Michael Moore vs Jon Stewart

This article recently made the rounds through pundit fandom and sparked a few arguments, as I'm sure the author intended it to:

Just as one is likely to hear criticism of [Michael] Moore in liberal circles or carefully qualified appreciation, i.e. “I like him, but I wish he wasn’t so strident,” one will never hear any blasphemy spoken against the idol of modern, urbanite, educated liberal culture, Jon Stewart.

It’s impossible to understand the hatred of Moore from the cocktail party and faculty lounge scene of the liberal establishment without also understanding the same politically impotent group’s love for Jon Stewart. Understanding the juxtaposition of Moore and Stewart reveals the true depths of the failure and soullessness of modern American liberalism.

Personally I think Stewart is much more likeable than Moore, but I found myself nodding my head at the observation that many Daily Show fans don't like embarrassing displays of emotion or undignified tactics - things like LGBT activists glitter-bombing anti-gay politicians.

Civility vs Glitter

It seems the more I hear about civility and bipartisanship in American politics, the more contrarian I get.

For example. This weekend Michelle Bachmann became the latest target of “glittering” by LGBT activists as she left the stage at the RightOnline conference in Minneapolis. A member of a gay-rights group tried to dump glitter over the congresswoman’s head in protest of her anti-gay rhetoric. Bachmann managed to get away unsparkly, but Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty have been less fortunate.

One of the left-leaning political bloggers on my Twitter feed hates this kind of thing. “I’ll say it: this is dumb,” he wrote sternly. “Stop.”

Privilege in Politics: The NRA Convention

Yesterday TRMS devoted most of the show to the 2011 NRA Convention in Pittsburgh. It's good TV (look, it's Rachel Maddow surrounded by conservatives with guns!) and a stark example of what we mean when we talk about social privilege.

John McCain's daughter Meghan, a proud NRA member, invited Maddow on a "date" to this year's convention in an effort to give a fresh perspective on gun culture. Maddow is a vocal critic of the NRA who happens to enjoy hanging out at the shooting range, so they had plenty to talk about.

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At this point, just to be fair, I should say that there were probably many people at that convention who could have debated this more effectively than Meghan McCain. ("I don't think that's necessarily true, but... You're arguing very well, Rachel.")  That being said, compare her perspective to that of Rev Ricky Burgess, City Councilman for Pittsburgh's poorest and most crime-infested district.