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Any criticism of Jon Stewart must begin with enthusiastic praise: his
Daily Show is where millions of people go for important news that is
purposely ignored by the mainstream media. Consequently, both Jon
Stewart and Stephen Colbert have become icons of the political Left.
During the Bush administration, their shows highlighted the lies and
hypocrisies used to engage in foreign wars while destroying the civil
liberties in the United States; Colbert's speech at the White House
Correspondence dinner -- with Bush present -- will go down in history as a
moment of great courage and confrontation between a satiric comedian
and a war criminal.
This incident, combined with the consistent exposing of lying
politicians and the biased mainstream media, have earned Stewart and
Colbert deep political respect.
It's in this context that their rally in Washington, D.C. -- the Rally to
Restore Sanity and/or Fear -- must be viewed. Millions of people were
eager to see how Stewart's and Colbert's politics would manifest
themselves in a political rally. To them, the rally was not a joke. The
mainstream The New York Times is correct in saying:
"...it is perhaps a measure of the volatility of American politics that a
television comedy show was able to tap something deep among American
voters, who turned out in the tens of thousands on Saturday to add their
voices to a national political debate that some said had left them
behind."
and:
"Though it was billed as a gathering for civility -- a party on a sunny
Saturday for people to enjoy thoughtful conversation -- for participants
it was a serious political affair." (October 30, 2010).
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Stewart's message was not a joke either. The rally was thus far the
clearest expression of his political thought. The essence his political
message was conveyed by a song performed by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow
(Stewart introduced the pair's song as being in sync with the purpose of
the event). The chorus of the song includes the following lyrics:
"Yelling on the left/Screaming on the right/ I'm sitting in the middle trying to live my life."
This "middle" is where Jon Stewart's politics lie, between what he sees
as an unreasonable left and right-wing of the political spectrum; a
theme repeated throughout the event.
Later in the rally Stewart played a video compilation of left-wing and
right-wing pundits, screaming insults at their political opposites.
Stewart portrays his politics as an alternative -- a rational-thinking
middle-ground.
To prove his moderate politics and to fend off right-wing criticism,
Stewart draped American flags around the stage and had musicians
perform patriotic songs, including America the Beautiful and the
National Anthem.
Sadly, Stewart went overboard to prove he wasn't overly progressive,
when he specifically denounced Marxists as "attempting to subvert our
constitution [?] " -- an example of McCarthy Red-baiting at its worse.
Stewart's rally strongly implied that instead of political conflict,
everyone should join him in the reasonable political center. One of his
concluding remarks was: "It's a shame we can't work together to get
things done."
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