u/jmarinara

Bought the 4 pack, only need 3. GA-Floor ticket.

Single ticket prices of GA-Floor are around $80 plus fees. I’d like to get $75 for this one. I’ll be happy to meet you at the gate and make sure you get in and you can just give me cash (or Apple Cash, PayPal, whatever) when you get to the other side of the gate.

DM me here. Happy to show you proof and all that good stuff.

I really hope they play “I wanna get better”. I’ll have two of the girls I mentor with me, they’re super excited for their first Bleachers show. Love this band! See you all there.

Let me start by saying that I don’t think Paul Begala or Tucker Carlson are principled or good at the jobs of journalism or whatever. I also don’t miss Crossfire and tend to think it was much more about just having something on the network than providing any real value. The IDEA of it was nice, but it became more a spectacle than anything.

But John Stewart was as much a part of the spectacle and still is as anyone. He spends his entire life shining a light of satire and silliness on important things happening and pointing and laughing at the silliness and satire. That’s not to say Bush, Kerry, Trump, or whoever aren’t intrinsically silly in some or (in some cases) every way. Nor is it to say that what they represent is the best argument or best ideas. I’m not defending the system here. I’m just saying Stewart has found his place in that system as the court jester and benefits from it as much as Tucker and Paul do.

I don’t think Stewart said anything in this episode that helped. He mostly just made jokes and did what he always does about everything - make it funny by mocking it. But… (God help me I’m about to agree with Tucker Carlson)… but Tucker was right when he criticized John Stewart for softballing John Kerry. And the defense of “I’m not a journalist”, while valid and logical, exposes two flaws for Stewart.

1. It ignores that, if nothing else, Stewart created sympathy and provided space for Kerry to maneuver his “oppressed by my opponents” tactic. If you’re going to give the candidate air time on your show to the demographic that watches you then what you do during that time matters. He can do what he wants, support who he wants, and I often agree with him. But you can’t have it that way and then also say “I don’t matter” because it’s “just comedy”. Stewart’s smarter than that and not acknowledging that reality reveals his hypocrisy.

2. If you’re “just a comedian” then why should I care what you think about something you admit to knowing nothing about? Stewart would likely say “because I’m a citizen”. So am I and so what? Either you have the authority and credentials to criticize these guys and the industry or you’re just offering us your opinion. And the fact that you benefit regularly from the absurdity may not make you part of the problem, but it certainly doesn’t make you part of the solution.

I enjoy John Stewart. He’s funny. His lampooning of MAGA’s ridiculousness is a welcome respite to the horror show that is our current situation. But put a bow tie on him and hire him the writers at The Blaze and he’s Tucker Carlson in clown makeup. Put him in a pants suit and hire him SNL’s writers and he’s Al Franken. He’s as much a part of the system as anyone, I don’t buy his schtick here on crossfire, and I find his condescending others in the system he chooses to participate in to be off-putting and self serving.

Thanks for reading.