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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• Bill O’Reilly Announces 90-Minute Debate Against Jon Stewart (perezhilton.com)
• Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart to debate (politico.com)
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Tomorrow night is the Emmys… here are the shows that are nominated:

64th Primetime Emmy Award Nominations

Outstanding Comedy Series
The Big Bang Theory • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Girls • HBO • Apatow Productions and I am Jenni Konner Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
Modern Family • ABC • Levitan-Lloyd Productions in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television
30 Rock • NBC • Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Inc. in association with Universal Television
Veep • HBO • Dundee Productions in association with HBO Entertainment

Outstanding Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire • HBO • Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions, Sikelia Productions and Cold Front
Breaking Bad • AMC • Sony Pictures Television
Downton Abbey • PBS • A Carnival / Masterpiece Co-Production
Game Of Thrones • HBO • Bighead, Littlehead, Generator Productions,
Homeland • Showtime • Showtime Presents, Teakwood Lane Productions, Cherry Pie Productions, Keshet, Fox 21
Mad Men • AMC • Lionsgate Television

Outstanding Miniseries or Movie
American Horror Story • FX Networks • Twentieth Century Fox Television
Game Change • HBO • Playtone and Everyman Pictures in association with HBO Films
Hatfields & McCoys • HISTORY • Thinkfactory Media in association with History
Hemingway & Gellhorn • HBO • Attaboy Films and A Walrus & Associates in
Luther • BBC America • A BBC and BBC America Co-Production
Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia (Masterpiece) • PBS • Hartswood West for

Outstanding Variety Series
The Colbert Report • Comedy Central • Hello Doggie, Inc. with Busboy Productions and Spartina Productions
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Comedy Central • Central Productions, LLC
Jimmy Kimmel Live • ABC • ABC Studios in association with Jackhole Industries, Inc
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon • NBC • Universal Television and Broadway Video
Real Time With Bill Maher • HBO • Bill Maher Productions and Brad Grey Television in association with HBO
Saturday Night Live • NBC • SNL Studios in association with Universal Television and Broadway Video

Outstanding Variety Special
Betty White’s 90th Birthday: A Tribute To America’s Golden Girl • NBC • Brad Lachman Productions and Universal    Television
Kathy Griffin: Tired Hooker • Bravo • Rickmill Productions
Mel Brooks And Dick Cavett Together Again • HBO • Brooksfilms in association with HBO Entertainment
Tony Bennett: Duets II (Great Performances) • PBS • A Production of RPM TV Productions, Inc.

Outstanding Special Class Programs
84th Annual Academy Awards • ABC • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards • NBC • Dick Clark Productions, Inc.
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards • CBS • AEG Ehrlich Ventures, LLC and John Cossette Productions, Inc.
Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel And The LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin (Great Performances) • PBS
Louis C.K. Live At The Beacon Theatre • FX Networks • Pig Newton, Inc.
65th Annual Tony Awards • CBS • White Cherry Entertainment in association with Tony Award Productions

Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs
Childrens Hospital • Cartoon Network • The Corddry Company, Abominable Pictures and Studio 2.0
The Daily Show Correspondents Explain • thedailyshow.com • Comedy Central Digital Media
Parks And Recreation: April And Andy’s Road Trip • nbc.com • NBC.com | Universal Television
30 Rock: The Webisodes • nbc.com • NBC.com | Universal Television
Web Therapy • lstudio.com • An Is or Isn’t Entertainment production in association with Intelligent Life Productions
The Colbert Report • Episode 7121A • Comedy Central • Hello Doggie, Inc. with Busboy Productions
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Episode 17087 • Comedy Central • Central Productions, LLC
Late Show With David Letterman • Episode 3602 • CBS • Worldwide Pants Incorporated
Portlandia • One Moore Episode • IFC • Broadway Video in association with IFC
Saturday Night Live • Host: Mick Jagger • NBC • SNL Studios in association with Universal Television

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Favorite Quote of the Day…

Jon Stewart responding to Bill O’Reilly after the Fox News host said he was going to hell:

“Here’s what you and your minions don’t understand, O’Reilly. Your hell doesn’t scare me. I make my living watching Fox News eight hours a day. I’m already in hell.”

🙂

(thanks to All Hat, No Cattle)

 

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Quote of the Day from the Press Conference you probably missed…

“I give my full support to Mitchell Romney. He has the makings of a great dictator. He is incredibly wealthy, but pays no taxes. And it’s not much of a leap to go from firing people to firing squads, and from putting pets on the top of a car to putting political dissidents on top of them.”

– Sacha Baron Cohen, in character as The Dictator,

Needed a joke in the morning. Here’s the video:

Virginia Governor signs Ultrasound law…

This from the L. A. Times:

Maybe this will get him the VP nomination.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed into law a controversial bill requiring women to have an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion.

The bill sparked a national furor among abortion rights activists who argued that the intent was to make it more costly and more difficult for women to receive abortions.

So here we have a medically unnecessary procedure being forced on women (and their doctors) in a not-so-secret effort to discourage women’s choice. There’s another problem here with serious legal complications:

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said the law might place an undue burden on women, making it vulnerable to legal challenge. Enforcement could also be problematic, he said, because it could violate doctor-patient confidentiality.

“How is the state going to verify that there’s been compliance by a doctor unless they see records?” Tobias said in an interview last week. “I don’t know how you can prevent the state from seeing the names” of patients, he said.

As I have said before, free women should stay out of Virginia.

BTW – Happy International Women’s Day.

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• Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell Signs Virginia Ultrasound Bill (kayceeweezy.wordpress.com)
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• Va Governor Signs Pre-Abortion Ultrasound Into Law (abcnews.go.com)
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• Va governor signs pre-abortion ultrasound bill (sfgate.com)
• Va. Governor Signs Ultrasound Bill (myfoxphoenix.com)
• Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell signs Virginia ultrasound bill – CBS News (cbsnews.com)
• Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signs controversial abortion bill (calgaryherald.com)
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• You: Va. Gov. Signs Ultrasound Law (thedailybeast.com)
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• Why Virginia’s New Mandatory Ultrasound Law Still Sucks (alternet.org)
• If I were a woman, I wouldn’t live in Virginia… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)

Conservative politics takes another downward step…

I am constantly amazed by the incredibly unsettling nature of tea-party politics. I would hope that politicians running for office (or even non-politicians for that matter) would have some kind of informed knowledge about national needs and issues.

Then something like this happens (according to the AP):

Samuel Wurzelbacher gained the nickname “Joe the Plumber” for expressing working-class concerns about taxes to then-candidate Barack Obama during a stop to the region.

The Toledo-area plumber defeated Steve Kraus, a Sandusky real estate agent, early Wednesday to grab the GOP nomination in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District.

I remember his discussion with Obama on the 2008 campaign trail and I am not impressed with the man. Actually, I think he is somewhat of a joke (and great fodder for both the Daily Show and Stephen Colbert.)

I’m beginning to think the national elections this year are going to be the most entertaining and amusing in years. Hopefully, we will survive as a nation.

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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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Quote of the Day… a pledge to make DADT work…From John McCain?

The number one opponent to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell“, John McCain, made an interesting pledge in a Fox Business News interview today:

“It is a law and I have to do whatever I can to help the men and women who are serving, particularly in combat, cope with this new situation. I will do everything I can to make it work.”

Is this a flip-flop or just good sense from Senator Cranky?

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The 112th Congress Gets Sworn In Today…

… and then the fun begins. It has already been scheduled for the House to present legislation to repeal the Health Care Bill on Friday, an action that will not be supported by the Senate and cannot possibly go through. It is being called “symbolic.”

They will open the first session of the House by reading the US Constitution in its entirety. This is most certainly another “symbolic” event and is being done in deference to the Tea Party movement. When brought up by new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, he confused the wording of the Constitution with the opening of The Declaration of Independence… so maybe it is a good idea that they actually listen to what IS in the Constitution.They might not find what they are looking for, however.

Editorial Cartoonist Ben Sargent summed up the call for sticking to the Constitution by the Tea Party folks in this great cartoon:

So let’s keep our eyes and ears open as the new Congress starts us off on two years of political fun. It looks like a blockbuster couple of seasons for The Daily Show.

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The Embarrassed Republicans and the 9/11 First Responders… an American Drama

When the Senate passed the 9/11 First Responders Bill yesterday it was over 6 Billion Dollars lower than it was originally proposed… primarily because the funding now ends in 2016 instead of 2031… due to Senator Tom Coburn.

Senator Tom Coburn

Coburn vowed to block the 9/11 First Responders  bill, saying he wanted it to be funded through spending cuts. He also claimed the bill had been fast-tracked and skipped committee (but, in fact, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on the bill in June — Coburn, a committee member, missed it.)

 

And then two major things happened that shined the light on Republicans in an embarrassing way: Jon Stewart used a whole evening of The Daily Show not to joke, but to interview New York police, fire and other officials who suffered from the physical affronts that effect first responders; and then a large number of those responders swarmed into Coburn’s office:

As John Feal, head of the First Responders, said:

“Mr. Coburn should be ashamed of himself, because I think before he was a senator he was a doctor and he took an oath to help people that are sick. He’s going against his oath as a doctor. He can vote any way he wants as a senator, but as a doctor, he just embarrassed the medical profession.”

Apparently all the Republicans were so embarrassed that the revised bill got 100% support. Mitch McConnell even made a public appearance to say that they were all for the bill before they were against it (well he had to say something).

This became one of Obama‘s big wins yesterday and Mitch McConnell must have suffered through the press conference the President held in the afternoon which certainly pointed a finger at the Republican opposition.

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• Passage of 9/11 First Responders’ Bill Is a Victory for Tom Coburn (themoderatevoice.com)
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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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A Quote for Our Times…

Image via Wikipedia

“So two years ago America broke up with you, because you had badly mistreated her. … And you come back rapping on our door, hat in hand, and you say, ‘Baby, I know you love me. But if we get back together, I pledge to you, I promise you, I will still try to f*ck your sister every chance I get.'”

–Jon Stewart, on the GOP‘s new “Pledge to America”

And that about sums up the GOP’s approach to the Middle Class…

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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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Why Jon Stewart is America’s #1 Trusted Newsman

Every time I look at this I laugh my head off. It’s great seeing Bill Kristol step on himself.