Jon Stewart Book Binge, Day 5
With Comedy Central’s The Daily Show on hiatus until next week and Jon Stewart’s impending exodus from the show coming on August 6, we’ve been looking at some of the many authors Stewart has featured on the show.
Stewart often features authors he disagrees with, but sometimes they find common ground.
Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan appeared on th show in December of 2001 for her book about Ronald Reagan When Character Was King (Viking), Stewart disagreed with her assessment of Reagan (“I still have my McGovern button”), but did not argue with her sense that, after 9/11, Geroge W. Bush showed signs go going from a dilletant to a leader.
In 2008. when she returned to talk about her book, Patriotic Grace: What It Is And Why We Need It Now, (HarperCollins) both were disillusioned with Bush. About the economic crisis, Noonan said the President was acting “more like a commentator on the events, rather than a leader of the events.” Stewart responded, “He seems like … it’s his senior year of college, it’s the last three months, and he’s been playing ultimate frisbee all week and they throw him out there and he’s just like, ‘What are we doing today? Economic collapse? What the hell, I”m out of here in three months, who cares.’ ”
Stewart ended by saying he is very upset by the lack of real discourse on important issues and asks for reassurance, Noonan expresses the hope that “This economic crisis will break this thing out of the stupid, small narrow rut we are in and maybe each of these men [Barack Obama and John MCCain who were running for President at the time] will come forward and be their best selves and make this campaign serious.”