Last night, Jon Stewart took a look at the cable news narratives that have emerged from the primaries, and realized that “just because a narrative turns out to be utter bullshit, doesn’t mean we won’t get another one for this primary.”
So for this week’s primaries, in “Connecticut, Colorado and Georgia — the smart state, the pretty state…and Georgia,” Stewart examined the “proxy battle theme” that cable news commentators were touting in their coverage.
For example, there was Bill Clinton’s endorsement of Andrew Romanoff in Colorado versus President Obama’s endorsement of incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet. There was Sarah Palin’s “Mama Grizzly” endorsement of Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial runoff eventual loser Karen Handel. And then there was Connecticut, which had the “free market represented by Peter Schiff and ‘Beyond Thunderdome’ represented by former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon.”
“By the way,” Stewart asked. “How does a lady chugging a beer and getting in a beatdown with Steve Austin not get a Sarah Palin ‘Mama Grizzly’ designation?”
But in the end McMahon won — without a big national endorsement — so Stewart turned to White House correspondent Chuck Todd who explained on MSNBC that “the one thing we learned” was that “there was no big theme.”
Stewart, aghast, asked: “Why do we keep paying attention to you people? Why do I always always fall for it? I lean in and what do I get?” Cue footage of McMahon kicking someone in the nuts at a wrestling match.
Watch:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Indecision 2010 – Primary Proxy Battle Theme | ||||
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