Welcome to the second, less frequently-posted decade of RevMod.

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Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Were they watching the same show I was?



August pointed me to a Newsweek article on The Daily Show. In both the article and the sidebar, they describe a bit done by Steve Carell on the McCain campaign bus:



'Daily Show' correspondent Steve Carell goes on John McCain's campaign bus and confounds the candidate with silly questions. McCain later plays the tape constantly for visitors.
I can't find the precise question he asked anywhere on the web, but here's the context. In the midst of a "lightning round" of questions ("Favourite book? Favourite movie?") Carell asked a question about McCain's focus on campaign finance reform, in the context of McCain's own collection of donations for various Senatorial races from some questionable big-industry lobbies. McCain looked caught in a particularily bright pair of headlights, until Carell started laughing, saying "Just kidding... I don't even know what that (the question) means!"



It was an amazing moment to me: possibly the most incisive question the candidate faced during the entire campaign, and it came from a "fake" news show. Jon Stewart is right - The Daily Show shouldn't be taken seriously. But so long as we live in a culture that turns election campaigns into horse races, court proceedings into Dick Wolf productions, tragedy into drama, and generally treats the news broadcast as an entertainment vehicle, any program with a critique of that culture will be considered seriously.



I only hope Rick Mercer can do half so well come January with Monday Report.

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