Striking Late-Night Writers on Campaign 08

Oh God, I am starving for satire! I'm so happy that Colbert is back tonight. God know I, and the country, missed that guy!

there ARE times when I've needed a LOT of satire lately! LOL thanks for the link!

I listened to this broadcast this morning and found the debate about whether the satirist actually have any influence on the political system or are they just making people laugh to be a very interesting one. I can't remeber if it was a caller or Tom who said that they are giving viewers something that the media doesn't and one of the writers said that all there material is directly what is reported in the media and anyone with Tivo could do what they do. I think that that is true but the real point is that almost nobody does it. The research that is required for real journalists seems to be very hard to find these days and the satirists are doing it for humor but at the same time giving people things that journalists should be doing. Despite demurring when it comes to their influence, the writers admitted they are media critics and i believe that media critics play an important role in generating critical thought and are influential.

Yes !! -- Oh Yes !!

I am absolutely starving for satire.

There's been a huge emptiness in my life with Stewart and Colbert off the air.

Thank You God For Thy Merciful Deliverance !!

I completely agree with everyone else that the satire is desperately needed. Ashbrook's turn of phrase, "a break from the cynicism," is the typical MSM viewpoint: If it's at all pointed or in depth, rather than glib and earnest and superficial, it's "cynical."

Two points re the show: Glenn Eichler's claim that the "dog incidents" are trivial, on a par with the "likeability" or "haircut" stories, is wrong — especially in the cases of Huckabee and Romney. Someone who could strap the family dog to the car roof, or raise a son who tortures and kills dogs at a Boy Scout camp and then stand behind him, is a sociopath unfit to sit on a city council, let alone lead a country.

The other point is a comment on Kate, who called from Brookline, MA. She sounds like an Obama partisan who likes cynical satire except when it falls on her favorite candidate. Despite the halo currently over Obama's head, he's in bed with the corporations and, as you'd expect from an Illinois politician, his hands are dirty. If anything, he needs *more*, not less, satirical scrutiny from these shows.

Just heard an evening rebroadcast of this show on WNYC...

The main thing to remember (that wasn't explicitly said in the show) is that "to spin" is to overlook the irony in a circumstance in order to subvert the truth.

Which leads directly to why satire cannot POSSIBLY be bad for the democratic political process: It serves to keep the spotlight on the Orwellian doublespeak that is spin instead of shining in the eyes of the public.

Comedians are the last bastion of the Fourth Estate. My son is an editor for Family Guy and will be unemployed shortly, but I still support the writers.

I just wished there would be a resolution to the writer's strike.

I kind of thought it was refreshing not to have the political jokes so that we could concentrate on the issues and what the candidates actually believed.

The writers are back, which is good, because without comedy, there's nothing to distract us from the pain of listening to fifty Chicken Littles screaming about how the world will end and the skyscrapers will fall if candidate X gets elected, and nothing to make the pain of what these people are actually saying to try to get elected any more bearable.

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