Jon Stewart did the Jane Harman story last night and blew it. Didn't mention Israel for over a minute. Doesn't say Harman's Jewish. Doesn't talk about the Israel lobby really. Doesn't talk about the occupation or Gaza or Iran, the things the lobby cares about. Makes it into a confusing Washington scandal. Says a smart friend:
I caught Jon Stewart on Jane Harman. One of his few I-am-dumb presentations, of the sort most comedians and talk-show hosts do all the time when they talk about politics. He treated it as just too arcane and incomprehensible for words; as if complicated/funny/silly DC thing: not even the flashed image of Gonzales altered this tone. Audience chortled. A rare case of JS teaching below his intelligence.
Jack Ross takes exception to my view:
For God's sake, you can't give him credit for talking about it at
all?!! Yes, there's a sort of odd way that he talks about it, like the
way Olbermann and
Maddow talk about it on the few occasions that they have, but the
audience knew exactly what was going on, and of course it's an open secret that Jon Stewart's views on Israel/Palestine are pretty damn close to our own. So why are you being hard on him?
