How does this not drive you insane?

Daily Stewart lopo

11/16'10 "How does this not drive you insane?"
"You have to get this": "All The Devils Are Here – The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis"
by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera

"We're living in insanity!" – The C-Span interview

Wikiquote: "How did Memogate get a 'gate'? How did Nipplegate get a 'gate'? We invaded a country with the wrong information, and Janet Jackson's tit got a 'gate'. Who gives out the 'gates'? Is there a 'Gate'-gate?
[...] We're living in insanity!"

"The gist, the essence, to distill that ... What I'm advocating is that the media come work for us again, that they remove themselves from the symbiotic relationship that they have developed with the power structures of corporations and of the politic. [...]
The corporate mentality and the political mentality is to create layers of obfuscation that make it difficult to penetrate what's going on. The print media, by the way, is very different – most of what I'm talking about is television.
The print media is much better at providing context, but you're providing it a week later and by then, everybody's moved on. That's the sad truth of it – the world moves much more quickly now.
The real responsibility now lies where the people set the agenda, and the agenda is set on the 24-hour networks. And unless you're keeping up with them, and unless they are held to a certain level of accountability, that's where the deficit lies. [...]
It's about holding to account. This idea that debate is two advocates for two corrupt organizations, to have a Democratic strategist and a Republican strategist is not a debate.
That's Coke and Pepsi discussing beverage supremacy. And it's not real!
What I'm suggesting is, that the person mediating that has to have some expertise and has to have a job, and their job can't be 'What do you think, Donna Brazile? Okay, what do you think, Bay Buchanan? We'll be right back.'
That's not a job, that's doing nothing. And it's allowing two people to dominate a debate that are strategists.
And understand that the television press is getting their asses kicked, and they're doing it willingly. And that's the thing that I think is so frustrating to watch at home, because they have a roll, and they have a job, and they're not doing it. And that drives you insane when you watch."

Stop pretending that we don't know what's going on

"You know, everybody wrings their hands about Fox News [...]
Okay, maybe they are not fair and balanced, but CNN used to have the slogan 'You can depend on CNN.'
Guess what? I watch it: no, you can't. So, what's the difference? [...]
This idea of liberal bias ... by the way, that's a strategy: There's a difference between what Fox does, which is activism, and a so-called liberal bias, which is a bunch of people. If you watch the news networks – and this is really the judge, I think, in my mind – who would have covered the war differently, as a network, if a Democratic president was in office? I think, there's only one network that would have, and that's Fox. So that's an activist stance. The others ... the bias of the media is not liberal, it's lazy. And it's sensationalist. But it's not liberal.
There is no active strategy which is employed on Fox, an active strategy of advocating for conservative or right causes. [...] But they are part of an overall 30-year strategy of putting together a way to reconsolidate power – by the way: well within their rights. I don't have a problem with that, absolutely not. Because I don't consider them news. I consider them an active political arm. [...]

I mean, if the presidential election commercials are not held to that standard, why should news organizations? That's what I'm saying: We've lost accountability. And just because they are, why whine about it?
Why not create a television organization that's not liberal but credible?
Why not create ... that has same passion that Roger Ailes brings to his cause, and I admire what they have done.
Because what they have done they've shown the way to a new paradigm, a new media paradigm: that this type of programming can be successful and profitable.
But I don't think the answer to it is to set up 'Al Gore's television network' and fight it with liberal strategy.
Because a) Liberals are shitty at it and won't be able to accomplish it. I mean, if you watch "Crossfire", watch Paul Begala's eyes whenever he has to do the partisan thing, he keeps them down. He feels shame. Liberals feel shame.
Shame doesn't work when you are on a cover set, but imaging bringing to a 24-hour network – and that goes back to our point about what should have been done differently in the debate – it's not about what should have been done differently in the debate, it's about what should have been done differently on a 24 hour basis. Fox didn't come out of the gate and earn its conservative street cred – you know, Roger Ailes obviously being the head of it helps, because he has a reputation and he has a certain knowledge within that – but they earned it over time by presenting a narrative. I don't think that narrative is helping, just like I don't think Al Jazeera's narrative is helping. I think it helps make them popular, but I don't think it helps the country.
I think there's a responsibility within the media to help.
But you could create a paradigm of a media organization that is geared towards 'No Bullshit'.
And do it actively. And stop pretending that we don't know what's going on. And stop pretending that it's a right-left question. I don't buy that the world is divided into bi-chromatic thought like that."

"Why can't you hire people that care about the truth? You know them, I know them, they're good. You got people on blogs that are fact-checking as things happen.
Now, some of those people are conspiracy theorists, some of them are really smart.
Have somebody at the center of it who can be an arbiter of what's real and what's not. And make that reactive to the devastating game of strategy that's being played in Washington.
I think it would make a shit-load of money, and not only that, you'd be able to sleep at night."

06/17'08 Lara Logan (Chief Foreign Correspondent of CBS News): "If I would have watched the news that you hear here in the U.S. I'd just blow my brains out, because this would drive me nuts."
Stewart: "Really?"


03/15'10 "The whole fucking thing [American Politics] is fake like professional wrestling.
The news guys they're more like the managers: they got their own take on the filibuster, too!"
Michael Lewis: The Big Short – Inside The Doomsday Machine

"When this thing goes bad, when the bombs go off in 2008, most of the Wall Street firms are on the other side of those bets. AIG is on the other side of those bets. So very few of the firms actually figured it out. I mean the problem with these big Wall Street firms generally is that they became the dumb money at the poker table, and how that happened is an incredible story."

03/16'10 In Dodd we trust: JonCo can't fail with Jon Bucks

03/22'10 "You need to distance yourself from the extremists that were running this thing."


04/06'10 – john mccain is too big to fail –

"McCain is shorting his own soul ... He's driving down the price of his own soul by completely stripping it of its pride, its backbone, its integrity – all of its tangible assets – all the while knowing the value of his soul will soon plummet. Then, in a backdoor move, buys soul default swaps on the back end, makes a fortune and then picks his soul back up for a song when it hits bottom.
And you know the worst part? Come election time, he's still get his tax-payer bailout and get re-elected. You know why? Because John McCain is too big to fail."

04/07'10 Pope Opera – Sam Bee:

"They just can't believe this witch-hunt! [...] You know, the liberal media is really torturing the church. Putting them on a rack and literally pulling them apart hoping they'll confess.
Searing their flesh with red hot pokers unless they renounce the so-called crimes of their faith. [...]
It's like you're all on some kind of crusade! Are you trying to censor me, John?
Are my ideas too out there for you? You know, just because you've suddenly found out the world doesn't revolve around you doesn't mean you can shut me up and put me away. [...]
What are they, the Cathars? The Cathars, the Gnostic sect in 13th century france ...
Tens of thousands of them were massacred under the direct authority of Pope Innocent III, persecuted out of existence by the Catholic Church. Well, that's what you're doing now."

04/20'10 – fox news you are the lupus of news –

04/21'10 You blew it, my friend. You boys flew to close to the sun and you got burned.
You're just not ready: you can't handle this stuff, sorry.

04/29'10 – they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom –


08/03'10 Born in the USA: "Anchor Babies"
"Oh my goodness – I was so impressed by how you showed what a crazy lunatic Louie Gohmert is.
That was fantastic, Jon! I think that you summed that up sooo well. I can't understand why so many of these uber-conservatives are so freaking angry at all liberals. This fear-mongering and paranoia is ridiculous, and I for one, am tired of this anger. Please, have a glass of wine, chill out and stop yelling at everyone."


08/12'10 "James Madison said the separation of church and state was just their little joke."

08/17'10 "We are completely fucked."

08/18'10 News Corp. gives money to Republicans: "The cleansing sunlight of truth: their name is 'Fox News' and they will not stop till they have identified corruption patient zero."
comments)
"I haven't seen objective news reporting anywhere and I do watch network as well as CNN and the others. My point is that 'secretive' is the key word. They were obviously open with their contribution. Also they (Fox parent company) have in the past given to both parties. He was taking an unfair 'whack' at Fox News as they like to do because Fox outrates all of them in popularity – watch Oberman and his rants without substance."
"Fair and balanced? Right, and McDonalds is a healthy restaurant cause they serve salads."
"It's not just that Fox is being hypocritical in pointing out that some money from liberal blogs, organizations, George Soros, whatever ends up in the hands of Democrats – it's that in order for Fox to show this, they have to rely on such convoluted logic and elaborate conspiracy-theory style flow charts to try and make their point. On the other hand, News Corp. gives money directly to Republicans.
It's a straight line with no intermediaries and no conspiracy nonsense necessary.
So not only are Fox hypocrites, they're also completely absurd in their hypocrisy."
"'If you can get them to believe that representative government is a democracy, I'll give you a dollar!'"
"Cable news is a pathetic excuse for journalism. 'They have contributors and guests on from both parties.' That isn't what fair and balanced means. MSNBC and CNN have contributors and guests on from both parties. Are they fair and balanced? It is all about the narrative of the network. One of these days, watch how differently liberal causes and guests are treated by Fox News. Watch how the contributors will sling leading questions that require no thought and give a simple answer to conservatives while throwing loaded questions as liberals (you can reverse this for MSNBC). Also, having a Democratic strategist on to debate a Republican strategist is not 'fair and balanced'. Watch the interviews. It is Pizza Hut and Papa Johns trying to convince you that the other's pizza sucks and the talking head merely encouraging the fight without asking hard-hitting questions. It is theatrics and a joke to traditional investigative journalism."

08/26'10 I have a scheme (Glenn Beck)


09/22'10 Jon Stewart in the No Spin Zone of the O'Reilly Factor
09/27'10 Truthiness to Power and Bill O'Reilly with post-interview analysis


10/26'10 "The system is broken." John McCain claimed it for years ...
A comment:
"I was so excited all day as I prepared to go to the rally and looked forward to the show tonight. Disappointment is not a big enough word for what I am feeling after watching Jon's interview with the President. I am 61-year-old white woman living in South Carolina surrounded by right-wing crazies. The only person I can relate to is my 35-year-old son. I cannot even enjoy a meal in a restaurant without hearing offensive comments coming from all sides. The Daily Show has helped me deal with the stress of the past 10 years. I have so much appreciated all that Jon has done to bring the truth to the people as well as comic relief during frustrating times. I have watched his show night after night often thinking how proud of him I am for being so smart that no one can get the best of him in an interview. Knowing how much I admire Jon, my son surprised me with the news that he had made arrangements to take me to the rally. Now I am wondering how I will tell him tomorrow that I don't want to go.
I don't know what to expect from the rally at this point. Does Jon really think that President Obama's campaign theme of hope and change would have been exactly the same had he been able to see into the future and predict the economic abyss that was ahead? Now it is a matter of survival. We have a president who has worked tirelessly to solve the country's problems while constantly battling oppositional right-wingers who simply cannot stomach the idea of having a black president. He has had to look at signs bearing altered images of himself to look like a demon or Hitler and people carrying guns to his public appearances. Through it all the President has courageously maintained a posture of dignity and civility. Beginning tomorrow morning and echoing through Election Day, the obnoxious right-wing pundits will be announcing, 'Jon Stewart accuses President Obama of being timid!'"


11/03'10 Chris Wallace (Fox News) extended interview

11/11'10 The Decider ("I'm not a hater.") returns & Rosaria Dawson

11/17'10 Jon: "This is where the rubber meets the road – we have arrived at the Rubicon":
Either we'll continue with an adult conversation about our nation's budget or ...
"If you want to make this about me personally you are not going to have an intelligent discussion.
If you want to make this about ... I mean, do I want to go into your personal past and talk about your past on this program? I don't think so."
Jon: "So we can talk about this in an adult way, the way I want to talk about it, my ground rules, or I can remind everyone you used to fuck hookers. It's up to you. It's your choice."


12/14'10 Bill back in the Briefing Room, Forward! & Ricky Gervais