Despite a crappy straw-man premise, Meet the Press aired a fairly decent discussion of the role of comedy in political discussion Sunday, mostly thanks to a panel that included comedians and writers Lewis Black, Laura Krafft, and W. Kamau Bell, and not hindered too much by host Chuck Todd. Todd introduced the segment by referring to
People who watch <i>The Daily Show</i> know more about the actual news than people who watch Fox. (For that matter, <a href="http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/study-watching-fox-news-makes-you-less-informed-than-watching-no-news-at-all-2012-5" target="_blank">people who do not watch <i>any</i> news shows know more about the news than people who watch Fox</a>.) If you don&#039;t know the story, you don&#039;t get the jokes.
The news has dumbed down the news. At least when Eric Severeid was grimly reading the news or Chet Huntley was broadcasting between Pall Mall breaks, the audience wasn&#039;t wondering if it would get a blond beaver shot on Fox and Friends or some bizarre speculation about whether a black hole might have swallowed a plane but passed on our puny planet.
<em>Todd: &quot;... the first time we bark is the last time we do the show. There&rsquo;s something sometimes, where all of a sudden nobody will come on your show.&quot;</em>
Which pretty much indicates we&#039;re well past the point of you drawing a paycheck to sit there and play the dummy. If moderators can&#039;t challenge their guests, then there shouldn&#039;t be a moderator and it should just be a 30-minute infomercial for whatever talking points need spewing. It would at least be honest, then.
It is staggering how much people like (just for instance) Chuck Todd are paid for being wrong about virtually everything, then making stuff up for bonus points.
If you want to know why politics has been dumbed-down, look at Republican party politicians- George W., Michele, Louis Gohmert, Rick Perry, Herman Cain.....
I don&#039;t think Todd understands that when he expands &quot;not barking&quot; to include &quot;allowing outrageous lies to go unchallenged,&quot; he is not only dumbing down the news, he is removing any incentive anyone might have to watch his show. Why bother with MTP when you have an entire network that will let any Republican snake-oil salesman come on and sell anything?
Jesus Tapdancing Christ. In the span of five minutes he admits that he doesn&#039;t ask tough questions because nobody would come on his show if he did, and then asks if politicians go on comedy shows to avoid going on &quot;news&quot; shows (where they won&#039;t get asked tough questions).
Fool has the intellectual rigor of a mortis.
I&#039;m a little disappoint the panel didn&#039;t get after him about that.
It used to be that both sides could rely on getting factual facts from Cronkite or H-B, and then carry on a reality-based debate. I suppose the Missing Plane Channel has a lot to do with it, but I still blame Faux News for fucking up American journalism -- which will someday be recognized as the crime of the century.
On a stick?
Sorry for this, but an Electrolux in a vacuum chamber wouldn&#039;t suck.
/metaphornazi
<i>...Meet the Press aired a fairly decent discussion...</i>
I just cannot wrap head around the words...
Looks like an episode of <i>The Mod Squad</i>. One black, one white, one blonde.
People who watch <i>The Daily Show</i> know more about the actual news than people who watch Fox. (For that matter, <a href="http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/study-watching-fox-news-makes-you-less-informed-than-watching-no-news-at-all-2012-5" target="_blank">people who do not watch <i>any</i> news shows know more about the news than people who watch Fox</a>.) If you don&#039;t know the story, you don&#039;t get the jokes.
The news has dumbed down the news. At least when Eric Severeid was grimly reading the news or Chet Huntley was broadcasting between Pall Mall breaks, the audience wasn&#039;t wondering if it would get a blond beaver shot on Fox and Friends or some bizarre speculation about whether a black hole might have swallowed a plane but passed on our puny planet.
<em>Todd: &quot;... the first time we bark is the last time we do the show. There&rsquo;s something sometimes, where all of a sudden nobody will come on your show.&quot;</em>
Which pretty much indicates we&#039;re well past the point of you drawing a paycheck to sit there and play the dummy. If moderators can&#039;t challenge their guests, then there shouldn&#039;t be a moderator and it should just be a 30-minute infomercial for whatever talking points need spewing. It would at least be honest, then.
It is staggering how much people like (just for instance) Chuck Todd are paid for being wrong about virtually everything, then making stuff up for bonus points.
If you want to know why politics has been dumbed-down, look at Republican party politicians- George W., Michele, Louis Gohmert, Rick Perry, Herman Cain.....
I don&#039;t think Todd understands that when he expands &quot;not barking&quot; to include &quot;allowing outrageous lies to go unchallenged,&quot; he is not only dumbing down the news, he is removing any incentive anyone might have to watch his show. Why bother with MTP when you have an entire network that will let any Republican snake-oil salesman come on and sell anything?
Todd&#039;s job is simply to prop up Cheney, so Stewart can punch him out.
Jesus Tapdancing Christ. In the span of five minutes he admits that he doesn&#039;t ask tough questions because nobody would come on his show if he did, and then asks if politicians go on comedy shows to avoid going on &quot;news&quot; shows (where they won&#039;t get asked tough questions).
Fool has the intellectual rigor of a mortis.
I&#039;m a little disappoint the panel didn&#039;t get after him about that.
(Copypasta from Wonkville, because lazy)
It used to be that both sides could rely on getting factual facts from Cronkite or H-B, and then carry on a reality-based debate. I suppose the Missing Plane Channel has a lot to do with it, but I still blame Faux News for fucking up American journalism -- which will someday be recognized as the crime of the century.
I guess that&#039;s why nobody ever wants to be Jon Stewart&#039;s guest.
Well, it is mainstream, but...
^^upfist until it hurts^^