gls
08-04-2009, 06:58 PM
I just saw the bit that aired last night on the Daily Show about that terrible "Cash for Clunkers" program. It made me remember why I stopped watching the show in the first place. Instead of examining the program whatsoever, Stewart immediately goes on the attack. He plays clips of some Fox News talking heads complaining about how the program has been so "successful", with the implication that they're idiots for complaining about the "success".
No mention that this will make it more difficult for poor people to buy a car. How are poor people in suburban and rural areas realistically supposed to get to work (or start a business) and better their situation in life without first being able to afford a means of transportation?
No mention about how this is basically just another bailout for the auto industry and union executives, in a year where the Federal government is running a TWO TRILLION dollar deficit.
John dismisses ALL complaints outright about the financial cost of cash for clunkers by saying "Yeah says the guys who were for spending billions on the Iraq war". That's a pretty weak response. I sure wasn't for the war. (Speaking of which, Obama's been president for a while now, why are we still in Iraq? :rolleyes:) Maybe John would have a different opinion if $4500 more was taken out of his paycheck every week just to support this wasteful program.
It seems to me like a fairly straightforward propaganda technique. Go on the offensive, choose easy targets (Fox News bozos), and "destroy" a ridiculous straw man argument while avoiding the real issue altogether.
Toward the beginning of the episode Stewart does say something about the massive deficit, a "joke": he says "Much of the debate over the economy is centered on which of Obama's stimulus provisions have actually 'stimulated', and which have consigned our children and grandchildren to a life time of forced labor camps and road kill chilli."
I don't know why people assume this will only negatively effect "our children and grandchildren". The consequences of the past interventionist policies, coupled with the ones currently being implemented, will have disastrous economic implications almost immediately.
It's just sad that so many people think the Daily Show is somehow "better" than all the other mainstream media garbage when in reality it is the same damn thing.
No mention that this will make it more difficult for poor people to buy a car. How are poor people in suburban and rural areas realistically supposed to get to work (or start a business) and better their situation in life without first being able to afford a means of transportation?
No mention about how this is basically just another bailout for the auto industry and union executives, in a year where the Federal government is running a TWO TRILLION dollar deficit.
John dismisses ALL complaints outright about the financial cost of cash for clunkers by saying "Yeah says the guys who were for spending billions on the Iraq war". That's a pretty weak response. I sure wasn't for the war. (Speaking of which, Obama's been president for a while now, why are we still in Iraq? :rolleyes:) Maybe John would have a different opinion if $4500 more was taken out of his paycheck every week just to support this wasteful program.
It seems to me like a fairly straightforward propaganda technique. Go on the offensive, choose easy targets (Fox News bozos), and "destroy" a ridiculous straw man argument while avoiding the real issue altogether.
Toward the beginning of the episode Stewart does say something about the massive deficit, a "joke": he says "Much of the debate over the economy is centered on which of Obama's stimulus provisions have actually 'stimulated', and which have consigned our children and grandchildren to a life time of forced labor camps and road kill chilli."
I don't know why people assume this will only negatively effect "our children and grandchildren". The consequences of the past interventionist policies, coupled with the ones currently being implemented, will have disastrous economic implications almost immediately.
It's just sad that so many people think the Daily Show is somehow "better" than all the other mainstream media garbage when in reality it is the same damn thing.