I like The Daily Show. It's probably the closest thing on my TV to actual coverage. I've laughed at the jokes they tell and the hypocrisy they point out in cable news. I'm glad Stewart is willing to take people like Jim Cramer on, even though his show is on Comedy Central. One of their classic bits - which runs pretty much every day - is to run some commentary from cable news, or point out hypocrisy between something Republican commentators say and what they were saying when Bush was in office. Here's an example:

www.thedailyshow.com

This was funny, until I realized that cable news anchors aren't being paid to make sense, have consistent worldviews, tell the truth, or any other things we'd expect from experts. The only reason I thought it was funny is because we expect talking heads to be rational people. Sadly, American cable news viewers don't care for the truth; I think they're more interested in confirming their own worldview and disdaining/getting outraged at whatever the other side's doing. I'm surprised that people are amused by clips that point out hypocrisies in cable news. These bits are funny in the same limited way that Happiest People Ever, Shit My Dad Says and the DC Interns blog are funny; in a very specific way, that's good for about five seconds of laughs. I know this recipe works well for Comedy Central but I'm wondering if Stewart can't evolve his show a little bit. Perhaps I'm demanding too much of someone whose show runs on a comedy channel. I'll part with the video of Stewart ending Tucker Carlson's career on Crossfire.

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