(no subject)

[thehefner]

John McCain was on THE DAILY SHOW last night, which makes it his, what, twenty-seventh appearance? There's a reason he's a regular: Jon Stewart clearly hugely respects the man, and McCain's always been able to keep a cool head and wit with Stewart. But last night was a bit tough to watch at moments, mainly because every time McCain went to answer one of Stewart's questions, Jon jumped right on him, interrupting McCain with a rant (usually in the form of another question), which would cause the DAILY SHOW audience to burst out in applause. This cycle was repeated throughout the ten-or-so minute interview.

I mean, I know they have to cram a lot in ten minutes, so I understand that to an extent. Honestly, I do wish I could see a half-hour or hour of Stewart and McCain actually having a discussion. Every point that Stewart brought up was a good one, but fuck it all, I wanted to hear McCain actually respond, not Stewart just preach while his audience whoops it up. Hopefully this won't be McCain's last appearance, for it'd be a rather frustrating note on which to end their relationship. I love Jon Stewart; the man's one of the few reasons I have to watch TV regularly. But last night was rather disappointing.

But tonight had Aasif Mandvi, who's proving to be one of the sharpest correspondents the Daily Show has ever had. Not to mention THE GIANT HEAD OF ROBERT LOGGIA.* So it's all good.



*Sadly minus his beloved jet-pack.

Comments

[kwsapphire.livejournal.com]

Actually I have to totally disagree with your assessment of the episode with McCain. I felt like every time Stewart asked him a question he tried to dance around it and not actually answer it, so Stewart had to keep rephrasing it so he couldn't wiggle his way out. Example:

Stewart: How is it more of an insult to our troops to want them to come home than to extend their tours and not give them proper medical care?
McCain: The soldiers believe in the war and think they can make a difference.

.. okay, but that didn't answer the question. :P And of course not all the troops want to be there (as McCain tried to hint at) and not all of them feel like they're doing any good. I know plenty, personally, who were over there and thought it was a waste, that they were being used as pawns in a war with no clear goal, they felt hopeless and helpless and would have been willing to fight for a cause, but they didn't even know what they were really fighting for. So maybe McCain is hearing other comments, but maybe he's hearing that because he's John McCain and people don't want to say to his face "Fuck you and your war."

Besides, you can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake. -Jeannette Rankin

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Aye, as you're the second person to make this observation, methinks I wasn't paying close enough attention. It blows that McCain's running for president now, because back in the good ol' days, get off my lawn, you damn kids... McCain's appearances on The Daily Show were great. As I said above, I liked how even when he started to bullshit, he's eventually be open about his bullshit... if given enough time. If given enough rope.

No, honestly, I think McCain's still got enough integrity to open his big fat mouth, really speak his mind on a matter, if given enough of a chance. Which is probably why he's never gonna be president, no matter how much he sells out to become a good little politician. But he has to play the game now, and dance around the hard questions. I feel really blasé saying that; I don't want to believe that to be a successful politician, you have to bullshit and pander!

But ultimately, this is why I avoid any discussion of politics, because it's just not my field. I don't feel confident nor secure in my knowledge of world or national events, mainly since every time I seem to get an opinion, there's always gonna be people popping up to disagree.

I'd still like to see that hour long McCain/Stewart discussion over punch and pie, though.

[kwsapphire.livejournal.com]

Oh I'd very much like to see more time given to those two. And I actually have more respect for McCain now, knowing that Stewart respects him. And of course the spin machines and mass media take most of what's said out of context, so I don't really judge McCain. I disagree with his stance on the war, of course, and I'd really like to hear his (nonpolitical) reasoning behind supporting it. I do agree that the war has been totally mismanaged so far though.