...make it Santorum time. (Okay, I admit. I'm really stretching on that one. Plus, if you haven't seen Lost in Translation, it doesn't make any sense anyway.)
Okay, so I'm about to break my "personal blogging guideline #1" here. Although I'm totally in keeping with "how to blog rule #13." Ah, what a paradox. Anyway... enough preamble.
Pennsylvania senator (and, for much of the left, a general poster child about what is wrong with the right) Rick Santorum was the guest on last night's episode of The Daily Show, plugging his new book. It was the second time in two weeks, following last week's interview with Bernard Goldberg, where Jon Stewart has gone after his guest, and I find it very interesting.
When Jon Stewart appeared on Crossfire last year, he was accused of "going easy" on his interview subjects, John Kerry being a notable example. At the time, Jon Stewart replied (and rightly so), that his show is a comedy show. His job is to make people laugh, not deliver hard-hitting interviews.
And yet, in these two recent interviews, it seems he's had a change of heart on that position. I mean, he still cracks jokes, but right after a punchline, he goes right back to digging at his guest. (Not in a "Crossfire" style, heavens forbid, but seemingly in search of real dialogue.) I wonder if Stewart has really gone after these two guys because their conservative stances sit so far in opposition to his own? Or if he's finally decided not to wait around for the media to do its job better? In other words, I'm asking if this new side of Jon Stewart only came out for a "special occasion," or if -- along with the new set -- The Daily Show itself is going to shift ever so slightly and try to offer some legitimate discourse.
Stay tuned for the answer, I suppose.
In the meantime, enjoy this link, which is actually the first link offered when you perform a Google search for "Santorum."
4 comments:
Oh, I'm not the only one who has noticed this change of pace.
I'll cheer him on. If these righties want to peddle their books (next month's big title: Hillary Clinton Kills Fluffy White Kittens), they have to face the music.
That whole "Santorum" thing was started by a columnist for the Village Voice.
Weird column. Great effing idea. He entreats his readers to link that site to the word "Santorum" (which you have! he'd be happy!) precisely to make it first in the Google search engine results. Heh.
Not a columnist for the Village Voice, he's a syndicated sex-ed columnist that's fairly national in scope. Guy's name is Dan Savage, column is Savage Love.
It's in the RFT here, which will tell St. Louisans the calibur/re of the column.
It so shames me that Santorum is a Senator from my home state. (Fortunately, if you've been following the controversy, he seems not to live there).
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