Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Righteous Humour

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  • Danielle, in reply to Russell Brown,

    basically a libertarian

    Blah.

    gives me hope in Americans

    Vast swathes of them are perfectly all right. Really.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to BenWilson,

    he orates as he thinks

    Unlike some aspiring leaders closer to home who unfortunately do the reverse.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Matthew Poole,

    The bit about getting the best ideas from the competition between the sides needs to be hammered into a lot of tribal voters who are unwilling to countenance the possibility of any valid idea originating from a party other than "their" party.

    Word

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • BenWilson, in reply to Danielle,

    Vast swathes of them are perfectly all right. Really.

    Indeed, a significant number are O for awesome!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Michael Savidge,

    Obama thanking his campaign staff.

    Beautiful. Let's help make more leaders like that, not the whiny selfish boys we seem to specialise in here right now.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Sacha,

    he orates as he thinks

    Unlike some aspiring leaders closer to home who unfortunately do the reverse.

    Or some leaders closer to home, who do only the former because the latter is apparently outside their remit.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Note that you can also watch the whole episode

    I do . Daily Show is always there. Maybe not all but there is 23 episodes and 3 up for the past weeks Election lead up to, Election, and of course the one RB links to. So if it ain't on TV it is on line.Full episodes without ads! Plus, Stephen Colbert! I sound like a writing ad. Oh, suppose it helps if your big screen is also your monitor when needed because my lil' lappy would not do. :) (thanks tech savy wonderboy not here but reading eventually.)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Matthew Poole,

    I'm relaxed about it.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Matthew Littlewood,

    Yeah, that Daily Show episode was great, but has anyone else noticed how different Stewart's tone has been towards Fox over the last few years. During the GWB years, he focused on the failings of the administration and the Fox clips were used as comedy gravy, but now there's a clear sense of outright contempt for how Fox operates. Simply put, I don't know how "funny" he finds them anymore. And yet somehow, he's funniest to watch when he's at his angriest!

    That said, as good as this aftermath was, I do think the 2008 wrap-up was more exciting, if only because there was a palpable sense of relief coupled with a sense of "okay, now we have something new to work with", and the fact they used far more of the rest of the team. Stewart, as good a front-man as he is, often needs his crew (e.g.Oliver,Mandvi, Wyatt Cenac , the recent edition of Jessica Williams etc) to really drive the point home.

    I really I wish I liked what Rachael Maddow's show does, but most of the time she grates on me- the fact her "guest correspondents" are usually just pundits who agree with her doesn't help, nor does the sense that I don't know how much journalism the show does in relation to merely commenting on things already covered. I already have the Daily Show for that-- and to give Stewart his due, his range of guests are pretty broad.

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    During the GWB years, he focused on the failings of the administration and the Fox clips were used as comedy gravy, but now there’s a clear sense of outright contempt for how Fox operates. Simply put, I don’t know how “funny” he finds them anymore. And yet somehow, he’s funniest to watch when he’s at his angriest!

    I think he's come to the conclusion that they're a part of what is messing America up - they have such massive audience numbers, and they're simply misinforming the voters, which then flows through when they vote and perform other public duties.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • tussock,

    Something else y'all might notice about Stewart is he's a tool of the Democrats just as much as Fox is for the Republicans. Like Mr Littlewood says there, he spent eight years talking shit about Bush, now he's talking shit about the people who criticise Obama for doing almost exactly the same things on every single issue.

    Now, you can totally do that for valid reasons, in that Obama is ... almost sane. At least less clearly bat-shit crazy than Romney.

    Like, Obama believes the US is a perfectly fair country where anyone can literally become president if they just want it, where Romney thinks the US is a country were the noble rich are being dragged down by burden of free-riding socialists which makes the ever-growing number of billionaires very sad (i.e. poor people should become venture capitalists).

    Obama believes in creating world peace with huge fleets extra-judicial-murder robots to take out anyone who talks about not supporting their client states. Romney wants to create world peace and prosperity by starting a war with a very large and well armed state who could trivially cut off the world's oil supply.

    The latter is clearly even less sane than the former. Dangerously so, even. So it's valid to support Obama, from that perspective. But that is totally what Stewart does.

    Since Nov 2006 • 611 posts Report

  • Myles Thomas,

    math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better!!

    Auckland • Since Apr 2011 • 130 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Myles Thomas,

    countability...

    math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better!!

    Not mathperturbation then?
    (he spat playfully)
    What's a few deviations between friends...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Something else y’all might notice about Stewart is he’s a tool of the Democrats just as much as Fox is for the Republicans. Like Mr Littlewood says there, he spent eight years talking shit about Bush, now he’s talking shit about the people who criticise Obama for doing almost exactly the same things on every single issue.

    He's certainly left-leaning, but he's also pretty critical about Obama, and he's not a big fan of many democrats. As are some of his staff - John Oliver slagged off Obama in the most recent Bugle.

    I'd say he's more into sensible process than picking a side.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • DexterX,

    Obama’s “success” as President begins with his mother – the measure of success will be what can be achieved in the next four years.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/opinion/11dove.html

    Running through Dr. Soetoro’s doctoral research, as through all her work, was a challenge to popular perceptions regarding economically and politically marginalized groups; she showed that the people at society’s edges were not as different from the rest of us as is often supposed. Dr. Soetoro was also critical of the pernicious notion that the roots of poverty lie with the poor themselves and that cultural differences are responsible for the gap between less-developed countries and the industrialized West.
    Indeed, Dr. Soetoro found that the villagers she studied in Central Java had many of the same economic needs, beliefs and aspirations as the most capitalist of Westerners. Village craftsmen were “keenly interested in profits,” she wrote, and entrepreneurship was “in plentiful supply in rural Indonesia,” having been “part of the traditional culture” there for a millennium.

    Based on these observations, Dr. Soetoro concluded that underdevelopment in these communities resulted from a scarcity of capital, the allocation of which was a matter of politics, not culture. Antipoverty programs that ignored this reality had the potential, perversely, of exacerbating inequality because they would only reinforce the power of elites. As she wrote in her dissertation, “many government programs inadvertently foster stratification by channeling resources through village officials,” who then used the money to further strengthen their own status.

    Obama is an inspiring guy, the President of a Nation with consderable challenges to face - America could not have picked anyone better - that is the power of democracy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report

  • Roger Lacey,

    I watched a couple of segments of Jon Stewart the other night but today the links to them from here are broken and it seems the Daily Show website is geo-blocked. For someone who is not tech savvy, how do you get round it?

    Whatakataka Bay Surf Club… • Since Apr 2008 • 148 posts Report

  • David Hood, in reply to Roger Lacey,

    but today the links to them from here are broken

    As of now, midday Sunday, the embedded clips in the main post are working fine from Dunedin (with no special setup).

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to Roger Lacey,

    the Daily Show website is geo-blocked. For someone who is not tech savvy, how do you get round it?

    You could try using a VPN to get yourself a US IP address.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    These are the full episodes Roger. I have no problem getting to it either.I just google it.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Roger, Daily show has never been geo-blocked that I'm aware of - at least to NZ. I've been watching it online for about 7 years now and have never had trouble. I find the full episode watcher somewhat useless, I just watch each clip at www.dailyshow.com/videos day by day.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • andin,

    The US election just passed me by, glad I missed the hoopla this time, and glad Romney & co didn't get in.

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report

  • Tristan, in reply to Matthew Littlewood,

    Yeah, that Daily Show episode was great, but has anyone else noticed how different Stewart’s tone has been towards Fox over the last few years

    yeah I did on page one along with the maddow link…what do people have me blocked or something?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 221 posts Report

  • Graham Hughes,

    I really enjoyed media3 last night (sunday) however I saw something alarming.
    There were two panel people ( not panel beaters ) discussing the election in USA. One obviously a gentle and thinking democrat………….and a guy called Carl…….both americans…………..there was good banter but Carl really dissapointed me by among some good stuff…………saying stuff that americans say, like what can we know ( read anyone outside america) about american politics……………and yeah Obama may be an empty suit………….but what are the other suits full of……….living in NZ now with his may I say ugly bipartisan views………..maybe he has seen what the suits may just be full of……….out on the farm somewhere. It concerns me that americans come here with such attitudes and spout them on air………………..emperors new clothes…………….we smile and say nothing……….Carl, leave the silly stuff back where it seems happy………………

    New Zealand • Since Nov 2012 • 3 posts Report

  • Vince McLeod,

    What disturbs me the most about all this is the growing idea that seeing reality accurately shows disloyalty to the party. I expected the "Obama is a socialist UN agent" business but the belief that he wasn't born in the USA - and that neither the FBI nor the CIA would have figured this out at any point - is truly bizarre.

    Reality always wins. But will the Republicans take this result as the cold shower they needed or will they double down on the crazy?

    Nelson, New Zealand • Since Nov 2012 • 4 posts Report

  • Matthew Littlewood, in reply to Tristan,

    yeah I did on page one along with the maddow link…what do people have me blocked or something?

    Of course not :) I guess my rhetorical phrasing of the "did anyone else notice" was a little on the nose. :)

    On another note, I suspect the next few months of "bargaining" will provide ample fodder for the Daily Show...whether or not that's a good thing depends on the actual outcome....

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report

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