Many of his fans were surely disappointed when Jon Stewart announced last night that he's leaving The Daily Show at the end of this season, after 16 years at the helm as its mock news anchor.
More disconcerting to conservatives who still watch Stewart, longtime lead court jester on the left, was how he let Obama confidant David Axelrod off the hook on the subject of Obama's deceitful claim during the 2008 campaign that he opposed same-sex marriage.
Last night's Daily Show was worth watching for two reasons -- first, to hear from Stewart himself on his departure instead of getting the news second-hand through social media; and secondly, Axelrod was his guest and the bombshell revelation from Axelrod's new book -- Obama's alleged previous opposition to gay marriage -- would surely come into the discussion.
That it did, with Stewart only daintily pushing back --
STEWART: We're talking about "Believe" (sic), "Believer," your book -- who do you think the president hates more -- the media or the Congress?
His biggest cheerleaders ... or Republicans?
STEWART: What would you say just in terms of pure, unadulterated, would like to rip their faces off?
AXELROD: It kind of depends on the day.
STEWART: Uh huh, uh huh! So it's an up and down, an up and down.
AXELROD: Look, there's no doubt that there are a lot of frustrations associated with, you know, especially, his basic view is, we've got eight years to try and deal with big problems. When we ran he said we've got to focus on the next generation and not just the next election. He actually believes that. That wasn't just a line in a campaign.STEWART (meekly): Right.
AXELROD: And so he gets frustrated with ...
STEWART (realizing he can't let Axelrod's laughable claim pass unchallenged): He is not unwilling, though, to be pragma-, or, or ...AXELROD: Have to be ...
STEWART: ... to subvert the ideals for political, you know, the gay marriage situation, he doesn't, he believes it should be OK but has to take a position that he doesn't.
AXELROD: But ends up, uh, but ends up moving gay rights more than any president ever has. Got rid of don't ask, don't tell, got rid of DOMA (applause from audience). And ultimately put gay marriage in a position to succeed. So, you know, that's part of what you have to do in politics but that is different than the small politics of Washington that we get so consumed in ...
STEWART (meekly, again): Right.
AXELROD: ... that has nothing to do with anything in the long term.
Come on, Jon, how could you let such a slow hanging curve pass without swinging for the fence? What happened back in 2008 is now unambiguously straightforward, and what conservatives have known all along -- Obama repeatedly lied about opposing gay marriage in a cynical ploy to get elected. We know because one of his closest advisers now admits this. But this rare candid admission from Axelrod begs the question -- what else did Obama lie about then, and has deceived us about since, that those around him aren't willing to admit?
The double standard at work here -- when liberals lie, it's in the service of a wider utopia: equality as only they define it, saving planet earth from the mythical beast known as global warming, shell-game economics that eventually run out of other people's money. When conservatives lie, it's because of a character flaw deeply inherent to conservatism.
Compare Stewart's barely coherent acquiescence here to the paint-peeling commentary last night from Chris Hayes, who broke ranks from MSNBC's usual fawning over Dear Leader to slam Obama as "morally treacherous" for "lying" about his views on gay marriage during the 2008 campaign --
Stewart still has several months to go before he leaves The Daily Show. Has he already decided he'll continue with his quota of slamming conservatives 95 percent of the time and liberals in the sliver that remains?
