Aug
24
2004

PSA

TV Public Service Announcement: Democratic presidential contender John Kerry is appearing tonight on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

While political figures certainly aren’t strangers to the show (all of the Democratic hopefuls except Kerry appeared on the show this spring, and then-VP candidate Joe Lieberman guested during the 2000 campaign), this is the first time a presidential nominee has been a guest on the show. (And maybe the only time, at least in this election cycle. I don’t see President Bush making an appearance.)

It’s only the second time Kerry has appeared on a late-night show during this campaign, after his spring appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in which he came onstage for his interview riding a motorcycle. (Washington Post: “Seriously: Kerry on Comedy Central” - 08/24/04)

It’s a great move on Kerry’s part to reach out to the elusive “young voter” demographic — although I wonder, given the left-leaning, heavy-on-the-politics nature of The Daily Show, if he’s just preaching to the converted. And I hope the interview itself is interesting, and not oddly underwhelming, like former President Bill Clinton’s appearance (Windows Media Player) last week.

Posted at 10:32 AM in journalism/media, politics & bureaucracy, television

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Comments

I want to say that I had NO IDEA he was gonna be on tonight’s show - but looking at your blog a scant 10 minutes before air time has enlightened me. And for that I thank thee.

Posted by Dari on August 24, 2004 10:51 PM

The Chicago Sun-Times’s television critic, Phil Rosenthal, offered his own review of the Kerry appearance on The Daily Show. (“Your moment of Dem: Kerry faces Stewart” - 08/25/04)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry argued Tuesday that Americans want a serious discussion of the important issues facing their nation … while he was appearing on a television comedy show.

Ba-dum-bum.

So this is why Kerry eschewed traditional news outlets in favor of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”? To go on a fake newscast and make mostly fake news?

Posted by alykat on August 25, 2004 2:35 PM

John Kerry on The Daily Show. Photo by Paul Hawthorne/Getty ImagesSlate contributor Dana Stevens offered her own critique of the interview — and, in particular, of Kerry’s performance. (“If He Only Had a Heart” - 08/25/04)

Kerry seemed unclear on the concept that he was there precisely to poke fun at the recirculated sound bites of the talking-head circuit, that this was his chance to take terms like “liberal” and “flip-flop” and split them wide open. All he had to do was shoulder his rocket launcher (he’s good at that, right?) and take aim at the received wisdom that has kept the focus of this campaign exactly where the Bush camp wants it to be: on who did what in a war we lost 30 years ago, rather than what to do next in the war we’re losing right now. Instead, Kerry ignored every opening Stewart gave him, preferring to dust off rhetoric that’s become familiar even to casual followers of his campaign: “You don’t go to war because you want to. You go to war because you have to.” That was a good line at the convention, but baby, the convention was a month ago! This is Jon Stewart, the king of politically savvy late-night television. You need new A-list material. Get someone on it.
Posted by alykat on August 27, 2004 12:23 PM

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