April 29, 2009
John Stewart: Idiot
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Cliff May Unedited Interview Pt. 2 | ||||
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Cliff May went on The Daily Show to discuss the current uproar over how much force should be used when interrogating terrorists. May, a former journalist who now heads a think tank dedicated to studying and combatting terrorism, made quick work of Stewart, whose favored technique is to issue an impassioned denunciation of conservatives, then claim, "Hey, I'm just a clown!" when confronted by an opponent with a good grasp of the facts.
Critics have likened it to the host taking off his clown nose when he gets serious, then putting the clown nose back on when forced to defend his statements in a sober-minded fashion.
Stewart reveals both his ignorance of history, as well as his moral blindness, when he tells May at about the 5:50 mark that Pres. Harry S. Truman was a war criminal for having ordered the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
To recap for those who aren't familiar with their history, the invasion of the Japanese mainland was expected to produce as many as 1 million American casualties. So many Purple Heart medals were struck in anticipation of the huge numbers of wounded GIs, that the World War II-era medals were still being presented to Iraq War veterans, more than 60 years later.
The Japanese were arming women and children with spears, preparing civilians for suicide attacks. Even after the first atomic bomb was dropped, the Japanese remained uninterested in surrender. It took the dropping of the second atomic bomb to convince them that further resistance was futile, especially after the Soviet Union decided to declare war on Japan.
This is the context in which Stewart's knee-jerk anti-torture dogma leads him: to condemn the president who acted to end World War II; limit American casualties; and bring an end to the slaughter of our enemies, too.
It's the same logic that rejects waterboarding the terrorist who masterminded the 9-11 attacks in order to prevent an attack on Los Angeles. Whether it would save one life or the lives of a million GIs, torture -- or the A-Bomb -- is never justified, at least in the view of the Stewarts of the world.
In Stewart's -- and the Left's -- eagerness to condemn Americans as war criminals, they've lost sight of the reality of war: It's ugly, brutal, and won by the application of overwhelming force, i.e., breaking things and killing people.
And this allergy to the Hobbesian nature of humanity and war imposes an unrealistic series of expectations on the American Left when it comes to defending our nation.
If we accept Stewart's definition of what is a war crime and who is a war criminal, beginning with Pres. Bush, then F.D.R. was also a war criminal for authorizing the firebombing of Tokyo (which killed many more people than did the A-Bomb attacks); J.F.K. and L.B.J. were war criminals for Viet Nam; and so too was Bill Clinton for giving the Okey-Doke to bombing the Balkans in 1999.
Stewart repeatedly demonstrates that he doesn't understand the Geneva Conventions; doesn't understand the difference between Prisoners of War and terrorists who are not signatories to the Conventions; and doesn't understand what constitutes torture.
The comic contradicts himself repeatedly, and ultimately says that terrorists shouldn't be required to provide more than name, rank or serial number. Stewart's back and forth, to-ing and fro-ing on what can and cannot be done to terrorists is ... torture to behold
It's also breathtakingly stupid.
The whole interview is worth watching; Stewart fans who haven't drunk the Kool-Aid should gain a new perspective on their funny little man.
Posted by Mike Lief at April 29, 2009 10:30 PM
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Comments
My computer won't let me watch this tidbit without jumping through a flaming hoop. On the other hand, I have never before had the slightest interest in watching this twerp, so what would evoke any interest now? On the other hand, if you had Joey discussing guns, terrorism, or baking bread I would be all eyes . . . even if Rory was in the picture too.
Posted by: The Little Coach at April 30, 2009 01:15 PM