Story: The interview with the Daily Show host that was originally broadcast Oct. 4 has been re-edited for Friday's Fresh Air; it features material cut from the original broadcast because of time constraints.
Jon Stewart on his "Rally to Restore Sanity". Even President Obama is talking about it!
Ed Koch, RealClearPolitics: [...] some time ago Mr. Sanchez invited me to appear on his program. The major question he asked me was whether Jews have a dual loyalty, to Israel and the U.S.? The question was not intended as friendly. I answered it the same way that I had answered the same question by a group of Christian Congressmen at a prayer breakfast when I was a member of Congress. I told them, you never ask that question of Italian, German or Polish-Americans (I should have also included Cuban-Americans) who treasure their ancestry, traditions and the countries from which their ancestors came; you only ask it of Jews. Let me tell you why the security of Israel means so much to many Jews. We know that when Hitler offered in the 30s to allow the Jews to leave Germany, if any country would take them, few countries agreed to accept the Jews and then only in small numbers. Indeed, in 1939 the U.S. under F.D.R. turned away the 900 or so Jews on the SS St. Louis who had earlier been turned away by Cuba (from which country Mr. Sanchez hails; he was not born at the time). F.D.R. refused to allow them to land in the U.S., and even sent a Coast Guard cutter to make sure no one jumped overboard and tried to swim ashore. So the Jews were sent back to Europe, where the majority perished in concentration camps. If Israel had existed then, it would have taken in every single Jewish refugee, no matter how sick or old or incapacitated or poor. Then I said to my fellow Congress members, raising my right hand, and this is literal, "I swear to you, if Israel ever invades the U.S., I shall stand with the U.S." My fellow members of Congress applauded.
, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life)
In other words, it was everything Stewart’s rally isn’t. This upcoming event in Washington just takes the formerly disruptive Daily Show model and marks its final transition to another element within the system of political media. Rather than critiquing the system from the outside, it’s now a participant fully enmeshed, and if employing two former Clinton aides isn’t a mark of political professionalization, I don’t know what is. It’s impressive that a comedy talk show was able to make this transition, but I’m not sure if it’s actually good for the show’s audience. After all, we have lots of political media, but we only had one Daily Show, and its value stemmed in large part from its outsider position. Once it becomes an insider and falls prey to all the problems it used to gleefully skewer, it’s unclear what value it can have aside from being the funnier David Brooks. If they seemed interested in doing anything different, I might be behind them. But as long as they’re only out to perpetuate the biggest lie we tell ourselves about politics - that we’re right, and everyone agrees with us - count me out.Must read blog post. Yeah, Stewart's kind of like the Michael Moore of 2004. See also: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42447.html
"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" producer David Javerbaum joins us to discuss his new book, "What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters." We'll also talk to Javerbaum about his work writing the lyrics for the special "A Colbert Christmas," which was recently nominated for a 2010 Grammy. Javerbaum is also one of three principal authors of the bestselling textbook parody "America: The Book."Download the podcast here. See also: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race
, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book)
