Salon.com > The Daily Show http://www.salon.com Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 What’s the matter with Nebraska? http://www.salon.com/2012/05/20/whats_the_deal_with_nebraska/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/20/whats_the_deal_with_nebraska/#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12922954 I once drove through Nebraska, via I-80, days after my girlfriend broke up with me, on a self-imposed road trip from Los Angeles to Cedar Rapids to find my brother’s shoulder and cry on it. It is a long, straight, hypnotically boring drive that not only gave me ample time to think about the loss, but also put my recent heartbreak in much-needed perspective.

It could be worse, I realized. I could live here.

Cold comfort, perhaps, but comfort nonetheless. And so, for providing the enforced monotony that only a dull road trip can provide, and the bleak void to which to compare my own relatively full life, I am grateful to the state of Nebraska. Nebraska has a special place in my heart.

It has no place, however, on a map of the United States.

Let me explain: California is a state. New York is a state. Texas, for the time being at least, is a state. And they deserve to be. They’re big, they’re boisterous — but most crucially, they’re populated. Thirty-seven million people live in California, four million in Los Angeles alone. New York is home to almost 20 million people. If California were a country, it would have the eighth largest economy in the world. If New York City were its own state, it would be the 12th largest — and in my humble New Yorker opinion, the best.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/05/20/whats_the_deal_with_nebraska/feed/ 177 The “Daily Show” guide to my enemies http://www.salon.com/2012/04/27/the_daily_show_guide_to_my_enemies/ http://www.salon.com/2012/04/27/the_daily_show_guide_to_my_enemies/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12911095 For two years I was a field producer for “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” The field producer is the person who guides the creation of the pre-taped segments, the ones where the correspondent travels somewhere to interview and heartily agree with some person who holds, uh, fascinating ideas about the world. This meant I spent a lot of time with people whose causes or philosophies I found blecchy -- the sort of folks who would fit nicely in the overlap of a Venn diagram whose circles included Bachmann supporters, fans of Rush Limbaugh, and people who wear tricorn hats and exercise their Second Amendment rights at Tea Party rallies.  You know – assholes.

Now, I like to loathe people. It just feels so good. I particularly like to loathe the sorts of people described above, and when I see them on TV or read their blogs I sigh contentedly and say, ahhh, it is now morally permissible for me to loathe this person. So imagine how irksome it was to have to deal with persons like that on a constant basis and discover that those persons, in person, generally weren’t loathsome persons after all. In fact, to my great consternation and disappointment, I often liked them.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/04/27/the_daily_show_guide_to_my_enemies/feed/ 104 Jon Stewart takes on SOPA http://www.salon.com/2012/01/19/jon_stewart_takes_on_sopa/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/19/jon_stewart_takes_on_sopa/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:33:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12196011 Rarely does a piece of legislation take over the national dialogue the way the Stop Online Piracy Act did yesterday; but that's what happens when Wikipedia shuts down in protest. What remains puzzling, though, even after a day of widespread virtual protests, is how the lawmakers who originally supported SOPA failed to gauge public sentiment so spectacularly. That's where Jon Stewart came in and illuminated matters on "The Daily Show" last night, with one particularly valuable insight: The people responsible for SOPA -- the members of the congressional subcommittee who gave the legislation their seal of approval -- have no idea how the Internet actually works.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/19/jon_stewart_takes_on_sopa/feed/ 8 Fun with federal election law http://www.salon.com/2012/01/18/fun_with_federal_election_law/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/18/fun_with_federal_election_law/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12188451 The grand experiment launched late last week continues: Stephen Colbert is exploring a run for president, while Jon Stewart manages Colbert's former super PAC -- and enthusiastically smears the candidate's would-be Republican primary rivals in the process. The problem with managing a PAC in support of your business partner's campaign, however, is that not a whole lot of it feels legal. (Even if it almost certainly is.) That's why Stewart and Colbert powwowed with their lawyer on "The Daily Show" last night -- just to make sure their "good"-faith efforts at non-coordination were still strictly within the bounds of the law.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/18/fun_with_federal_election_law/feed/ 7 South Carolina braces for Hurricane Newt http://www.salon.com/2012/01/12/south_carolina_braces_for_hurricane_newt/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/12/south_carolina_braces_for_hurricane_newt/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:50:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12111871 The next week and a half is a pivotal one for the Republican Party. Its candidates for president have their sights set on South Carolina's January 21 primary; and, just three contests into the season, Mitt Romney could lock up the nomination with a win in the Palmetto State. But there are storm clouds on the horizon. However, the other candidates -- let by an angry and embittered Newt Gingrich -- will pour millions of dollars into negative advertising in the next 9 days, making the South Carolina primary the most brutal one yet. Last night on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart and co. investigated:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/12/south_carolina_braces_for_hurricane_newt/feed/ 1 Jon Stewart issues some advice to Iran http://www.salon.com/2012/01/11/jon_stewart_issues_some_advice_to_iran/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/11/jon_stewart_issues_some_advice_to_iran/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:42:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12075251 Tensions have been running higher than usual between the United States and Iran this week. Not only has the Islamic republic begun enriching uranium, a fact confirmed by international watchdogs Monday; it has also threatened to block off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and sentenced an American to death for what it says was acts of espionage. That all in mind, Jon Stewart took time out from "The Daily Show" last night to have a candid conversation with Iran about the risks of its bellicose behavior

Let me just say this Iran. Americans don't hate you. And I hope Iranians don't hate us. But if you really want a war, f*** with America during an election season.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/11/jon_stewart_issues_some_advice_to_iran/feed/ 12 Jon Stewart identifies the GOP’s Romney paradox http://www.salon.com/2012/01/10/jon_stewart_identifies_the_gops_romney_paradox/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/10/jon_stewart_identifies_the_gops_romney_paradox/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:40:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12022791 The year-long grind of the Republican nominating contest has had a strange effect on the remaining candidates in the race. Sure, they're all still arguing for less government, less regulation, lower taxes on America's "job creators." And each of them will still emphatically state that our country's richest businesspersons don't deserve Barack Obama's "class warfare" and the politics of the 99 percent.

How is it, then, that those very same candidates have spent the past several weeks lambasting Mitt Romney over his significant net worth? The former Massachusetts governor -- between his history as a successful businessman and his free market ideology -- is the human embodiment of the Republican party platform. As Jon Stewart put it on "The Daily Show" last night: "You're mad at Mitt Romney? For God's sake, it's like Mitt Romney answered the Republicans eHarmony ad, and now you're saying its unfair."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/10/jon_stewart_identifies_the_gops_romney_paradox/feed/ 7 “The Daily Show” details the absurdity of GOP obstructionism http://www.salon.com/2012/01/06/the_daily_show_details_the_absurdity_of_gop_obstructionism/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/06/the_daily_show_details_the_absurdity_of_gop_obstructionism/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:35:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=11961181 Barack Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray isn't just the latest political controversy du jour. It's also the first time in a long while that the president hasn't been hamstrung by Republican obstructionism. The stakes of Obama's gambit seem clear enough: Rather than sit by while House Republicans quietly prevented the Consumer Financial Protection Board from ever becoming operational, he would take matters into his own hands. But how we got to this point, and how the political battle might play out from here, is a lot more complicated than it appears on the surface.

That's why Jon Stewart and "Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver hashed it out last night, diving into obscure items of constitutional and parliamentary arcana in order to lay out exactly how Congress has succeeded in doing nothing for so long.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/06/the_daily_show_details_the_absurdity_of_gop_obstructionism/feed/ 8 Jon Stewart’s compelling anti-Santorum argument http://www.salon.com/2012/01/04/jon_stewarts_compelling_anti_santorum_argument/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/04/jon_stewarts_compelling_anti_santorum_argument/#comments Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:53:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=11847971 Though "The Daily Show" taped before the Iowa caucuses last evening, and Jon Stewart didn't know just how close the contest would be, he was nonetheless prepared for the eventuality of a Rick Santorum upset victory. After all, this isn't the first insurgent candidacy the GOP has seen in the past few months. To illustrate just how far into primary season this "Santorum Surge" might extend, Jon Stewart broke out the props, and asked viewers to imagine that the GOP field was a box of chocolates.

The point? No matter how bad each of the other pieces of candy (insurgent candidacies) might have seemed, Rick Santorum is still the least appetizing choice of all.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/04/jon_stewarts_compelling_anti_santorum_argument/feed/ 10 The pop culture legacy of Kim Jong Il http://www.salon.com/2011/12/19/the_pop_culture_legacy_of_kim_jong_il/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/19/the_pop_culture_legacy_of_kim_jong_il/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10647221 Kim Jong Il was one of the most chilling figures of the modern era, with a harrowing human rights record. But of the tyrannical madmen who have died this year, he was also the one who made the oddest pop culture splash. Moammar Gadhafi's ability to rock a golden muumuu will never be paralleled. But from "30 Rock" to "The Daily Show," the departed North Korean leader will be missed. Was it those rock star shades? His fondness for olive green? The way he really knew how to throw a tank-rolling, goose-stepping military parade? In a word, yes.

Sure, Saddam Hussein got to play a role in Trey Parker and Matt Stone's 1999 opus "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut." But it was Mr. Jong Il who really stole the show in Parker and Stone's subsequent puppet masterpiece "Team America: World Police." Kim's not just a homicidal maniac in a big house -- he's a guy who really, really loves to put on a big show. He's also a man who can't quite pronounce "inevitable," who struggles with the isolation of success, and who, it turns out, is actually a bug from outer space. Now that's a villain!

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/19/the_pop_culture_legacy_of_kim_jong_il/feed/ 11 Jon Stewart holds intervention for GOP http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/jon_stewart_holds_intervention_for_gop/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/jon_stewart_holds_intervention_for_gop/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:46:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10467201 With just weeks left until the Iowa caucuses, Newt Gingrich maintains a small lead over his opponents both in statewide and national polls. Though dozens of Republican leaders have taken to the airwaves to encourage voters to not vote for the former Speaker of the House, he remains squarely in the race. That in mind, Jon Stewart delivered the GOP faithful this message on "The Daily Show" last night: "You don't have to do this!"

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/jon_stewart_holds_intervention_for_gop/feed/ 1 Jon Stewart to Cain, Romney and Obama: “WHAT?!” http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/jon_stewart_to_cain_romney_and_obama_what/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/jon_stewart_to_cain_romney_and_obama_what/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:46:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10409691 Politicians are often left in the difficult position of delivering statements that fit their political narrative of choice, whether or not they conform to the realities at hand. And it can take a certain amount of cojones (to use the Spanish word) to make it through such moments. "But there's a fine line," as Jon Stewart pointed out on "The Daily Show" last night, "between courage and audacity, and several public figures have recently crossed it."

Those figures would be Herman Cain, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, each of whom made statements so outlandish in the past few days -- which deviated so far from reality, however you slice it -- that the normally inscrutable Barbara Walters would be forgiven a spit-take.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/jon_stewart_to_cain_romney_and_obama_what/feed/ 3 “Daily Show” digs into Romney for $10,000 bet http://www.salon.com/2011/12/13/daily_show_digs_into_romney_for_10000_bet/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/13/daily_show_digs_into_romney_for_10000_bet/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:35:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10316009 Much has already been made about the pivotal,and cringe-inducing, moment during Saturday night's Republican debate in Iowa, when Mitt Romney challenged Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet over his past support for healthcare reform. On "The Daily Show" last night, Jon Stewart and co. contributed their own analysis, identifying the psychological roots of the $10,000 mistake: While all of the Republican candidates have certainly amassed some measure of personal wealth, only Mitt Romney's financial heft has come to define him, and for that reason, the misstep could prove especially costly.

As correspondent John Oliver put it: "Everything about Romney tells the tale of a man who just fired your dad."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/13/daily_show_digs_into_romney_for_10000_bet/feed/ 2 Which Republican candidate wins the Jewish vote? http://www.salon.com/2011/12/09/which_republican_candidate_wins_the_jewish_vote/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/09/which_republican_candidate_wins_the_jewish_vote/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:56:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10305214 This past Wednesday marked the Republican Jewish Coalition Forum, the once-in-an-election cycle moment when -- as Jon Stewart explained it on "The Daily Show" last night -- "Jews commemorate the miracle of incredibly religious Christian presidential candidates fighting over who loves Jews more."

Six GOP hopefuls were in attendance at the event this year (though not Ron Paul, whose views on Israel were viewed as too extreme by the coalition) and each did his or her best to court the Jewish vote: Rick Santorum wished for peace in Jerusalem. Rick Perry spoke of a deep and personal connection with Israel, ingrained in him by a visit to the Wailing Wall. Mitt Romney cracked a Seinfeld joke, poorly. The winner, however, might have been Michele Bachmann, who recounted how, after graduating high school, she went overseas to work on a kibbutz.

Stewart explains: "Michele Bachmann loves Israel so much, she was willing to work on a socialist collective. Wow!

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/09/which_republican_candidate_wins_the_jewish_vote/feed/ 15 Jon Stewart blasts Congress, Obama over terror bill http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/jon_stewart_blasts_congress_obama_over_terror_bill/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/jon_stewart_blasts_congress_obama_over_terror_bill/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:45:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10302100 If you're a stickler for civil liberties, then you probably find the National Defense Authorization Act to be somewhat troubling. The annual defense appropriations bill, which received the seal of approval from Congress last week, contains provisions that would allow the government to detain terror suspects (and associates thereof) for an indefinite period of time, without a trial.

The Obama administration has suggested that it's open to a veto of the bill -- a move that would appear consistent with his opposition to indefinite detentions when he was running for president. The only problem -- as Jon Stewart pointed out on "The Daily Show" last night -- is that the President Obama would veto the bill not because it runs counter our conception of liberty ... but because it doesn't go far enough.

Part 1

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/jon_stewart_blasts_congress_obama_over_terror_bill/feed/ 14 Jon Stewart sadly bids farewell to Herman Cain http://www.salon.com/2011/12/06/jon_stewart_sadly_bids_farewell_to_herman_cain/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/06/jon_stewart_sadly_bids_farewell_to_herman_cain/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:43:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10295805 When Jon Stewart watched Herman Cain announce on Saturday that he would suspend his campaign, the comedian didn't see what many of the rest of us saw -- a bizarre, overlong, bewildering spectacle, replete with the sort of insane antics and half-baked rhetorical devices (read: a reference to the "Pokemon" movie) that have confounded expectations and frustrated Cain's detractors time and again these past several months. No. Instead, the Comedy Central host saw the closing of a comic gold mine. Fittingly, he said goodbye to the Cain campaign with something more than a hint of sadness.

Fear not, though: Newt Gingrich is surging in the polls, and there's plenty of grist for the comedy mill in the former speaker of the House. As Stewart observed:

That's Newt Gingrich's pitch: "I'm the thing that's been in your pantry forever." You could try your newfangled "Popped Tarts" and "Eggo'd" waffles, but if you look way back in there, there's a can of La Choy Baby Corn, a product that may or may not still be offered by the La Choy company. You don't remember buying it -- yet you don't remember ever being without it. And now you have no choice but to elect it president.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/06/jon_stewart_sadly_bids_farewell_to_herman_cain/feed/ 2 What Mitt Romney and Herman Cain have in common http://www.salon.com/2011/12/02/what_mitt_romney_and_herman_cain_have_in_common/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/02/what_mitt_romney_and_herman_cain_have_in_common/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:44:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10281615 The dust settles from Mitt Romney's combative interview earlier this week with Fox News' Bret Baier, and at least one thing seems certain: The former Massachusetts governor appeared testy and defensive about his past policy positions in a way that only reinforces the conservative base's misgivings about him. In fact, Romney's conduct when discussing his past even reminded Jon Stewart of recent interviews with another Republican candidate: Herman Cain.

Just like Herman Cain, Mitt Romney has an embarrassing person in his past who he's desperately trying to hide. For Herman Cain, it's a woman named Ginger White. For Mitt Romney ... it's Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney Is his own mistress. And by the way it makes sense, because as they say, "opposites attract."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/02/what_mitt_romney_and_herman_cain_have_in_common/feed/ 7 “The Daily Show” ponders Egyptian elections http://www.salon.com/2011/12/01/the_daily_show_ponders_egyptian_elections/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/01/the_daily_show_ponders_egyptian_elections/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:37:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10278351 Less than a year after ousting dictator Hosni Mubarak at the dawn of the Arab Spring, Egyptians went to the voting booth this week to take their first steps toward a representative government. While the resulting elections certainly weren't perfect, the progress from an authoritarian regime to a fledgling democracy still deserves some recognition -- though you'd probably never hear as much from many a right-leaning pundit, who harp on the prominence of the Muslim Brotherhood as a sign of danger.

On "The Daily Show" last night, Jon Stewart and correspondent Aasif Mandvi examined the aversion of many Americans to Egypt's elections. And, as Mandvi pointed out:

Look! You can't control everything that happens in other countries. Lots of countries have policies that aren't in our interest. France wants to buy oil from Iran. China wants to sell us toys made of lead. Russia wants to extinguish the sun. Why should Egypt be any different?

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/01/the_daily_show_ponders_egyptian_elections/feed/ 14 “Daily Show” tackles newest Herman Cain scandal http://www.salon.com/2011/11/30/daily_show_tackles_newest_herman_cain_allegations/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/30/daily_show_tackles_newest_herman_cain_allegations/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:40:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10275178 As the sun rose Monday morning, it appeared as if the worst might have been behind the Herman Cain campaign. There had been no new allegations of sexual impropriety in weeks, and the candidate's polling numbers, while waning, were not yet toxic. Then appeared Ginger White, the woman who claims to have carried on a 13-year affair with Cain, one that continued until relatively recently. Cain, for his part, acknowledges a personal relationship with White, but insisted in an interview with Wolf Blitzer that it was purely platonic.

Jon Stewart examined the competing claims of Cain and White on "The Daily Show" last night, and came to the following conclusion:

Wow. Thirteen years, no sex. Either one of these two is lying, or Herman Cain is the worst deal closer in the history of extramarital affairs.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/30/daily_show_tackles_newest_herman_cain_allegations/feed/ 3 Has pepper spray become a staple of American life? http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/has_pepper_spray_become_a_staple_of_american_life/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/has_pepper_spray_become_a_staple_of_american_life/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:35:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10272203 While "The Daily Show" was on hiatus last week, a new trend took hold in America. That trend, oddly enough, is pepper spray. First, there was the now-infamous U.C. Davis incident, wherein police literally hosed down a group of non-violent protesters with the stuff. Then, on Black Friday, a California woman pepper-sprayed her way through a throng of Wal-Mart shoppers on the way to buying an X-Box.

As Jon Stewart put it on his show last night:

We've suddenly become a people who use pepper spray to alleviate minor inconveniences. Pepper spray has become America's new car horn.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/has_pepper_spray_become_a_staple_of_american_life/feed/ 17