really just doing what he thought was best to protect the country after 9/11! The Wisconsin union protest is just like the Tea Party protests, but is totally unlike the Cairo protests (and saying one inspired the other is hopeless hyperbole) because the Wisconsin unionites aren't risking anything at all! And Ed Schultz is Glenn Beck, also.

I try to watch but end up quitting halfway through the first segment, more often than not. It's distressing and disappointing. Colbert FTW, I guess, but I miss the old Stewart.

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