CNN--War Casualty | The Nation

The TV anchor was taken aback. Unlike the other network news anchors or
the New York Times, he considered the disclosure that the Bush
Administration had granted a major contract to Halliburton for postwar
construction of oil wells in Iraq to be a scandalous lead story. He
noted that hearing the news "does make me feel like the government just
took a [bleep] on my chest." He then turned to his "senior" senior
correspondent, Stephen Colbert, and asked what he made of the
Halliburton deal. "Keeping in mind that Halliburton was a major
contributor to the Republican campaign and that Vice President Cheney is
its former CEO, this move by the government is extremely..." and then
Colbert paused. "Unpleasant?" offered the anchor, "nauseating?" Colbert
said that nothing quite captured it; what came closest was a German word
he translated to mean "to throw one's hands up in mute horror and in
this state of paralyzing dread to realize that those you need to trust
most have instead confirmed your darkest fears." But Colbert said even
that "seems a little namby-pamby in this context."

Welcome to The Daily Show on Comedy Central, the medically prescribed
antidote to CNN and Fox. Hosted by Jon Stewart since 1999, this parody
of the news is dedicated to expressing utter incredulity over what Team
Bush tries to get away with week in and week out. As of this spring, a
weekly compilation of the show airs on CNN International, which boasts
160 million viewers. The show has won kudos in Australia, Canada and
Britain, where one reporter wrote, "It is difficult to believe that they
have actually let him on air." Stewart's on-air persona is that of the
outraged individual who, comparing official pronouncements with his own
basic common sense, simply cannot believe what he--and all of us--are
expected to swallow. The approach of Stewart and his "reporters" is not
to attack Bush policies as ideologically problematic; instead, they
expose them as utterly absurd, as nonsense, deranged. When Rumsfeld
issued his warning to Syria and Iran that the United States would hold
them accountable if they interfered in any way in the invasion of Iraq,
Stewart asked in barely restrained mock horror, "Do you see what he just
did there? He's starting another war." Central to the show's
sensibilities, and to its success, is Stewart's insistence that the news
generated by Team Bush be treated on its own terms, not as news at all
but as fatuous PR, ludicrously out of touch with reality.

Because Stewart is a comic and not a politician, one would
expect that he would skewer Al Gore, were he President, with comparable
glee. He has, for example, blasted Tom Daschle's criticism of the war by
reminding viewers that Daschle voted for the war. Indeed, Stewart told
the London Guardian that the show is neither Democratic nor Republican
but simply seeks to represent the "politically disappointed." His
special target is spin: "We're out to stop that political trend of
repeating things again and again until people are forced to believe
them." Nonetheless, he has consistently opposed the war, even in his
more sober interviews with guests like the prowar comic and Saturday
Night Live alum Dennis Miller.

Unlike other late-night comedy shows, which safely go for cheap laughs
by dissing Saddam, The Daily Show has recaptured the pre-9/11
sensibilities that prevailed about Team Bush before the attacks encased
him in Teflon. The studio audience howls and applauds in delight at
Stewart's irreverence. Its core audience (73 percent) is the coveted
18-to-49 demographic. And here's some cheering news: More people (4
million) tune in to The Daily Show in a given week than watched Fox news
at the height of the war (3.3 million).

Stewart has a keen eye for Bush's hypocrisies. After Baghdad had fallen,
he showed excerpts of Bush's television address to the Iraqi people.
"You are a good and gifted people," the President intoned unctuously.
"You deserve better than tyranny and corruption and torture chambers."
Stewart, sticking out a cocked forefinger as if he were chucking a
toddler under the chin, cooed in a high voice, "Yes you do, yes you do,
you're a very good country, ga, ga, ga, goo goo."

As part of his assault on the triumph of right-wing PR, Stewart reserves
special derision for Fox News. After making fun of Iraqi state TV as a
mere government mouthpiece, Stewart asked, "Imagine a government that
has an entire TV station to lay out its agenda." He then aired Fox
footage, after which he appeared to be hypnotized, chanting, "Must
support war, tax cut good." In another show, he noted, "This war has
truly belonged to Fox. Not only did they start it...they managed to
offer fair and balanced coverage." We then saw Fox footage of a soldier
saying hi to his family and closing with, "You're watching Fox News."
Stewart couldn't believe it: "They've got soldiers doing station IDs!"
He then played a montage Fox aired of the "sights and sounds...of
operation Iraqi Freedom," which showed massive bombs exploding in
Baghdad accompanied by appallingly sentimental New Age piano music.
"That was real," Stewart confirmed in disbelief. "Sounds like our troops
have liberated a Yanni concert."

Yes, it is important to itemize, carefully and seriously, all the
reasons Team Bush is lethally dangerous to all except the upper echelons
of the Fortune 500. But The Daily Show reminds us that ridicule, scorn
and laughter may be some of the most effective weapons of all.

Globalization: Use this word in a sentence, especially as the cause of
something bad, and you will get knowing nods all around.