(Let's hope it lasts!)
By Brad Friedman on 2/17/2005, 4:53pm PT  

Long time BRAD BLOG readers will recall our (fairly) regular "Daily Show Moment"; a somewhat regular staple here featuring a "best moment" from a previous evening's The Daily Show.

We admit we became somewhat disenchanted with them after the election and their lack of coverage of "Election Irregularity" issues. Just as we became somewhat disenchanted with a number of (theoretically) progressive bloggers who displayed some revealing "true colors" vis a vis their timidity in covering such issues at a time when we needed all hands on deck.

It's clear, at the very least, that the eventual historical challenge to the Ohio Electoral Votes in Congress on Jan 6th, 2005, at least validated the concerns that a few of us bloggers were willing to discuss openly and report vigorously on after November 2nd. (And it was amusing to watch some of those other bloggers begrudgingly cover the Congressional Electoral Challenge event on Jan 6th...But we digress.)

So it was, last night, with no small amount of interest, that we noticed, in the wake of the Gannon/Guckert Scandal, The Daily, for the first time to our knowledge, had finally acknowledged that blogs actually exist! Let's hope that was a watershed moment for the real news-breakers of late having finally cracked into the "mainstream".

With that in mind, here's an amusing moment or four from The Daily Show's notable blog-o-rama from last night as their entire first segment was devoted to blog-related matters...

The first notable point was on the Gannon issue...

JON STEWART: A CNN media analyst revealed how CNN broke the...the...breaking of the story...

CNN REPORTER AT PRESS CONFERNCE (on video): Well, we found out...or...actually one of the web...the bloggers have found it...uh, we found it through the blog. Uh...Americablog.com...which is a, uh, a liberal site...we'd show you that, but the pictures on that site are actually kind of racy, so we didn't want to go there...

STEWART: That's CNN, reporting on why blogs are way more interesting than CNN.

On the Eason Jordan matter. Wherein rightwing bloggers created a mountain out of a molehill statement by Jordan, but as CNN seems to be afraid of molehills these days, Jordan was eventually forced to resign...

STEWART: Jordan said he felt that the U.S. had been targeting journalists in Iraq...A blogger at the conference published Jordan's comment on The Davos Blog, which was then picked up by the National Review Online, re-printed on the blog of a radio talk show host...and finally appeared in The Washington Post.

That's The Washington Post. Their new motto: "You heard it here...twelfth!"

And then later with Stephen Colbert on blogging in general...

COLBERT: Where I draw the line is with these attack bloggers...Just someone with a computer who gathers, collates and publishes accurate information that is then read by the general public! They have no credibility!...All they have is facts...Spare me!

...And on political blogging...

STEWART: Um...Getting back to the story, Stephen...the medium of the Internet may be new, but what bloggers do, as you just described it is really in many respects what journalists do.

COLBERT: What journalists do, Jon?...As a journalist, I think I know what I do. I'm not sitting at home in front of my computer! I'm out there busting my hump! Every day at the White House! Transcribing their press releases!...Repeating their talking points!... That's how you earn your nickname from President Bush!
...
STEWART: As long as the blogs fact check...as long as these bloggers check their facts, why would you even object to this kind of political coverage?

COLBERT: Because it's not political coverage, Jon! They're reporting on the reporters!...First rule of journalism is: Don't talk about journalism!...Or maybe that's Fight Club...But my point is this...These guys need to learn, you don't report on reporters! Nobody likes a snitch!...If they gotta report on something why don't they take some of that youthful moxie of theirs and investigate this administration?!...Somebody ought to! You would not believe the things they're getting away with!
...
STEWART: Like it or not, Stephen, these bloggers have already gained a certain legitimacy.

COLBERT: Yes, Jon. And therein lies our only hope...For with legitimacy the bloggers will gain a seat at the table. And with that comes access, status, money, power and...if we've learned anything about the mainstream media...that breeds complacency... ... ... Or...whatever... Jon?

Well done.

Now go figure out how to correctly pronounce AmericaBLOG and DailyKos, and then maybe we'll be getting somewhere.

In either case, good to have the "Daily Show Moment" back...no matter how briefly.

(And, by the way, in other last-night-on-TV-related news, the episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Girl that we spied on last October as they were taping our next door neighbor, aired last night. We found out about the airtime only at the last minute, not in time to shout out here. So if you're able to catch a re-run this week --- it's the episode featuring "Kristen & Peter" getting married --- pay close attention and you can see both the corner of our car, and several of our windows in the background! And yes, we do need a new gardner at this apartment complex! :-)

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