Monday, February 25, 2008

Is Jon Stewart part of Obama "smear" campaign?

Jon Stewart took time from his Academy Awards® joke monologue to point out to 30 million viewers that Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama's middle name is "Hussein" and that his last name rhymes with "Osama"? It came off as less a joke than a Hannityesque political statement attached to a lame punchline; far more blatant, and reaching far more viewers than Tina Fey's girlie Hillary Clinton diatribe on Saturday Night Live. Could Stewart be a Hillary supporter, as well?

Or, in light of the Obama "smear picture," circulated simultaneously by Clinton's camp and front and center on Drudge this morning, could this be part of something bigger-- and uglier?

Jan. 18th, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher:

Newsweek international editor Fareed Zakaria: I think somebody wrote, “Imagine this Pakistani jihadi, you know, sitting there looking up at Barack Hussein Obama. It’s very tough to say to yourself, you know, I’ve got-- I’ve got to wage a jihad to bring down this guy.”

Maher: Right. He’d probably see “Hussein,” and go, “Hey…” [laughter] All right, so--

Zakaria: Do you know what? Actually, a couple of people in Pakistan actually did tell me-- and these were not militants, these were Pakistani businessmen – but they said, “You know what? I love the fact that somebody with the middle name, ‘Hussein,’ can run for president in America.” I said-- I said to them, “That’s because nobody in America knows his middle name is Hussein.” [laughter] [applause] Wait – wait until the Republicans bring that up in the – in the general election.

Maher:
Right, well, wait until the Republican slime machine gets hold of that middle name. [laughter] Trust me, it won’t be quite as cute.

Feb. 24th, Academy Awards® broadcast
before 30 million American viewers:


Jon Stewart: You have to give Barack Obama credit, he’s overcome a great deal. Not just he’s an African-American. Barack Hussein Obama is his name. His middle name is the last name of Iraq’s former tyrant. His last name rhymes with Osama. That’s not easy to overcome. I think we all remember the ill-fated 1944 presidential campaign of Gaydolf Titler.

10 comments:

  1. Sorry, but I don't agree at all. Most people already know about Obama's name, what better way to turn it into a non-issue than making it into a joke? And yes, talking about Gaydolf Titler really sounded like something Hannity would say.

    I bet you think Obama is smearing himself because he jokes about how he's related to Dick Cheney.

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  2. THEY’RE ALL IN ON THE OBAMA SMEAR!

    Teevee’s Jon Stewart hosted the Oscar™ Teevee/Movie Awards last night, and he mentioned that Barry Hussein Obama’s middle name is “Hussein” while also noting how “Obama” rhymes with “Osama.” It was just a fun joke, of course!

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  3. oh please! are you crazy? have you lost your mind? riiiight... everyone is after the hope pope... you guessed it. its a racial conspiracy!

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  4. I tend to agree with anonymous 1 and 2. As long as people joke about the name, it doesn't have much traction as an attack. And my sense of Jon Stewart is that he was rooting for Obama on the democratic side and McCain on the republican side since early on.

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  5. I've watched Jon Stewart's show for many, many years and feel that I've come to know his politics rather well, and I'm about 99 percent sure he's an Obama supporter. Watch the video of his interview with Barack; he was totally in love.

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  6. Not a smear, but a joke that lacked creativity, thought and humor. Stewart needs better writers.

    The Hillary camp's circulating the Obama picture with the comment that if the photo was of Hillary, the media would be all over it, is just another day in Silly-ville. There are plenty of pictures of Hillary out there, it's just that nobody cares - just as nobody cares that Obama donned garb on a goodwill trip to a foreign country. It was a throw-away move and whoever's running her campaign into the ground should stop, before it's too late.

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  7. It's Time for Barack Obama to Call Out Jon Stewart. Who is with me!?!

    Jon Stewart just took the malicious racial and religious smears that the Right Wing will try to use to bring Obama down and made them viral. He openly injected America's fear of Islamic extremist terrorists directly into the 2008 Democratic Presidential contest, going so far as to throw in a thinly veiled direct comparison between Barack Obama and Adolph Hitler on top of it. And he chose to do so on a mainstream TV network - not the piddly Comedy Channel, when Stewart knew that hundreds of millions of people of every political persuasion, from all walks of live, would intently watch and hear him do so.

    Stewart's disgusting and repulsive remarks:

    I took just did a google search and got 44,600 hits by combining "Titler" and "Stewart". It's out there now people, it's all over the world. Why is Jon Stewart doing Karl Rove's work for him? Has Barack Obama scheduled a news conference yet to expose Jon Stewart's role in these vile attacks? I hope Obama cuts him off at the knees when he does. This can not be allowed to stand.

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  8. ^ Rinaldo. I think you have more answers than Obama. You should run for office!

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  9. All politicians smear each other. And John Stewart definitely seemed to be riding the fence if from side of the mouth he seemed like a republican but from the other a liberal. Who cares what rich, famous people think anyway? They don't represent the working class population. The whole thing is a game. A joke. I don't want a politician for president. I want a plumber. Seems they all have the same education anyway. (I take that back. Plumbers are definitely more intelligent.)

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