Jon Stewart Delivers His Own "Special Comment" to Keith Olbermann

And Keith Olbermann responds, by saying "It was a little bit of a ripoff of the Affleck thing, but overall, I'd give it a B-."

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Special Comment - Keith Olbermann's Name-Calling
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I thought it was kind of funny, but I definitely prefer Ben Affleck's performance on SNL:

America Made Some Friends In Haiti Today

The White House Press Office today sent out a link to this YouTube video of a Los Angeles urban rescue team in Haiti pulling a survivor out of a collapsed building while onlookers chant "USA! USA! USA!" I must say I prefer this to seeing images of the international community burning our flag or stomping on pictures of our president.

Katie Couric Visits Haiti, and Breaks My Heart

CBS' Katie Couric toured the devastation in Haiti and brought back one of the most heart-wrenching videos I've ever seen featuring a recently orphaned Haitian boy clutching her arm screaming "WHY?! WHY?!" to god.


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MA GOP Candidate Suggests Obama is a Bastard

If this guy is somehow able to convince the people of Massachusetts that he is at all moderate and defeat Martha Coakley, I get the strong impression that Scott Brown will only be a one-term Senator. I suppose that's a benefit of being unheard of a month ago. It takes a little while for the skeletons to fall out of the closet.

Rachel Maddow vs. Jon Stewart

My media worlds collided a bit on Thursday when Jon Stewart of The Daily Show blasted Rachel Maddow of MSNBC and Air America by comparing her statements on the disastrous Haiti earthquake to those made by Rush Limbaugh and the Reverend Pat Robertson:

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Haiti Earthquake Reactions
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Pat Robertson blamed the earthquake on the Haitians themselves. Rush Limbaugh said the death of tens of thousands was "made to order" for Obama to shore up his credibility among "both the light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country."

Rachel Maddow, in contrast, highlighted the effective response of USAID. Below is the original segment as aired by Rachel Maddow on January 14th. I definitely suggest you watch it all the way through, as it provides an in-depth explanation of an under-covered government agency. In-depth explanations of this nature are an example of the media at its best.

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When a government agency or program functions effectively and is able to provide assistance to thousands of people, there is nothing controversial in reporting it. Even more so when that organization has repeatedly been subject to Republican attempts to decrease it's funding and scope.

If a government policy or program results in the prevention of a terrorist attack, would it be wrong to point out its success, and also criticize attempts to make it ineffective? Republicans are doing just that when they argue for torture, keeping the Guantanamo Bay detention center open, and the denial of access to the courts for terror suspects.

Last night, Rachel Maddow politely fired back at Stewart and refused to apologize:

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While I love both The Daily Show AND The Rachel Maddow Show, I think Jon Stewart is way off base this time around. Government *IS* politics. Having a discussion about anything related to the government without a discussion of the politics involved is inherently incomplete. Stewart seems to think that the media should relegate itself to showing footage of the death and destruction in Haiti without even a cursory explanation of precisely how America is able to help. Perhaps if more attention was drawn to FEMA before its failure after Hurricane Katrina, it would have been in a better position to respond. Instead, it fell out of the news, lost funding, and lost its cabinet-level post.

Covering the government is a good thing for the media to do, no matter what The Daily Show says.

Pat Robertson: Haitian Earthquake is Their Own Fault

Compassionate conservative Pat Robertson, in a response to the disastrous earthquake in Haiti, felt it was important to take a little time out of his day to place the blame for the disaster squarely on the shoulders of the Haitians because of their "pact with the devil." Cute, right?

Rudy "Mr. 9/11" Giuliani Forgets About 9/11.

There's been a recent rash of Republicans forgetting about 9/11 and all the other attacks under Bush. The Rachel Maddow Show expertly takes Mr. 9/11 himself, Rudy Giuliani, to task for his recent claim that "We had no domestic attacks under Bush."

Except 9/11. And the shoe bomber. And anthrax. And the DC snipers. And the Mohammed Atta fanboy who ran into nine people with his SUV. But, you know. Other than that.

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