He also said that the danger posed by another Trump term doesn’t excuse Biden from scrutiny but “actually makes him more subject to scrutiny.”
To leftists and progressives fed up with Biden, particularly his commitment to Israel as it continues to bomb civilians in Gaza, the assessment was not just fair — it was obvious. But more centrist Democrats, including those most likely to have appended “Blue Wave” and “Resistance” labels to their social media accounts in the Trump years, were appalled at what they saw as a betrayal by one of their own.
Neolibs might be crying but literally everyone else is laughing
…. Most of whom will still be voting for him. Extremely accurate criticisms aside.
I hope so. Another drumpf term will be a disaster
Yeah, addressing it directly and with humor is exactly the way to tackle the issue. All the liberals frantically trying to gaslight about an 81 year old’s memory just look like they’re in a cult, which will actually drive voters away.
He’s old, probably too old, but Trump is not only worse in general, but demonstrably worse on that very issue. It sucks that our choice is which declining man should be the leader of the free world, but that’s the question we’re faced with.
Right. I laughed my ass off, because it’s fucking true.
We’ve got two old as shit dudes, both with shit memories, running for president.
Sure one is the better option, but neither are great options… And imagine them in four more years
Yikes.
Right. As I keep saying, I’ll be voting for the forgetful doddering old grandpa that isn’t a treasonous rapist who says he’ll be a dictator.
Yes, betrayal - because the US devolved so much into tribalism, that any critique of “their own”, no matter if justified or not, is a betrayal and taboo.
You see, our side can do no wrong and is perfect. It’s their side that’s wrong, always. We’re the good guys, and they’re the bad guys - how could Jon betray the only side that’s good, noble and completely faultless? That clearly means he’s with them and not with us, because nuance is a foreign loanqord that we don’t need, and everything is black and white!
Fucking sad and depressing - glad I get to look at it from the outside, but still…
It’s fucked. Life’s fucked. I’m fucked. You’re fucked. Everything’s fucked. It’s fucked to the point it can’t be unfucked. It’s completely, and thoroughly fucked.
It’s better than 1942
Until it isn’t.
Yes, betrayal - because the US devolved so much into tribalism, that any critique of “their own”, no matter if justified or not, is a betrayal and taboo.
Just look on here whenever I post an article critiquing Biden. I get called every name in the book. Russian bot, China bot, Trumper etc
To be faaaaaiiiirrr, you do kinda only post that stuff. Mix it up a bit like me and they’ll stop calling you a Russian bot and start calling you just plain crazy
Depends on the article and what it’s advocating for. Anything advocating for not voting or voting third party (unfortunately equal to not voting in the American electoral system) will get shit from me… Biden is the worst option available to us except Trump. Trump is a fucking existential crisis.
“If you don’t vote for Biden that’s a vote for Trump!”
“If you don’t vote for Trump that’s a vote for Biden!”
Yeah that’s how the 2 party system works. Until a third party is strong enough (hint: they need downticket seats) to overtake another party, voting third party is worthless.
Ah, so you understand - good.
The logic is flawed
I understand where you’re coming from, I really do. The logic isn’t flawed the system we’re working within is flawed and unjust. Voting for one of the two leading candidates is the only logical option within this system.
If you want to change the system then fuck yea - I’m with you brother… but I honestly don’t know how to accomplish that other than primarying in candidates that support RCV or proportional representation… once we get to the general election you vote for whichever of the two choices is less awful. If you don’t then bad shit happens - if Trump hadn’t been elected we’d still have Roe v. Wade and that difference is fucking important in an intimate way to a lot of people’s lives.
Biden fucking sucks and I hope he’ll be our next president.
I go back to this video and still nothing has changed. It’s even worse now…
I am only disappointed because his big comeback was sold to us as a man against MAGATARDS.
I’m not American but I can see why the left going after Biden now is not a good idea. It’s just gonna lead to a Trump win. I hate Biden, the guy has blood on his hands from his constant support of the drug war. But you should have thought of that before. Either back him now, and get a better candidate going. Or go after Biden now and lose to Trump. And then you’ll get nothing done.
Biden should never have been the Democrats pick, Clinton either, but it’s too late for all that now.
what happened to “it’s ok if bernie doesn’t win you just gotta vote for biden and push him left when he’s in office” because this is not that.
They lied to us. They we’re never going to let us even try to push.
The Inflation Reduction Act did turn out to be the most leftist climate policy in history, and it was so potent that it forced European countries to adopt similar policies too. That’s probably the best example of Biden being pushed left.
Leftist means a fundamental restructuring of ownership over the economy and means of production. ‘Not destroying the planet’ is not a leftist position, it’s simply a position common among leftists because we dont want our kids to die. Shows how far the overton window has been pushed right when things like fixing bridges that are decades out of spec and trying to not kill the planet is considered leftist.
That definition of leftist is outdated, frankly. In the modern day there’s a whole lot more associated with it.
I would posit actually that the original definition is solely economic because at the time political thinkers and economists were solely men, and not interested in minorities and women’s rights.
To a republican leftism is anything they don’t like. That doesn’t make it true simply because half the country says it. That word has meaning, the overton window is being pushed to convince you it does not.
Let’s extrapolate, lets say not killing the planet is a leftist position, what’s the democrat position then? Only kill a little of the planet?
No no no. You see, Union Buster Biden actually is the progressive champion and you’re a Russian bot for saying otherwise
Tbf apparently he kept working with them after that and got them what they wanted.
Still supporting baby killers though
He basically helped create the current atmosphere during his tenure on the daily show. It’s poetic justice I suppose.
The dude spent the pandemic insisting the lab leak theory was absolutely true because “they named the lab after Covid, it has to have come from there!” which is both wrong (the lab is named the Wuhan Institute of Virology) and stupid because even if it was named after the class of disease they study, that doesn’t prove anything.
Covid broke a lot of people’s brains, and he seems to be one of them.
I don’t begrudge anyone for believing that Covid-19 came from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. History shows that governments will make every effort to avoid standing up and telling their citizens a difficult truth. The lab leak theory is a fruit of rampant dishonesty in government. It’s directly the fault of the government that conspiracy theories like this exist, and it’s hypocritical for governments to bemoan those theories and the people who believe them.
Source on him talking about this throughout the pandemic? Only thing I’m aware of is him going on Colbert’s show post-lockdown.
On that occasion, to some extent, I’m pretty sure he was just joking, given that he gives his entire speech in a comedic tone and doesn’t fight Colbert back on mostly anything he replies with.
I love the man and he helped shape my political perspective but that Colbert interview didn’t seem like he was joking.
That’s fair. I don’t think he was 100% joking either, I just don’t think he was absolutely convinced of the lab leak theory.
The way I see it: either it was a) just a bit, or b) a bit that was fueled by his frustration that the lab leak theory hasn’t been outright disproven (though I think him saying it’s “more than likely” would still be irresponsible), or c) him being serious and trying to make a joke out of it, or d) none of the above.
I think c) is totally worthy of criticism. Just not as much so under a) or b).
I’m still interested in a source of that not being the only time he defended the lab leak theory.
What a huge dissapointment.
Good? Jon Stewart always took no prisoners. If you’re offended now then you weren’t paying attention before.
I don’t understand what people were thinking when Stewart came back? I mean he was always merciless to anyone’s failings regardless of party, it’s just that the republicans provided so much more fodder for him vs the Dems who at least on the surface went in with good intentions most of the time. It was usually him attacking the Dems for their failures in meeting their own standards vs attacking the republicans for having no standards at all.
Democrats are a lot further right than they were for his first go round.
Yes I am!
ONE-TIME FANS WHO perhaps remember comedian Jon Stewart only taking satirical swipes at conservatives while host of The Daily Show
Not a good look for an article to start with such a hot take. Anyone who thought Stewart never took aim at Democrats couldn’t have been a fan because they must have never watched his fucking show.
I would guess they know that? Stewart will likely do what he did when Hillary was running. Spend 9 months bad mouthing Biden and then wonder why the hell he didn’t win in the end, but feel sanctimonious that it couldn’t possibly be anything he did while Texas murders a few thousands migrants at the border.
So Hillary lost because of Stewart’s criticisms and not because her own team prompted trump up under the illusion that he could never win?
thank you
Our candidate is so far from what voters want that we run articles about how great the economy is and how much awesome shit he got through to try to convince voters because the alternative is a nightmare. Someone just came in and said the things that we’ve been deliberately ignoring. Oh noez! DAMAGE CONTROL. DAMAGE CONTROL. DAMAGE CONTROL.
He wasn’t wrong to say those things, but it was really scary watching it.
Thinking “it’s ethical that he do this, but what will it cost us?”
How many votes? How many fractions of a % of the total vote did this push away from Biden?
If the candidate is so weak that a TV show comedy segment can take votes away…
has anyone listened to jon stewart’s political takes when he wasn’t reading them off a teleprompter? remember, when colbert had his capitol rally to make a point about what (the republicans in) congress was doing, stewart joined in with his rally watering down the impact of the initial rally because he thought colbert was doing a giant bit.
jon stewart has generally had terrible political takes. it’s just that during his heyday it was the no drama obama years and there generally wasn’t anything to both sides on the democratic side so liberals didn’t hear him badly try to equivocate the two parties.
then again I’ve never watched the daily show, even the kilborne years so what do I know.
I think your memory of how that rally evolved is deeply flawed. Colbert was always in character… He announced his rally as the march to keep fear alive.
Good, fuck 'em
I actually think it would have been damaging to pretend that Biden is perfect. People who can be convinced to vote one way or another aren’t blind to the flaws of the current administration, pretending that everything is rosy will switch them off and they’ll stay home.
Providing honest criticism, where warranted, of both sides and acknowledging the very real concerns around Biden is more likely to keep people engaged and informed. Despite how flawed Biden is, any sane, informed voter chooses him over Trump every time.
If you’re unable to secure a better candidate, you’d better laugh.
Stop trying to make a story of this.
The old adage says “progressives need to fall in love; conservatives need to fall in line.”
It means conservatives and their focus on loyalty means they neither express or accept any criticism of their party’s leadership. Progressives, though, always exist in that sea of doubt and always need to be convinced of the validity of their candidate because they’re always reassessing.
TL;DR – this outrage over negative comments is a little too fanboy, a little too accepting for actual progressives. It’s not their way. This outrage that is being reported means there’s more conservatives learning how to be progressive and need some help. Let them in the idea that doubt is okay and not to be angry about the disloyalty.
Which “liberals?” I thought it was funny. I guess I’m not “liberal” enough? I’m voting for Biden because I’ll do anything to stop Trump, but I’m not going to pretend he shouldn’t be mocked.
I thought it was funny too, but man is it uncomfortable knowing that it could sway people away from voting for Biden and swing the scales in favor of Trump.
It won’t, it was honest and painted Trump in a worse (and deservedly awful) light. The apologists that call the sky yellow when you can see it’s fucking blue cause much more damage by eroding public trust in the democrats.
I prefer flawed candidates that overcome their flaws so that, hopefully, we can find a less flawed candidate next time.
He was just as hard if not harder on Trump in the same segment, so I don’t think it would.
The problem is of the people that watch him. The majority of them would never vote for Trump in the first place. Most of them would probably vote Biden. So being hard on Trump he’s simply preaching to the choir. Being hard on Biden. He might demoralize a few from participating. It doesn’t mean he was wrong or wrong to do it. But it is a possible concern. Though the only group to actually blame for that is the Democrats.
I mean I’m still going to vote for them. Because I like the idea of still having elections even if they are highly flawed. You don’t get that sort of thing under full blown fascism.
Yeah that’s my only concern really. I don’t want people to become apathetic and not vote. I think Stewart’s message though is probably the fairest way to prevent that though. Acknowledge that yeah, Biden is old, and he’s not as sharp as he used to be. He is by no means the ideal nor dream candidate. People are right to feel iffy about him.
But Trump means there’s really no question of who to vote for and who you should vote for. We can be honest and affirm worries about Biden while still encouraging votes for him.
If Jon’s audience somehow got swayed into voting FOR Trump over some criticisms on Biden, they were never listening in the first place.
Doesn’t really matter does it? A vote is a vote.
Wish the DNC had told themselves the same before insisting which bed we lay in for another four years.
That’s an interesting point. Jon Stewart’s job isn’t to get Biden elected. Just like Fox and MSNBC shouldn’t be their job to get their respective candidates elected. He should present things as he sees it and the people should inform themselves to select the best candidate
That’s fine, and I can respect that, but damn am I scared of another Trump administration.
Denial and scolding/belittling/abusing people for having legitimate concerns will lose a lot more people than being honest and having a sense of humor.
Probably saw 2 people on twitter and then they just expanded and said all liberals?
So they saw both of the remaining Twitter users, makes sense
yeah I enjoyed it too, a couple of different friends mentioned it being funny I don’t know anyone that was upset about it.
probably just another article about some random vocal minority complaining
It’s not hard to grasp really is it.
Well said and agreed 100%.
My guess is bot farms mostly. Russia, the DNC, the RNC, et al benefit in their own ways from posting their reactions all over social media. Sure some on the far left probably didn’t make it past the first commercial break, but with an election, everyone is coming out to play
Regardless, they are both way too old to be running again. I find it hard to believe these guys with one foot in the grave and an inability to speak coherently are our best bet.
The ones on Twitter that are sourced in the article. This is a non story.
People complaining on Twitter, say it ain’t so.
