Tuesday, July 26, 2005
More of a Whimper Than a Bang...
Well, the fireworks anticipated in the form of Rick Santorum's appearance on The Daily Show turned out to fizzle. The video of the interview will be up on the archives later today, and Towerload has a partial transcript, so you can judge for yourself, but it seems to me that Jon Stewart talks much more comfortably behind people's backs than he does in person. Even in interviews, for all of the insignificant people he skewers so craftfully, it seemed like a wasted opportunity for Jon to pass up a chance at Santorum's satanic verses. Even given the fact that Santorum had announced that he would not seek the Presidency in 2008, you'd think Jon would have tried to make a headline or to grab a quote.
Ultimately, he gave a despicable man an opportunity to line his pockets with some cash, giving free publicity to his book and his free-range discrimination.
Don't get me wrong... I still kiss my poster of Jon hanging over my bed every night before I go to sleep, and I lament the fact that I have to rely on Jon Stewart to even THINK about asking the tough questions that no one else dare ask. And given this bias, I wonder if there wasn't a reason for the softballs being pitched to Santorum.
Earlier in the evening, there was rumor that Santorum was not appearing, and that Maggie Gyllenhaal would be the evening's guest.
It was even up on their website briefly. However, at air time, Santorum was announced as the guest. I wonder, given the audience's booing and hissing during Thursday's show at the announcement of Santorum as a guest, if the audience didn't react similarly on Monday during the taping. Early in the interview, Santorum makes mention of booing, although there is nothing that can be heard.
I wonder if the crowd reacted "properly" when Santorum was introduced (that would be booing, hissing and generally throwing feces in the general direction of the stage area), and Santorum refused to go on with the interview. Perhaps they stopped tape (the interview did seem choppy or edited), instructed the audience to "behave" (the applause when Santorum appeared was some of the weakest I've ever heard on TDS), and then toned it down to make Santorum "comfy."
Again, this is just a theory - but I'd like to believe it rather than think that Stewart couldn't nail this HUGE target to the wall when he had the chance.
UPDATE: Just finished watching the Tuesday TDS, wherein Jon acknowledges the controversy of whether his interview with Santorum "sucked" or "suuuuuuuuucked", and then promises to take down tonight's guest, Diane Lane. Jon, you da man.
Posted by FleshPresser at 2:44 PM /
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