Daily Show/Colbert Report do not make fun of Democrats.

Its been pretty obvious to most of us for a while that not only in the media biased to the left, but the comedy media shows are also bias. Apparently, the daily show has admitted to only subscribing to one world view. Without fail though, they have tons of rationalities for why its alright!

www.nytimes.com...

Comedy has been no easier for the phalanx of late-night television hosts who depend on skewering political leaders for a healthy quotient of their nightly monologues. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and others have delivered a nightly stream of jokes about the Republican running for president — each one a variant on the same theme: John McCain is old.

But there has been little humor about Mr. Obama: about his age, his speaking ability, his intelligence, his family, his physique.

Joe Scarborough also went off about it today on his show.

A transcript of the July 16 exchange, which aired at 6:38am, follows:

JOHN HARWOOD (New York Times): It's hard to be provocative and funny about your own side. It's easier to do about the other side.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.

HARWOOD: Same with talk radio. Talk radio is sharper when a Democrat is in power than Republicans are in power.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: This is not about being in the tank.

SCARBOROUGH: I just-- I never want to hear anybody from 'The Daily Show' or any of these other shows ever saying again, 'We speak truth to power.' 'Cause you know what they do? They speak truth to Republicans. Republicans are funny. They have been idiots and jackasses over the past seven years. But, please, don't be subversive, because you're not. Because you're a hack. You're a hack for the Democratic Party and you only tell jokes about one side.

BRZEZINSKI: Joe-- No, this is not about being in the tank.

SCARBOROUGH: They're hacks!

BRZEZINSKI: You're unbelievable!

HARWOOD: No. Well, but hold on a second. I don't think they are hacks for the Democratic Party. People write about what's funny to them. And the stuff that's funny to them is, is the stuff that comes out of what they see that they want to make fun of from Republicans. That's what-- It's in the same way that if you are a columnist or if you are a commentator, it's much easier to whack the other side than to be sharp about your own side.

SCARBOROUGH: Oh, sure. I understand that. Which means, and we all know this is the case, that on the "The Daily Show" and other shows like this, they only have people with one world view.

BRZEZINSKI: No, I really don't--

SCARBOROUGH: Mika, please! Mika, that is so-- Will you please--

HARWOOD: That's a fair point.

SCARBOROUGH: Will you please go back and read the article before you say anything else about this?

BRZEZINSKI: I will read the article.

SCARBOROUGH: Because you have people admitting on these staffs that they don't want to make fun of somebody because they are supporting them. That's as clear as it gets.

HARWOOD: No, no, no. They didn't say it's because they were supporting them. They were saying they weren't seeing the humor, weren't finding the humor. That's a different thing. It's not that they are trying to serve a political agenda, it's what is it that moves them? What is it that gets a joke out of them?

SCARBOROUGH: They have one world view, Mika. They have one world view at "The Daily Show."

BRZEZINSKI: Wow. Yes, but I--

SCARBOROUGH: Go over there some time. Go over there sometime.

BRZEZINSKI: But I really think you are missing a bigger problem here or challenge, however you want to put it, for comedy writers or for satirists, I hope I'm using the right word there. But my point is that there are layers of what's politically correct and layers of what potentially could incite the wrong things. When have you a candidate who is black and who has a name people have made fun of and have bad information on the internet on, I think there are layers here that present really great challenges.

SCARBOROUGH: You know what? Okay, Mika, just stop. Just please stop.

BRZEZINSKI: No, it's not about being in the tank. It's about being responsible.

I respectfully disagree. I watch both shows fairly regularly, and I have noticed that they make fun of everyone across the board. As it is, they make fun of Bush and his people a lot because, well, they are in charge right now.

I promise that if Obama wins the election, they will go after him, too. And when they do, I'll laugh my arse off, even after I vote for him. Politics needs to be made fun of, and I strongly believe that the Daily Show does a brilliant job.

Actually, I've always considered the Daily Show the least biased of all news shows.

Edited to add: Andrew is right and I misworded that last sentence. It is a comedy show and not a news show.

[edit on 17-7-2008 by Alora]

1.) They are a political HUMOR show. They are not "news"

2.) They make fun of everyone. When the president is a republican, they'll make fun of the president.

You only think im wrong because the Daily Show hasnt been around but less than 1 longer than Bush in order to have another side of things. You wait and see, when Obama is elected, they'll make fun of him just as much.

Thats what they do



Unbelievable.




[edit on 7/17/2008 by Andrew E. Wiggin]

Personally, as a Libertarian, I believe the Daily Show / Colbert Report should be allowed to make fun of whomever they want as much as they want. And if they can make a profit at it, all the better for them. Also, as a Libertarian, I can get good laughs at the Bush/Cheney jokes, so it suits me just fine.

You do bring up a good point though, and that is the issue of Obama being ‘forbidden’ subject matter. Satire and mockery of Presidential personas is one of the things that has differentiated the U.S. from other societies - we are no respecters of Titles! Will this continue or will cowed silence reign?

The New Yorker flap is pertinent to this, and interesting, because it’s an example of the P.C. crowd obviously not knowing how to respond to this new satire paradigm. I wonder how the Daily Show will adjust if Obama is elected President? Will they simply resort to attacking Senator Riteywitey (R!!! ) from Wyoming? Or will they be gutsy enough to lay it on Obama and weather the inevitable storm of ‘racist’ labels that will descend upon them? How will the current Liberal darlings adjust? Will they be able to survive an Obama Presidency?

They skewer "liberal" new orgs just as much as anyone. They made fun of Hillary on lots of occasions. Obama gets off easy because I think they actually like him.

Are we trying to say that this is anymore biased than other news? I mean, come on, flip it over to Fox for a few minutes.

My favorite recent quote by Jon Stewart:

"First the Obama camp agreed that the cartoon was 'tasteless and offensive.' Really? Let me just tell you what your response should have been.. . . .Barack Obama is in no way upset about the cartoon that depicts him as a muslim extremist. Because you know who gets upset about cartoons? MUSLIM EXTREMISTS! Of which Barack Obama is not. Its just a f******* cartoon!"

I was going to bring up the recent Daily Show piece about the New Yorker but SantaClaus beat me to it

Colbert is a satire show spoofing (mainly) Bill O'Rielly, if you ever watched his show you'd know he's purposefully biased to the right while making fun of everyone in the process. Politically he may be a Democrat, but it's worth noting that he basically launched Mike Huckabee into the political mainstream for a 2008 run!

reply to post by Dronetek


Dronetek, you obviously do not watch these shows on a regular basis then.

These two comedians skewer whoever is an easy target.

But you would know that if you were actually informed about this show through your own experience instead of listening to other supposed pundits and finding some sort of sycophantic satisfaction by parroting them.

[edit on 17-7-2008 by Quazga]

They are a satirical news, and they are both Slanted to the left.


Both of them are as objective as CNN/ABC/NBC/FOX, they are just people feeding lines to people who read them...

They are fake... Entertaining, but fake...

Originally posted by TKainZero
They are a satirical news, and they are both Slanted to the left.

:shk:

I am so disappointed in the ignorance of this very statement.

Did you know the Daily Show started out with Craig Kilborn?

Kilborn's antics were more of a personal nature back then, but the daily show still hammered Clinton every chance they got.

When John Stewart took over, guess who the target was? Clinton.

When Bush was elected, guess who they painted a bullseye on?

Bush.


I know this sounds weird, but you people need to watch more TV if you are going to be discussing it. Because you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.

its not "slanted" either way. They both make fun of whoever makes the biggest, dumbest, stupidest mistakes.

Lets evaluate


Who, in Washington (since 2000) has made more "oopsies" than Curious George?

with words like "nuklur" and discussions of "pig"
and that WONDERFUL SNL skit of "strategery"

ENOUGH WITH THE DAMN PIG !!!

Oh. And wait wait wait wait wait...wait.....wait.................................

Fox News edits out the Daily Show's comments on McCain, but instead allows us to see him talk about Obama


Fair, balanced, and equal coverage from FoX News alright... :shk:



If they were to take a "wash the feet of Bush!!" approach like a few members of ATS do, they'd have much lower ratings.

Its a comedy show. Thats why its so popular. It makes fun of things about people that no other program will.

McCains health records? Hilarious
Bush's lack of a vocabulary? Hilarious


Despite what many may think about "ohhhh look at the lefty comedians" the world is not out to get you.
You can keep the tin foil hat, because i'm still going to try and take over your mind- but the tanks, mine field, and Blackwater agents are too much.




[edit on 7/18/2008 by Andrew E. Wiggin]

My take -- both of these shows are very entertaining, and that's what they're intended to be, nothing more. S. Colbert has found a real niche in posing as conservative, and in that way he can lampoon both sides. In general I think Stewart/Colbert line-up works great together, they're both funny, and in the process manage to introduce various people in a way that we don't normally see them.

to both.

Originally posted by argentus
My take -- both of these shows are very entertaining, and that's what they're intended to be, nothing more. S. Colbert has found a real niche in posing as conservative, and in that way he can lampoon both sides. In general I think Stewart/Colbert line-up works great together, they're both funny, and in the process manage to introduce various people in a way that we don't normally see them.

to both.

To everyone who is claiming "they make fun of everyone", the daily show editor in that article ADMITTED they pretty much just hit republicans.

Now you may be getting confused. Both shows make fun of Republicans. Colberts show though, is meant to ACT like a conservative, while making fun of every "issue" they have. Thats what those shows do. Make light of Republican issues. They may poke fun at democrats, but they don't make fun of Democrat policy.

According to Comedy Central:

All Republican issues = Stupid

Dronetek, you obviously do not watch these shows on a regular basis then.

Oh, give me a break! I've been watching the Daily Show for YEARS and Colbert since it started.

[edit on 18-7-2008 by Dronetek]