Marty Kaplan has a great article up about the forthcoming Jon Stewart "Rally to Restore Sanity" and about the dual-nature of the host of The Daily Show. I actually think Mr. Stewart has dual dual-natures. At times, he's the guy who went on Crossfire and wrecked the place, arguing that his own shortcomings as a journalist didn't matter because he was a comedian, not a journalist. And at times, he functions very much as a journalist and it would be hard to argue that he shouldn't be held to at least some of the prevailing standards of one. (This isn't difficult because these days, the prevailing standards to be a journalist are pretty low. Even the blonde lady on Fox and Friends clears the bar.)
Anyway, it'll be fascinating to see what happens with this rally. I suspect he and Colbert will get a much bigger turnout than most folks expect…and that no matter how big it is, Stewart's foes (they are many) will insist it was a tenth of what neutral parties assess. And they'll say Stewart cheated because Huffington Post bussed people in and Comedy Central gave out prizes and so on. Filling the National Mall has now become the worst kind of sport, devoid of rules or of referees who get final say. I can stage a rally that draws ten people and I can claim it was a thousand…and you can say I had three and that they don't count because I paid them to be there. And somehow, we think we win something if our fibs prevail.