Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

He really is that stupid.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Fight them, without becoming them!

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Let there be snark.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You cannot shame the shameless.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

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37Comments

  1. 1.

    El Cid

    I watched the Daily Show segment too. Funny, Jon Stewart mainly made fun of the very same major TV media that also had seriously suggested repeatedly that Obama was a Muslim etc. When they stand there with the iPhone and attempt to re-interpret Andersen Cooper’s subtitle as “Muslim Schooling?”, and says “It’s satire!”, it’s just as much a joke on the New Yorker as it is on anyone else who complained about it.

    I know you’d like for the target of that episode’s humor to clearly to have been this thing called the ‘liberal blogosphere’ (and strangely enough I consider this site to be in that category, but I guess not) — but that was how you saw it, not how the writers appeared to see it.

  2. 2.

    NonyNony

    And … we’re going to go through this for another day, aren’t we.

    Ah well – the last two days of bloggers talking incessantly about nothing at all has allowed me to concentrate more on the research I should be doing anyway. I just can’t believe that people are getting ready to waste yet another day on this nonsense – perhaps especially the guy who put up a post yesterday about how terrible it was that the left blogosphere was wasting time on this non-issue silliness when there are actually things going on in the world.

    /me **Bangs head on desk, repeatedly**

  3. 3.

    TR

    The Daily Show could do nothing but skewer the cable networks, and I’d be fine with it. The jokes just write themselves.

  4. 4.

    John S.

    but that was how you saw it, not how the writers appeared to see it.

    Well, John for all his virtues is often like my 1-year-old son.

    When he gets fixated on playing with our dog’s tail, there’s no stopping him.

  5. 5.

    John Cole

    but that was how you saw it, not how the writers appeared to see it.

    Did you talk to the writers? What? You didn’t? But you are sure you know what the writers were saying? So you mean there is something subjective to art and humor!

    No WAI!

  7. 7.

    michael

    So, going from Republican to Democrat to “get a sense of humor libs” concern troll: How does your inner ear take the stress, John?

  9. 9.

    El Cid

    Really? Really? That’s what came to mind? Really? I didn’t talk to the writers?

    Yes. Yes. I talked to all of the Daily Show writers. It turned out I was completely wrong and I was totally wrong to laugh at the parts showing Andersen Cooper and Sean Hannity and the like over and over and over.

    Turns out the writers were totally, totally making fun of, well, like, whoever this liberal blog — which is not part of the liberal blogosphere — feels on this particular day are being mean humorless objectivist literalists.

  10. 10.

    Bedlam UK

    Erm, Missed the ‘liberal Blogoshere’ bit. Probably didn’t get that joke.
    Saw the CNN and Fox bit which was bloody funny.
    Shame we dont get much of this show over here, but i do try to catch the website, and always appreciate the posts here.

    Cant believe how much its discussed over there ! I thought it was just a blog thing.
    When the extremists objected about the caracature of Mohammed, everyone thought they were showing their idiocy and small-mindedness. Are Americans going to be going the same way now?
    A cartoon is just that. Move along people for crying out loud.

  12. 12.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    John, the Daily Show segment was skewering those who have to explain their jokes when no one gets them (like The New Yorker). For comedy effect, they also had some fun applying the same broad “satire” label the New Yorker used to other negative stories about the Obamas (ie. the Anderson Cooper story about Obama attending a madrassa as a child.)

    You may want to hang up your shovel now.

  13. 13.

    Carlos

    Did you talk to the writers? What? You didn’t?

    Um. You have a broad readership, John. “I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here.”

  14. 14.

    Chris Johnson

    Wow, whiplash.

    Satire about pretending the moronic and probably Rove-directed made-up real-world ambiguity for a New Yorker satire… is satire.

    Can this be over nao plz?

  15. 15.

    redjellydonut

    Hey, I love The New Yorker, but sometimes…just sometimes…the Great Unwashed are right.

    It wasn’t a very funny cover. When I saw it (and I’m just an average schmuck, who likes TNY and loves BHO) I snorted and chuckled to myself, like anyone who “got it”. But almost immediately afterwards I had this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach because it was patently obvious that most folks, who are constitutionally incapable of recognizing satire if it shat on their shoes, were going to be reminded of the meme of Barack as Muslim flag-hater and see it as another reminder of those scary things “people” say about him in those email threads that just won’t die.

    Since the damage to Obama, whatever that may be, has been done a question I think worth asking is: Was the cultural payoff in humor worth the amount of time wasted in the discussion of its value? For my part, the answer is nope

  16. 16.

    Jake

    When this whole thing got started, many of us were concerned not because we didn’t get the joke, but because we knew the media would be drawn to it like flies to honey and would mostly serve to put the cover out there. And it would be discussed, over and over, drawing attention from any news items of real significance.

    Wow were we wrong about that, huh?

  17. 17.

    John Cole

    John, the Daily Show segment was skewering those who have to explain their jokes when no one gets them (like The New Yorker). For comedy effect, they also had some fun applying the same broad “satire” label the New Yorker used to other negative stories about the Obamas (ie. the Anderson Cooper story about Obama attending a madrassa as a child.)

    And I thought they were making fun of both the New Yorker and those who said it was not funny and were out explaining what is and what is not funny with the dog shit joke.

  18. 18.

    John Cole

    Plus, I just wanted an excuse to post the Daily Show clips. The second one, with him skewering the media actually spreading the stuff in the New Yorker cover, is brilliant.

  19. 19.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I’m waiting here for you with a giant hug when ya come out of yer shame spiral, buddy.

  20. 20.

    John S.

    Christ, John is worse than my 1-year-old.

    At least he gives up on the dog once she leaves the room.

  21. 21.

    John Cole

    Christ, John is worse than my 1-year-old.

    At least he gives up on the dog once she leaves the room.

    I am kind of trolling my own website at this point, aren’t I? Sometimes I just feel ornery, I guess.

    I will stop. No hug needed.

  22. 22.

    D-Chance.

    NonyNony Says:

    And … we’re going to go through this for another day, aren’t we.

    Of course, we are. Note to NonyNony: Whenever you see a “My Final Word on [insert subject here]” post from Mr Cole on Balloon Juice, you are guaranteed at least 48 more hours and a half-dozen more posts and updates on said subject.

  24. 24.

    gil mann

    What I done learneded this week:

    ~The art department of every publication should appoint an ombudsman and a civilian complaint review board

    ~The value of a creative work is up to a vote

    ~Any media outlet that is understood to have sympathies toward a particular ideology must conduct itself as an organ of said ideology, and even when it’s doing just that, it better not be opaque about it

    ~All oxen must be clearly marked so that I can verify at a glance that mine’s not the one getting gored

    ~All cartoons are meant to elicit an involuntary laugh response, which is why Maus sucked so bad

    ~Every dull-eyed moron on the face of the earth getting the point exactly as intended is the sole of wit

  25. 25.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    What I learned this week:

    Sometimes, in an effort to be funny, someone can fail and instead cause pain and hurt.

    Wait, I already knew that.

    What I really learned this week:

    A lot of you are asshats.

  26. 26.

    JC

    This really is about nothing – since I like much ado about nothing, my two cents.

    Saw those clips – they were funny! As Stewart said, “it’s a f**king cartoon!” Nothing to get too outraged about, right?

    At the same time (my own opinion), it isn’t really funny (the New Yorker cover, I mean), although the reaction and the after-effects have had me chuckle.

    So the Daily Show was going after everyone – mainly, the media, those who try to “explain” what is funny, what isn’t, and then also telling the Obama campaign, and humorless bloggers everywhere, to chill out.

    From this humorless commentator, who will now be getting back to work…

  27. 27.

    Eural Joiner

    Gosh – I really thought the main “punch” to the segment was the skewering of the media for roundly condemning the magazine cover for portraying images (supposedly in satire) while seriously airing segments based on (and projecting) those same images (hence the “question mark” gag).

    “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” (especially his “The Word” segment) are sometimes so good that the humor is only one small part of the writing. The rest is deep…real deep.

    If nothing else, the last decade of the most insane political and media circus in our history have given us these gems of satire and insight.

  29. 29.

    Blue Raven

    No, I’m sorry, but there is a sense of humor problem with the liberal blogosphere. It’s the part where y’all sit there and claim that you know what is and isn’t funny to the whole world. SO glad this bullshit is over.

  30. 30.

    Dave Shepherd

    Loved the clip, but god I hate Comedy Central streaming. Without a fast connection, it’s [buffering], funny, fun[buffering] funny funny funny funn[buffering]….

    I “comfort” myself with the image of mass media and it’s cartoonish hysteria as the last gasps of a dying star. I puffs to an immense size as it consumes the last of it’s fuel then with a bang or a whimper, it fades to cosmic irrelevance. Considering the declining number of people who read a newspaper or watch news, we could be at the last stage sooner than you think. I mean, how could they shout any louder about anything more meaningless?

  32. 32.

    gil mann

    Sometimes, in an effort to be funny, someone can fail and instead cause pain and hurt.

    True. Y’know what kind of comedy doesn’t run that risk? The kind that sucks. But sure, if we cede even more cultural ground to toothless dreck, the chances of a high-profile misfire will be greatly diminished.

    If you want a picture of the future, imagine a top ten list from Cracked.com stomping on a human face… forever.

    A moot point insofar as the image under discussion wans’t even meant to be a “joke” per se, but since this whole bullshit controversy turned into a referendum on an artist’s right to create without having to wargame out every possible Choose Your Own Adventure ramification that could conceivably stem from the distribution of his work, figured I’d pick a side.

    y’all sit there and claim that you know what is and isn’t funny to the whole world

    Yeah, but when I do it, it’s a satire of a long-winded, contentious jagoff who can’t just let it fucking go.

  33. 33.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    True. Y’know what kind of comedy doesn’t run that risk? The kind that sucks. But sure, if we cede even more cultural ground to toothless dreck, the chances of a high-profile misfire will be greatly diminished.

    Dawg, it ain’t funny when my toothless dreck rightwing relatives make a “cultural” joke about Obama no matter how much they slap their knee and laugh. Further, it ain’t funny when they make a “wry” observation about what “others” are saying about Obama in an effort to short circuit my explosive and hair trigger reaction.

    And it ain’t funny or particularly insightful when Teh New Yawker draws it all up real pretty. I could concede if you are one of my toothless dreck rightwing relatives you might find the cover funny and/or interesting.

    Take the challenge: Lieberman on the mag cover with glinty eyes and sinister hook nose, drinking the blood of gentile babies, hoarding piles of silver and gold, worshipping Satan, plotting to take over the world. Insightful cultural satire exposing the underbelly of antisemitism or tasteless and hurtful caricature?

  34. 34.

    gil mann

    Lieberman on the mag cover with glinty eyes and sinister hook nose, drinking the blood of gentile babies, hoarding piles of silver and gold, worshipping Satan, plotting to take over the world.

    Oh, c’mon, that Firedoglake photoshop brouhaha was years ago.

    Anyway, the important thing is, you don’t find Tom Tomorrow funny. I guess we’ll just have to agree to vigorously agree.

  35. 35.

    gil mann

    Oh, and just to be clear, by “toothless dreck” I meant “inoffensive observational humor.” I’m in no position to mock others’ periodontal failings.

  36. 36.

    LanceThruster

    I call on Al Gore to mediate this dispute. As the inventor of the interwebs, he can make a ruling once and for all.

    “I don’t care a straw for your newspaper articles, my constituents don’t know how to read, but they can’t help seeing them damned pictures.” ~ Boss Tweed

  37. 37.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Oh, and just to be clear, by “toothless dreck” I meant “inoffensive observational humor.” I’m in no position to mock others’ periodontal failings.

    Yeah, I got it. My reply was Satire, Bitches!

Comments are closed.