re: Jon Stewart retiring from The Daily Show

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He stopped being funny when he became an advocate.

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He was always an advocate. Hell, every good comedian is pushing their worldview. Otherwise, who gives a shite? Frankly, accusing a political show of having a point of view as some sort of negative is just bizarre. Of course it had a point of view. It had it from Day One. It was primarily to make fun of the news media, but they hit political targets as well.

However, the position he advocated is one that largely doesn't exist anymore. He's an old school New Deal Democrat. Stewart is what a leftist would sneeringly describe as an Establishment Leftist. He believes in American institutions and genuinely thinks its good to work across the aisle. He'd repeatedly hit the point that we have more in common than in difference. The hard left villified him for his Rally to Restore Sanity, just as the hard right did.

He made fun of Fox News a lot because they are better organized and create a bigger target. It's not Stewart's fault the Democrats have largely been incompetent at creating a top down media structure that stays on message for the benefit of its party leadership. And remember, he got Crossfire cancelled. He went after CNN as well, but what's left to do now but kick the corpse? Fox gets more mockery because they are still a going concern. CNN is a dead man walking. And do people even watch MSNBC?