I am teaching this morning, so a more substantial post will be appearing later. In the interim, those who haven’t seen Jon Stewart’s meltdown over the scandal avalanche exposing the ineptitude and ethics blindness in the Obama Administration should go here. I suspect much of the mainstream media that has been abdicating its role of objective reporter for the pat four years is reacting in much the same way; in fact, I know it is, based on the sudden confluence of op-eds, columns, and on-screen rants about the President’s disinterest in management, oversight, and, you know, governing, as if this was a new phenomenon.
Stewart expresses his horror that after the revelations of the last couple of weeks, the burden of proof will now be on the government to show it is worthy of being trusted to impose ourselves on our lives, and the concerns of those who distrust the expansion of government power can no longer be dismissed as paranoia and conspiracy theories. In truth, nothing has changed, for this always has been the case. That is why our nation’s founding documents are both written from the perspective of those who are wary of the inherent corruption and abuse that government power always risks, based on the tragic lessons of history.
The remarkable thing isn’t that these most recent examples occurred, but that otherwise intelligent people like Jon Stewart seem to be genuinely surprised by it.
Ethics Alarms 
More surprise here.
I’m stunned by the number of people admitting “The government is too big for one man to control.” as if it were an argument in defence of Obama. And as if it’s that’s just a fact we need to learn to live with. Obama can’t be responsible for EVERYTHING the government does!
Then that means the government is too big! The IRS is far from the only agency that has targeted conservatives – it’s just the biggest, scariest one that got the most press. EPA, HHS, DoEd, DoE, DHS, DoJ, FCC, the Treasury, Armed Forces, and the Executive Office itself have all had rumbles and warnings of it. Don’t worry – none if it’s Obama’s fault – he’s just the guy in charge of all of them.
You do realize that Jon Stewart is a comedian, right? His “meltdown” was part of a comedy routine and clearly rehearsed.
I don’t think he was _genuinely_ surprised, at least on the air.
Well, sure, it was performance. That’s irrelevant. He used humor, satire and drama to convey a substantive point or six.
But if he wasn’t genuinely surprised at some point, then he’s been lying for four years.
At some point? Perhaps.
While doing that rant on the air, however? I seriously doubt it.
My guess is a lot of minions are weeping into their beer.
*snicker*
I concur. I see Obama as being what Stewart and his ilk always wanted. Now all of a sudden when their sensibilities are shaken by Obama coming at their back door with his dictatorial maneuvers do they become outrage. All I have to say is: you ask for it brothers!!
This is the kind of thing I saw coming as a resident of Illinois. During Obama’s senate run, which he was losing, he pulled one of the most sleazy tactics ever when he had his opponent Jack Ryan’s divorce records, sealed divorce records I might add, exposed for all to see. The fact that Illinois Rupublicans were so cowardly and unprincipled, they didn’t even defend him. Instead they brought in that cookey creature Alan Keys. We all know the outcome.
If he isn’t surprised, he’s at least finally outraged enough to do a parody of surprise. Of course, it’s kind of a “Oh, isn’t the administration a little dickins?” “That Barry He’s such a case!” “What a series of merry mix-ups”
So, not really outraged either, but as a comedian how could he go on pretending there isn’t comedy gold in this administration.
I have come to believe that while Stewart does not always succeed in suppressing his natural progressive, pro-Obama, pro-Democrat, anti-GOP biases sufficiently, he is essentially fair and a truthteller at heart. He tries to be objective, especially if there’s a good laugh in it. That’s more than I can say for most of his straight competition.
At the least – and this is granting the man a lot more than I grant to most – he WANTS to be “essentially fair and a truthteller”. That is, at least, far more than anyone on, for example, MSNBC can claim.
At the risk of over-dramatizing this issue, the press never did seem to understand the need for they themselves to be silenced. After the Communist North Vietnamese defeated and occupied South Viet Nam, they did two things: first, they shut down all of the news media in the south then, second, they rounded up all of the Viet Cong and executed them. Thus do liberals repay unswerving loyalty.
Pingback: How Did We Get Here
I was watching a video of Gary Hartstein talking about his role as the former FIA Medical Delegate (chief physician for Formula 1 and related series). He worked his way up from a track doctor in the medical car who worked 1 race/year to the Medical Delegate role. He was replaced after many years in this role by a man who had never served as a track doctor. Not for any series, any track, at any time had he ever worked the job or seen the jobs performed. The people who made such a decision had no thought of the job or the people that rely on the person in that office. They were only concerned with power.
When you look at Barack Obama, you see someone who groomed to become president. He never did anything. He didn’t take a permanent job, he voted present on any controversial issue, he went to the right church, he made himself a candidate. What he didn’t do is make himself qualified, but this didn’t bother his supporters because they wanted power, nothing else. I can’t believe that they are really unhappy with this administration. It is what they wanted, power. The power to be mean to their enemies. What they are concerned about is that people are waking up and might start demanding competence before they give their obedience from now on.