Night before last on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart had Senator Jim DeMint on for one of those conversations that goes along and just when it gets interesting, it cuts off and Stewart says, "We're going to throw the whole thing up on the web." I have to remember not to watch those when they're on in truncated form and to wait until the next day and watch them online.
The one with DeMint was fascinating. The Senator said a lot of rational, common sense things that I suspect he said because of where he was and who was in the audience…things he would not say, and might in fact contradict in front of a Tea Party crowd. He also looked a bit embarrassed at times when he called for calmer rhetoric and then Stewart cited non-calm rhetoric from the book the Senator was there to promote.
Still, it was the kind of interview that no one else but Jon Stewart does, groping for common ground instead of barbecuing red meat and wrestling. And DeMint came off as less the demagogue and slave to those of great wealth than he usually does.
I thought of embedding the whole thing here but Comedy Central embeds are kind of screwy and can do odd things to your site. Mine has had enough tsuris lately so I'm just going to give you this link to go to their website and watch the entire conversation. Both parties frame their positions in ways you never hear on MSNBC or Fox. It's so odd that you have to go to a comedy show to hear a political discussion between two people acting like human beings.
I only caught a little of Stephen Colbert's presidential announcement last night but it seemed to be a brilliant slam at the notion that a candidate's non-coordinated Super PAC is an independent entity. As I understand, Colbert can't really run for President on the South Carolina ballot. It's too late to get his name on there and the state doesn't count write-ins. But he can sure milk the effort for material.