"[The 24-hour networks] are now the absolute most powerful force driving the political narrative," he says. "And the picture that they create is one of conflict, because they're on for 24 hours a day, so they have to create a compelling reason for you to watch them. Otherwise, they're just Muzak – newzak."
He held his Rally To Restore Sanity last fall as an attempt to counteract their message: "The idea of the rally was to say, 'They created this false sense of urgency. It's a funhouse mirror.' That's probably the frustration that people had with the rally: It didn't have aspirations beyond our normal aspiration, which is to point out comedically something we think is fucked."
There's a lot of truth to that. But the sense of urgency is pretty real to a lot of people, and that's what prevents me from being a regular Daily Show viewer. Stewart is a brilliant political commentator to a point, but when he approaches the heart of an ugly issue like corruption or torture, he tends to sidestep into his "I'm just a comedian" role at the last minute.
Of course things are fucked, and it's great to point that out - but at some point you need to actually do something. And when you look at Stewart's advocacy for the 9/11 first responders last year, I think in his heart he knows that.
This aggravates me to no end sometimes, and other times I feel bad for him. He's stuck in a bizarre political world where comedians do the work that journalists are supposed to do, and it's like he's waiting for some Walter Cronkite figure to tackle the big issues and get him off the hook. But for better or worse, that's not the way things work anymore.
ETA: Looks like Esquire Magazine is less inclined to feel sorry for Jon Stewart than I am.
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