Daily Show... Making A JOKE Of Things?
There's outrage on the conservative blogosphere over Jonah Goldberg's appearance on The Daily Show last night (mostly on Goldberg's home base, National Review Online). For those blissfully unaware, pseudo-intellectual conservative Goldberg has written a new book arguing -- I kid you not -- that liberal American politics and European fascism are one and the same thing. The book has been given far more serious consideration and review than it deserves, to which Goldberg and his pals invariably respond with hue and cry at the reviewers and journalists not taking it seriously enough.
Goldberg went on Jon Stewart's show yesterday to plug/discuss the book -- Stewart frequently has conservatives on, but since he's returned to the air that's pretty much all he's had on, since Democrats, liberals, and celebrities are unwilling to cross the striking writers' picket lines.
Unsurprisingly, Stewart harshed on Goldberg. Goldberg and friends spent much of today bitching about the unfair treatment. No big deal, really -- that's what you do to sell books in large quantities while feeling superior to the bulk of humanity, I suppose.
But what caught my eye was this NRO post by its editor, conservosuperstar Kathryn Jean Lopez (emphasis mine):
I can think a good number of other friends and colleagues who have been mistreated by The Daily Show. There are some rare exceptions for the Right-minded — Bill Kristol's had decent experiences, Rick Santorum remarkably did when his book came out — but Stewart generally winds up trying to make a joke out of your or your issues, or is just downright unfair. The best shows involve some sort of smart give and take. The Daily Show isn't generally conducive to such a thing...