Stewart/Colbert Fist Bump

The newest edition of Entertainment Weekly features Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in a recreation of the now infamous Barack and Michelle Obama "terrorist" fist bump cover of the New Yorker from last July but it sounds like the article has some choice tidbits from Stewart as well:

The article itself features some blistering quotes from Stewart on the media’s fascination with McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin: "Everyone likes new and shiny," says Jon Stewart. "We’re bored. What’s great about that is [Democratic VP candidate Joe] Biden is an absolutely eccentric character. That’s how powerful Palin’s story is—it has cast the first African-American presidential nominee, the oldest [non-incumbent] presidential nominee, and a really wild cork vice presidential candidate completely out of the picture. The press is 6-year-olds playing soccer; nobody has a position, it’s just "Where’s the ball? Where’s the ball? Sarah Palin has the ball!" [Mimes a mob running after her.] Because they can only cover one thing."

"I keep hearing that she’s 'like us.' There’s this idea that people who hunt and have 'good' values are somehow this mythological American; I don’t know who 'this' person is, I’ve never met them," Stewart continues. "She is no more typical 'us' than I am, than Obama is, than McCain is, than Mr. T is. If there is something quintessentially or authentically American about her, I sort of feel like, you know what? You 'good values people' have had the country for eight years, and done an unbelievably sh*tty job.”

As I've said before, Stewart and Colbert are doing the job of the mainstream media better than the mainstream media and nobody seems too upset by this fact. The Bush Administration's cowing of the investigative press during the run up to the Iraq war was stupefying but the press's abdication of their duties during this election cycle has been truly stunning; thank the gods that we can still expect honest, intelligent, biting sarcasm and parody from these two no matter what happens after the election. If Obama wins this one I'd expect them to give him exactly as much heat as he deserves but to be honest, it's going to be pretty hard to top the crew we've had for the last eight years.