Jon Stewart Mocks McCain’s Madness

Jon Stewart Mocks McCain’s Madness

John McCain receives a special award for an attack ad that reaches a new hypocritical low.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

In a desperate bid to smear Barack Obama for having legions of fans, John McCain’s new campaign ad compares the Democratic presidential nominee to vapid starlets Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Put aside for a minute the obvious hypocrisy of criticizing Obama for his celebrity when McCain himself has been known to seek out the spotlight in such down-to-earth locales as Saturday Night Live, the Hollywood comedy Wedding Crashers and the neoconservative spy show 24. Try also to momentarily move beyond the obvious lack of substance to the ad’s attacks, their total disconnect from the daily struggles Americans face at a time when they are losing their homes, struggling within a broken health-care system and footing the bill for intractable military occupations abroad. Instead, confront the sobering thought that one of the lovely ladies held up for public ridicule in McCain’s ad happens to be the daughter of one of his most prominent campaign contributors. On the basis of this cringe-worthy consideration alone, John Stewart bolsters the mock-maverick’s pop culture pedigree by gracing him with The Daily Show‘s award for “Dick of the Week”.

Will Di Novi

Check out more great Nation videos on our YouTube channel.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x