This is, as always, brilliant:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The 11/3 Project | ||||
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The thing you need to keep in mind is that the lunatic he is mocking, Glenn Beck, is one of the driving forces behind the politics of the current GOP. No, the glibertarians at Reason won’t admit this is what they have been enabling, because they have their heads so far up their asses from years of false equivalences and chants of “BOTH PARTIES ARE BAD!” Plus, everyone knows that when teabaggers and Glenn Beck followers run around worked up over bullshit packing heat, it is their GOD GIVEN RIGHT A CITIZEN and nothing bad could happen. The threat of right-wing violence is radically overstated. Just ask the cops in Pittsburgh, who met an armed Glenn Beck fan.
And of course the media will not admit it. First and foremost, Fox news is their sister organization, right? Glenn Beck is one of them, and they surround us. Our political pundits and beltway betters can’t talk about the fact that Hoffman, the wingnut carpetbagger in the NY-23 special election, was a Glenn Beck follower. No, our talking heads on the cable networks are too busy talking about the rebirth of conservatism because Republicans LOST an election in NY for the first time in 15 decades and won a governor’s seat in… VIRGINIA.
Seriously. According to the “analysis” from the last few days, I’m supposed to think that a Republican winning in Virginia is the sign of the end for Democrats. Thank goodness the Republicans didn’t win a governor’s seat in Alabama, or some in the media would be calling for Obama’s impeachment.
I have agita.
dmsilev
I’m loving that blackboard. I see ACORN next to a quantum field theory calculation, Van Jones is tied to photosynthesis, Purity of Essence is important, and Che has something to do with Beck’s digestive organs.
It’s all connected, can’t you see?
-dms
asiangrrlMN
TattooSydney, sent this to me, and I cracked the hell up. It’s brilliant. “You don’t think organs can’t…ORGANIZE?”
I have only seen clips of Beck, but Jon’s performance is spot-on and fucking hilarious.
Cole, watch it half a dozen times. It should help you get over your agita.
valdivia
My favorite part was about Organs–organizing! That was priceless.
valdivia
@asiangrrlMN:
more BJ mindmeld!
OC
You should have agita. The media in this country is shallow and lazy. Campbell Brown made a statement during the Tuesday night election coverage that I think is very telling. She said something to effect of “it doesn’t matter what impact of these elections really is, we’re going to tell you whatever we want in spite of reality.” That’s our media in a nutshell. Report on stupid shit and get the important stuff wrong even when they know it’s wrong.
Why oh why
I didn’t find it funny at all; actually really bad – Stewart is better playing the straight man on The Daily Show.
Colbert did a much funnier, and really hilarious parody of ‘The Danger Room’ just a few weeks after Beck started his show.
Zifnab
After ’06 and ’08, I’m sure more than a few pundits and newsmen were secretly wondering if the GOP could win anywhere ever again outside the deepest southern strongholds. So you’ve got a lot of Republican committee chairmen breathing a big sigh of relief.
I do like how Stewart did this on a Thursday, while Beck was in the hospital. No one baits FOX like the Daily Show guys. Now we just get to sit back and wait for impending spittle-spewing retaliation.
Elizabelle
Thank God we have Jon Stewart to make us laugh at what is a very scary situation.
Stewart (and Colbert) perform more public education value than just about any other American TV-based platform. (NewsHour excluded for wonkery, but Stewart keeps your attention better.)
Seriously — it’s a loss when Stewart’s on a production break. I really think they should have a B team ready to present/illuminate the news and keep their viewers informed.
And maybe leave the really juicy stuff (Michael Jackson? Dead again?) for the master’s return.
But it’s not a mere comedy show.
Not when all the clowns are found on “serious” outlets.
Why oh why
Here is Colbert’s
‘Danger Room’Doom Bunker, a must-see:http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/220649/march-04-2009/doom-bunker—glenn-beck-s–war-room-
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/220650/march-04-2009/doom-bunker—jack-jacobs-and-stephen-moore
kommrade reproductive vigor
Well ranted, sir.
El Cruzado
Reminds me of which is so wrong yet feels so right.
Sasha
Like I’ve mentioned before, my favorite bit is “Purity of Essence” scrawled on the blackboard.
I wonder how much research and rehearsal went into that performance.
Royston Vasey
A tour de force from Stewart. Good to see him go full-on with the impersonation and do something a little different.
Most enjoyable.
dmsilev
@El Cruzado: I guess this week is “Satirical news organizations go after Glenn Beck week”.
One might even say that they surround him.
-dms
Stooleo
I watched that Stewart clip this morning. It was truly inspired.
Zifnab
@Why oh why: Watch a little Beck. Then go back and watch the sketch. Stewart absolutely nails the impersonation. If there is one flaw, it’s that he didn’t go over the top enough. Although, Beck sets a very high bar.
The Grand Panjandrum
But Obama didn’t correctly respond to yesterday’s shootings at Ft Hood. Here is the video of Obama’s inappropriate response to this awful shooting. I suppose this criticism could have been avoided if Al Gore hadn’t used all that electricity and Michael Moore would lose some weight.
And more to the point about the extremist violence and utter hatred David Corn has a great piece on yesterday’s Tea Bag Day up on Capitol Hill.
It just keeps getting uglier out there.
.
slag
You know who else didn’t answer medical questions…?
During that pause, I thought the inevitable Hitler line was going to be far too predictable to be funny. But the performance made it hilarious!
Cat Lady
I’m gobsmacked that they could put this together so fast to coincide with Beck’s surgery. So brilliantly done, but my guess is that not one single media hack will find anything to take away from this, a la Colbert at the White House dinner, which was awesome but changed nothing. They’ve all gone all in on the hackitude, and they can’t hear or see anything that doesn’t comport with their inflated sense of self and their self-importance. Thank the FSM that just about everyone under 35 watches Stewart to be informed.
roseyv
Absolutely pitch-freaking-perfect.
asiangrrlMN
@valdivia: You got it, girl!
Bender
The thing you need to keep in mind is that the lunatic he is mocking, Glenn Beck, is one of the driving forces behind the politics of the current GOP.
Yeah, right, I’m sure the GOP leadership runs everything through Glenn Beck first. Sure they do. Because you say so! That’s all the proof you need to offer!
What a fun game to play… My turn!
The thing you need to keep in mind is that the lunatic I am always mocking, Jon Stewart — no wait, Janeanne Garofalo! — no, better, Kweef “The Sports Mustache” Olbermann! — is one of the driving forces behind the politics of the current Democratic Party.
The Grand Panjandrum
Remember when this was a joke here?
Brick Oven Bill
Glenn Beck rocks.
BethanyAnne
@Bender: ?
How does “one of the driving forces” equal “they run everything past him first”? Those don’t seem to say the same things.
jrosen
Historical note: POE is a nod to “Dr. Strangelove”, which actually anticipated Henry Kissinger by about 5 years. All you young folks who haven’t seen it should. Every line is a LOL and also shows that wingnuttery is timeless.
eemom
@The Grand Panjandrum:
you should check out Rude Pundit today on the guy holding the Dachau sign. Spot fucking on.
smiley
They also acted like New Jersey has never had a republican governor . I guess they forgot about Christine Todd Whitman from just a few years ago.
soonergrunt
That was three heaping scoops of awesome.
Ash
Oh yay, another mass shooting, in Orlando. I LOVE GUNS!!!!
The Populist
He rocks the brain dead alright. The guy is a shill and a con artist. Right up their with those traveling salesmen of old and the corner preacher.
Keep saying that. It only proves that people are easily fooled by morons pretending to have something important to say.
The Populist
Who’s more dumb? Michelle Malkin or Glenn Beck?
Me? I can’t decide.
Beck has the teary eyed bullshit thing going and can’t even explain things in a coherent manner.
Michelle has crazy eyes and can’t say anything smart to save her life.
Hmmmm, I go with Michelle by a hair. She just is too dumb.
slag
I love how Republicans persistently trumpet Faux News ratings while simultaneously claiming that Faux News isn’t Republican. It’s the old “See! The success of these guys is proving that Republicans are taking this country back even though these guys aren’t Republicans” argument. Damn oligarhs.
eemom
@The Populist:
or, as somebody famous once said, “A fool will always find a greater fool to admire him.”
Zam
@Bender: Yea the Democratic party does exactly what the liberal base tells it too.
NickM
Maybe. Or maybe it’s your appendix, crying out for liberation.
Jager
I was thinking about Beck last Saturday as I watched a blender salesman at Costco. He was selling a vitamin blender that cost $234.00! (a blender that couldn’t do anything better than my 60.00 blender) The guy was a typical pitchman, posing a question, then answering it, making a claim and then proving the claim. The rubes were all standing around, nodding their heads in agreement. The guy was great, he was touting the various accessories available and when he came to a $28,00 “chopper blade” he extolled its virtues and then told the audience that they really didn’t need to buy it…they were sucked in even more by his “honesty”! He had a range of emotion, he played the crowd skillfully and sold the shit out of the over priced blenders…charlatans and pitchmen have been with us for ever. The problem now is that pitchmen like Beck are given creedence by the MSM, and an entire politcal party!
Royston Vasey
@eemom: link?
Common Sense
@smiley:
Yes they have. My wingnut stepdad heard on the radio that New Jersey had been Democrat for 16 years. Didn’t believe me when I brought up Whitman and said the Dems did the exact same thing wrt VA/NJ in 2001. I had to bring up her online bio. He also said that the people of Virginia could have voted for Kaine, but said “no, thanks.” He was completely unaware that Kaine was not on the ballot and that Virginia mandates term limits.
Wingnut radio kills brain cells faster than freon.
Luthe
I saw that last night and thought it was the most beautiful thing I had seen in months. In fact, I was running a countdown until the tears started.
Dear Jon Stewart,
Would you be my completely platonic celebrity boyfriend?
Fangirly kisses,
Luthe
The Populist
I remember when Wally George had a syndicated late night talk show. He would berate “lib-er-uls” and other people he hated. His ratings were good YET I don’t remember dems being voted out of office because of him.
Luthe
OT:@Jager:
$28 for a chopper blade? Why don’t they just get a cheap food processor instead? Same features and less cost. ::thought her food processor was the best b-day gift ever::
RememberNovember
But where’s the “:” on the blackboard- oh right, Beck only has a “;” due to botched brain surgery.
KLG
One more well deserved Emmy for The Daily Show!
asiangrrlMN
@eemom: I didn’t like it. I stopped reading The Rude Pundit for posts like that.
Royston Vasey
I thought Colberts Guy-Fawkers was pretty funny to.
Martin
Two mass shootings since Wed. I blame the Yankees.
licensed to kill time
Stewart channels Beck quite well. Beck is really still just doing his “morning zoo” radio schtick that he perfected many years ago, before he got tired of it and segued into his version of “politics” combined with a dash of revivalist preacher trying to save souls from teh debbil (and coincidentally, suck up some cash from the suckers). It boggles the mind that anyone falls for it (I’m looking at you, BoB!).
bago
Blatent mockery is the only response.
Speaking of responses… Did I mention that I made the front page of wonkette mocking teabaggers yesterday?
par4
Chants of “BOTH PARTIES ARE BAD” It doesn’t take too many Max Baucus’s to make people think that.
geg6
@Bender:
LOL, little stupid troll. You made a funny!
Because all Dems run by calling them their heroes and mentors like Hoffman did with Beck. Really. I heard it on FOX.
geg6
@eemom:
Seconded.
Gus
I haven’t seen enough Glenn Beck to really get this. Funny, but not gut-busting.
eemom
@asiangrrlMN:
yeah, he’s not for everyone. But honestly, I just can’t think how better to sum up what people like that sign-holder deserve. It’s just fucking mind-boggling that someone would obscenify the Holocaust to rage against………health care reform???
dSquib
this was a bit odd. I can’t believe he took it on, it’s really Colbert’s kind of thing. It was pretty good. Some of the gestures were spot on. The tone was a bit off.
Does anyone know when it was exactly that Beck was diagnosed with ADHD? As a child, or what?
I just can’t help but think he’s genuinely schizophrenic. The bizarre associative reasoning/thinking is so familiar to me (“czars”… imperial!…….HITLER!), as I do have experience with this through my family. And kids displaying schizophrenic symptoms at an early age are often misdiagnosed with just ADHD.
Cain
@The Populist:
Wait.. are you saying you can’t decide whether MM, Glenn Beck or you is the most dumb? Come on, dude don’t sell yourself short! Clearly it’s MM!
cain
Ecks
I can’t believe steward missed the punchline that Glenn shouldn’t fear his organs, because they don’t surround him, he surrounds them!
Kept waiting and wiating for it…. [sigh]
The Golux
Actually, I was hoping Jon would whip out a jar of Vicks Vap-o-rub and smear it on his cheekbones, like eye black.
Something Fabulous
This reminds me that Jon Stewart had an acting career there, for a while, didn’t he? 8.5 minutes of straight-up monologuin’ (with props! and mannerisms! as well as punchlines!) is no easy thing. Awesome.
Emma Anne
Can anyone recommend a good clip of Beck? I don’t know his mannerisms well enough to appreciate this.
tripletee
Bender, for suggesting that Beck and his fellow loonies have no impact on Republican Party politics after months of teabagging bullshit that clearly proves the opposite.
cmorenc
@Gus
If only Glenn Beck was really another Steven Colbert whose comedic stock in trade was creating a deadpan self-satirizing character, Beck would be an even bigger comedic hero among progressives for such devastatingly effective mockery right-wing punditry.
UNFORTUNATELY both Beck and his considerable wingnut audience take him seriously as a conservative analyst and prophet. The fact that there are so many people about the country willing and ready to take a colossal glib foolish jerk like Beck seriously (think: a better-spoken, glib version of Archie Bunker with better looks and hair) undermines the humor of his performance with nervousness that there are enough of these deluded people about to be seriously dangerous to the rest of us. Kind of like just short of realizing that the kids you see outside playing “cowboys and indians” have somehow gotten hold of real guns and knives, and it’s sheer luck none of them have disengaged the safety yet on their firearm.
smiley
@licensed to kill time:
That’s exactly. It’s especially evident on his radio show, which sounds like a political morning zoo.
catclub
cmorenc @ 62
“there are enough of these deluded people about to be seriously dangerous to the rest of us.”
Glenn Beck is either a fraud or not. The morning zoo radio
DJ history suggests he is not very serious.
If he were ever to come out and say he had been a fraud,
he would have to fear for his life. Some disappointed sucker would get very mad.
licensed to kill time
@smiley: I know this has been linked several times here, but if anyone hasn’t read Salon article on Glenn Beck they should. What he does today is no different than what he has always done, just more lucrative.
mantis
I am an 11/3 patriot. We will rise up against internal organs made unnecessary by evoluti–er, intelligent des–er, Jesus.
Proper Gander
@ The Grand Pajandrum:
The comment section at the “Obama’s frightening insensitivity” story is enough to make me nauseous.
I felt it necessary to leave the following comment there:
I think that this comment thread should be etched into a platinum-iridium tablet and launched into interstellar space, so that alien cultures will know that the reason that civilization on Earth self-destructed is that the members of one of the most influential political philosophies in its most powerful nation had the emotional maturity of spoiled five-year olds on Christmas Eve.
dSquib
Ever notice how often Beckites and teabaggers like to claim that liberals, and Beck’s just “don’t get” him? It seems common amongst conservatives at large, and even more so libertarians, to like to believe this. That people just don’t “get” them, and never will. It seems often like a cop out, an excuse not to coherently defend Beck or his “positions”. Because after all, what’s the point? They’ll never understand.
I think this is at the route of the belief of some conservatives that Stephen Colbert is ACTUALLY a conservative, while conceding that he is playing a conservative, but believing that the show is some kind of double bluff. He’s a conservative playing a liberal playing a conservative. I think it’s because he satirises conservative standpoints as he voices him, and when he voices them, they sound ridiculous. But… these are real positions, that people hold. Not only that, he convincingly displays a full array of conservative philosophy, and so he can’t be a liberal, because remember, liberals just don’t GET conservatives. But Colbert obviously gets conservatives. He comes from a very conservative area, he may even sympathise with themin some sense. He very obviously gets conservatives, and this just doesn’t groove with being a liberal.
Randy P
You all realize that Beck had nothing whatsoever to do with promoting Teabagger parties because he wasn’t in DC on April 15. Yep, that proves it. No connection whatsoever. And I heard that right here, repeatedly, from Brick Oven Bill. So it must be true.
Comrade Kevin
@BethanyAnne:
Bender is, in short, a moron.
Jon O.
@Comrade Kevin: Let’s take him at his word.
There was no base pressure whatsoever that caused Boehner, Cantor and all the rest to appear onstage with banners comparing health care reform to the atrocities at Dachau, or accusations that the President is a terrorist or Kenyan national. That’s just something they decided to associate themselves with independently. I wonder why.
Incidentally does anybody know where to find a list of all the GOP reps in attendance yesterday? They were all in attendance at the filming of the first oppo ad against them for 2010.
Eric S
As I rely on John To Read These Morons So I Don’t Have To, and I’ve never seen or heard Beck before I just have to ask, are you kidding me?!? Someone who acts like that has a TV show? I really didn’t think my respect for wingnuts could go any lower. My choice to never watch TV “news” broadcasts is vindicated again.
Jeff Fecke
Here’s a good video of Beck being Beck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLs4bcjkwfg
If you’ve seen Beck, Stewart’s impression was spot on.
drillfork
I know this spot-on satire is funny as shite, but I can’t laugh a bit at it. The fact that real people (like my sister’s family) actually listen to this crap and honestly believe that Glenn Beck is some sort of philosopher/commentator rather than a delusional and shameless opportunist just ruins it for me.
Remember that cult leader from the 90s who thought his tribe would catch a comet off of this world? Oh ya, Marshall Applewhite:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven's_Gate_(religious_group)
Glenn Beck is Marshall Applewhite with a TV show…
smiley
@licensed to kill time: Yes, I read that a few weeks ago. Excellent and provides the background needed to know who he really is (or was). However, I was a little disappointed it didn’t go into his evolution into right-wing talk radio demagogue. Maybe he had a word/page limit or was asked by editors to just do the early FM days.
licensed to kill time
@smiley: Well, at the end of part three it talks about his transition to talk radio. The author Alexander Zaitchik seems to be doing a running series on all things Beckian, so maybe he’ll delve into it more in the future.
So there’s that to look forward to. Sort of.
Dr. Morpheus
Unfortunately, that crowd is an unreliable voting bloc. And I sometimes despair that they miss the wider implications of Stewart’s and Colbert’s satire and it just fades from their minds once the TV is shut off.
In other words, they look at it as just more infotainment to be consumed.
But then again, I’m a cynic…
HyperIon
@The Populist wrote:
Hmm..when did “dumber” get replaced by “more dumb”?
English must be your second language.
HyperIon
@Dr. Morpheus wrote:
Yes, it seems that turnout in “that crowd” was way down in VA compared to Nov ’08. Short attention span, I guess.
kay
@Bender:
Glen Beck is a driving force, though. How many tea baggers are also Beck acolytes? All of them.
Republican members of the US House of Representatives staged an elaborate press event yesterday that completely tracked a Glen Beck sermon.
“Driving” is the right word. Beck is stage-managing the whole Party.
HyperIon
@drillfork wrote:
And that’s why we have Poe’s Law.
Except now it no longer requires a discussion (or fundies).
The short clips I have seen of Beck defy taking him seriously, yet some do.
Sort of like last night when I had C-SPAN on while cooking dinner, Bohner said that health care reform was the “Greatest Threat To Freedom I’ve Seen In Last 19 Years”. I just laughed out loud but the audience was cheering wildly.
We’ve got some seriously stupid people in this country.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
Olbermann refers to Beck as “Lonesome Rhodes”, a reference that sent me to teh Google. I’d never heard of the movie “A Face in the Crowd”, but I think Keith is on to something:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgen8M58KAE
mandarama
I have agita so badly that this clip can’t even really make me feel better. I’m in TN, and my rep is Marsha Blackburn, and my next-nearest is Blug Dog Extraordinaire Jim Cooper. Made many fruitless calls to both, only to be told today by Cooper’s office that “he hasn’t decided which way he will vote” on the HC bill. Sure he hasn’t. Sure.
This is such an important issue to me. I’ve buried both parents, very young, with no health insurance. It’s brutal. And the smug complacency and low-information prejudices all around me are making it hard to avoid complete misanthropy. I’ve taken to thinking repeatedly about (as our esteemed host says) punching someone in the god-damned neck.
Sigh. At least I volunteered to help out Greg Rabidoux, who’s hoping to make a run against Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@mandarama:
Nicely said.
I depend on Balloon Juice and other blogs for the occasional Daily Show clip. I used to watch religiously, but as brilliant as Stewart is, it’s just not funny anymore.
General Winfield Stuck
Just watched Stewart. Tour de force performance.
HyperIon
@Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon) wrote:
Check it out.
You’ll never think of Andy of Mayberry in the same way.
Directed by Elia Kazan and Patricia Neal is in the cast also.
Catsy
@Dr. Morpheus:
Perhaps, but even that has value. When you spend enough years watching and laughing and nodding along with something, it’s going to have a long-term effect on your thinking, the way you internalize things, even if the specifics have long since fled your memory.
Comrade Baron Elmo
Malkin, in a walk. She clearly believes every word she writes or utters, while Beck is just as clearly working the rubes like a glib carny operator. I’ve never believed that he’s as wingnutty as he seems.
Also, Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage gets extra credit for her tendency to change from a spitting she-cobra to a poor wronged widdle waif in seconds flat.
Finally, Beck has far better control over his facial features when he speaks (the carny instinct, y’know), while the sheer ugliness of the Malkin soul reveals itself in a panoply of shapes and expressions with every interview she gives.
licensed to kill time
here i am, fixing my reply arrow like i have to do every day godammit.