The Jon Stewart / Bill O’Reilly Debate

 

If you missed it last night, here it is:

Enjoy yourself.

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Jon Stewart takes on Fox News

Chris Wallace tried to trap Jon Stewart in a liberal trap, but Stewart’s views of Fox as a conservative ideological network stand up. Stewart wins! here’s the video:

Don’t forget… there’s a Bill O’Reilly vs. Jon Stewart Debate on October 6. It costs $4.95 to hear the 90 minute show live. Hey…cheaper than the movies and probably more entertaining!

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Let’s hear it for Stephen Colbert…

Manager Stewart and Candidate Colbert

Last night on Comedy Central Stephen Colbert announced “an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork” for his “possible candidacy for president of the United States of South Carolina.”Of course, this came after polls for the SC primary showed him first at 5%, then at 7%.

He also handed control of his super PAC, Citizens for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, over to his colleague, Jon Stewart, host of “The Daily Show.”

The PAC is already buying up television air time in South Carolina. They’ve purchased nearly $10,000 worth of time on a broadcast station in the Charleston, S.C. area between Jan. 15 and Jan. 19, and according to a South Carolina news web site, the Palmetto Public Record, Citizens for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow is also reportedly “negotiating a substantial media buy in the Columbia market.”

This is all so much more substantial than watching the other candidates as they attack each other for things that each of them do anyway.

Since there are no write-ins in South Carolina, being able to vote for Colbert may not be possible. This will cause a media brouhaha…just wait.

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Colbert Gets His SuperPAC.

In a five-to-one decision, the Federal Election Commission granted comedian Stephen Colbert the right to create a “SuperPAC” to raise money for the 2012 election campaign. This would make him an equivalent to people like Karl Rove who are attempting to influence the elections.

But the FEC also concluded that the television host’s employer, Viacom Corp., would have to report any help it gives to Colbert for political activities outside the “Colbert Report” show. The panel gave the newly registered “Colbert Super PAC” a relatively narrow media exemption applicable only to the humorist’s show. Any assistance from Viacom outside the show must be treated as “in-kind” contributions and reported to the FEC.

Since the 2010 Supreme Court decision allowing unfettered corporate spending in elections, Super PACs like Colbert’s now number over 100. They didn’t exist before the Court’s decision (a point Colbert seems to be making in a comic way.)

“Some people have said, ‘Is this some kind of joke?’ I for one don’t think participating in democracy is a joke.”

..said Colbert to the crowd afterward. When a reporter asked him when the first ad would run, Colbert Responded:

“I’ve got to get some money first.”

Stephen Colbert Addresses Northwestern

Stephen Colbert

Today was the 153d Commencement at my Alma Mater (class of 1968), Northwestern University. Stephen Colbert, of all people (NU class of 1986), was the Commencement Speaker.

Go HERE and listen to his very funny address.

…and congratulations to graduates everywhere.

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Last Comic Standing finalist Mike DeStefano dies at 44

Comedian Mike DeStefano, best known for his stint on last season’s installment of Last Comic Standing, died yesterday of a heart attack at age 44.

In a statement, his representative said: “We are indeed incredibly saddened by the loss of this amazing man. He had touched the lives of many with his unique brand of comedy and was looking forward to sharing the same with so many more. Mostly, we will all miss his huge heart and incredibly loving and selfless passion for people. Our friend Mike DeStefano passed away on March 6.”

A former heroin addict, DeStefano had been clean for 11 years as well as HIV positive at the time of his death. Prior to competing on “Last Comic Standing,” the Bronx native had appeared on other shows, including “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and Comedy Central‘s “Live at Gotham.” The comic was set to take his one-man show “A Cherry Tree” back to his home borough on Wednesday. He had also recently wrapped up a line of sold-out shows called “Drugs, Disease and Death: A Comedy.”

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Everyone should hear Jon Stewart’s final speech from today’s Rally:

That about sums it up. “We live in hard times, not End Times.”
It was great to listen to Jon.

Oh yeah… go out and vote.

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I couldn’t get to DC today, so my dogs and I are watching the Rally in my Living Room…

It’s on Comedy Central and it’s on C-SPAN and my big flatscreen TV is almost like being there (and I can get at the refrigerator.) So I’m watching the musical performers, the giving out of Medals of Reasonableness and the fooling around of Colbert and Stewart.

There are, as I understand, about 150,000 people there  – the NY Times says over 200,000 – (the camera view stretches from the Capitol end of the Mall (the stage is between the the Contemporary Art and the Smithsonian American Indian Museums) down to the Washington Monument end. Judging from other events there, I can believe the numbers.

I watched Father Guido Sarducci do the “Benediction” (could have done without it… or he could have been funnier), and listened to Yusuf (formerly Cat Stevens) sing off against Ozzie Osborne… only for both to be trumped by the OJS singing “Love Train.”

It’s fun. They are handing out medals for fear and for being reasonable… some receivers not there (like Mark Zuckerberg … as Stephen says he couldn’t be here because he was more concerned with his privacy than yours), some who come on and make a speech.

By the way, Sam Waterston, reading a poem “supposedly” by Stephen (but I would guess by their terrific writers), was splendid. Kid Rock came out to sing “the serious song” today, which he considered “ironic.”

And I had a nice lunch while I watched of some fresh vegan biscuits that I had just whipped up.

___________

Small update comment:

Jon’s Speech at the end, commenting against “the exhausting energy it takes to hate,” was brilliant and unexpected and his views were more non-political than I thought they’d be – and targeted the current national situation, with parties that don’t work together…intentionally…by not solving problems. I don’t know what the press will say about it tomorrow, but they ought to restate his points over and over.

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Quote for the Day – Heard this from our President:

“I will say that the damage that the filibuster I think has done to the workings of our democracy are at this point pretty profound. The rate at which it’s used just to delay and obstruct is unprecedented…

If we do not fix how the filibuster is used in the Senate, then it is going to be very difficult for us over the long term to compete in a very fast moving global environment.”

– President Barack Obama

He also brought this up on Jon Stewart‘s show last night (if you missed it, they rerun it a couple of times a day starting at 10:00 AM on Comedy Central – neat interview). Harry Reid brought this up in his interview with Rachel Maddow as well. Instead of calling it a Filibuster (or referring to it as “needing 60 votes”), I’m going to start calling it the Mitch McConnell Muck.

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Greg Giraldo – Dead at 44

The Last Comic Standing judge, frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show and Comedy Central fixture was a Columbia and Harvard Law School-educated attorney who became a master of insult comedy. He died at age 44, four days after an accidental overdose of prescription medication.

Not everyone is happy that Stephen Colbert is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee…

I’m over doing “Winners and Losers” with John Case right now (WSHC 89.7 FM). I can’t wait to get home to check this out on C-Span (this from RollCall):

clipped from www.rollcall.com Comedian Stephen Colbert is sure to draw plenty of media attention Friday morning when he testifies before a House Judiciary subcommittee about immigrant farm workers. But at least one Democrat on the committee is not happy about the prospect of treating the Comedy Central host as a policy expert. “I don’t think he should be here. It commercializes the committee,” Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.) said. Colbert plans to testify about his role in a United Farm Workers campaign called “Take Our Jobs,” an effort that invites U.S. citizens and legal residents to replace undocumented immigrant field laborers. The goal of the campaign is to build momentum for passing legislation that would give undocumented farm workers the right to earn legal status by continuing to work in agriculture. The comedian spent a day in August working on a New York farm to highlight how demanding the work is; he will feature the experience on his show, “The Colbert Report,” on Thursday night.

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Looks like Oct. 30 will be a great Saturday to go to DC…

If you watched The Daily Show or the Colbert Report last night, you know why.

If you didn’t. check out the HuffPo article below:

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert will march together on Washington. Or against each other in Washington. Either way, expect plenty of Comedy Central fans to show up on October 30 when Stewart’s “Rally To Restore Sanity” will meet Colbert’s “March To Keep Fear Alive” in the nation’s capital. The duo have been hinting at a major announcement for several episodes in a mock response to Glenn Beck’s own “Restoring Honor” rally that was held this year on the anniversary of a famous Martin Luther King speech at the same monument. There’s no indication that the announced get-together is a joke, though. Both comedians are telling their audiences to book hotel rooms now (though for different reasons, as you’ll see). “It’ll be like being in a chat room,” Stewart explained. “But real.” Stewart punctuated his announcement on the earlier program with a homemade-looking banner reading, “Take It Down A Notch For America.”

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