Late Night Round-Up: Huckabee and Stewart Spar on Abortion
by Tim SlagleAfter a week that will go down in history as the moment Republicans finally stood up for themselves, comics are not laying off John McCain’s former running mate just yet. Bill Maher said that Iran was propped up by oil revenue and run by a religious whacko, just like Alaska. Letterman, despite frequent jokes about the amount of hate mail he has been receiving, couldn’t help mentioning that Gay Pride week was the only time of year when you can see hundreds of men dressed up like Sarah Palin.
The big topics of the week were Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the presidential fly killing:
The election of Mahmoud was compared by the talk show hosts alternately to the 2000 Presidential and the 2008 Minnesota Senate elections. Fallon claimed that now that his opponent lost, he’ll go on to make a documentary about Global Warming. David Letterman actually did a joke almost every single night, changing the punchline from Florida voting machines, to Pat Buchanan, Al Gore, Al Franken and Jeb Bush. Bill Maher used Norm Coleman then criticized his audience for not knowing who he was talking about. The funniest line was Ferguson’s who claimed that Iranian politics have finally gotten as corrupt as Chicago.
Ferguson and Conan get the Writers Over Shoulders Award for making a joke about the fly being eaten like a lizard. Ferguson speculated that it would be done by Cheney, while Conan put a computer animated tongue in the president’s mouth, snapping the fly off his wrist. Kimmel gets an honorable mention for putting a sound effect of flatulence behind the video so it looked like the President was trying to fan the odor away.
The Most Overused Person as a Punchline goes to Thomas Prusik Parkin, the man who dressed up like his dead mother to collect her social security check. David Letterman accused both Elton John and Barry Manilow of dressing like their mothers on alternate nights. The funniest line he said was that he was so good at dressing up like an old woman that Ashton Kutcher wanted to date him. (He told a similar joke the following night, saying if he wanted to look like an old woman he should have dressed up like Madonna.)
John McCain buying a hybrid was another big story of the week getting attention from Conan, Fallon and Letterman who used it for ageist jokes. Letterman claimed that a Hybrid to McCain would be a horse and buggy while Conan claimed that to McCain, hybrid meant an AM/FM radio. Fallon claimed that seven months ago he couldn’t use a computer, but now he’ll have a hybrid and a twitter account; perhaps he’s the new Benjamin Button.
Jimmy Fallon reached all the way back to an administration that predated his talk show career to deliver the Lamest Attempt at an Obama Joke, claiming that George Bush tried to one-up the new President by killing a fly himself, but it took 20 minutes of clumsy two handed swatting. There were also a couple Bill Clinton as a predator jokes during the week. But the Oldest Presidential Reference goes to Stephen Colbert, who ran Richard Nixon’s quote about Bohemian Grove being “faggy.”
Most of the week’s Obama material centered on the fly. One exception was Jon Stewart who derided the President for trying to fix Health Care in the middle of a war on two fronts and trying to keep the nation from looking like it did in the Grapes of Wrath. But the Funniest Obama Line goes to Conan who claimed that while President Obama was on the phone talking to Phil Jackson and Dan Bylsma, Joe Biden got to talk to Tito Jackson and a real penguin.
The Most Interesting Interview of the week was Governor Mike Huckabee on the Jon Stewart Show. Governor Huckabee very clearly laid out the constitutional pro-life position for the Daily Show audience. Stewart, was defenseless against a rational case for the rights of the unborn, especially since Huckabee’s position was not based in religion, zealotry or misogyny–the straw men Stewart usually attacks. His audience also appeared stunned, as they were not able to perform their trademark trained seal-clap more than a couple times during Stewart’s humiliation.
The Angriest White Man is still Bill Maher, who after a brief flirtation with moderateness, struck back at those of us who congratulated his criticism of Obama. In a remarkably unfunny rant, Maher warned Republicans:
And as far as you folks on the right, who think that we’re now somehow in league: we’re not in league. I was criticizing Obama for not being hard enough on the corporate douchebags you live to defend. I don’t want to be on your team, pick another kid.
Gee, all we did was compliment him for being fair.
Besides Letterman, perhaps there might have been another threat issued down to a host last week. It seems David wasn’t the only one, who had to apologize to his “sponsors.”
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150 Comments
Great roundup Tim! Thanks for watching/wading through late nite swamp so us regular folk what have to get up early to go to work, don't have to.
Reading your Reader's Digest version of the late night jokes is funnier than watching the shows live. I still prefer watching SEINFELD or THE SIMPSONS reruns than watching any of these shows.
After a week that will go down in history as the moment Republicans finally stood up for themselves..
WTF?
"Stewart, was defenseless against a rational case for the rights of the unborn"
Right, because Stewart is intelligent and he knows he was arguing an indefensible position.
When he checks his pride at the door (and I believe that he will eventually because I think he has a good heart and a logical mind) he is going to be a tremendous asset to the pro-life cause.
You lost me on the "good heart" part.
I don't like Huckabee, but the man can certainly speak (i.e. give a good teleprompterless speech). I don't really believe Stewart has a good heart or mind; he's a strawman factory that I cannot imagine being interviewed by someone critical of his views on another show.
Why are all these Liberal white men so angry, they won…… right?
Maher and Stewart are both cowards. I saw Huckabee take Stewart apart and I can guarantee Stewart's handlers won't let that happen again. They'll be booking more defenseless people like Cramer and 9 year old girls…..
Maher is absolutely the most toxic POS on the air. I can't get through 5 minutes of his crapola without changing the channel. He's an ill-informed, ill-mannered, mildly retarded, left-wing nut bag.
And I'd pick a sack of doorknobs before I picked him for anything….
"I don’t want to be on your team, pick another kid."
Dream on moron, we NEVER wanted your whiny azz in the first place. Delusional narcisscist anyway.
Self loathing makes them that way.
AMEN!
BTW, I absolutely love that picture of Tim Slagle. I don't think I've ever seen a more snarkier look on anyone, ever.
Good catch. "Standing up"? That? Only according to a sliding scale, and relatively. Republicans continue to mediate and make nice according to the model established and imposed by the cultural mavens of the Left — a model within which there is no hope for conservative identity. The model needs to be shattered.
"…I cannot imagine being interviewed by someone critical of his views on another show."
You'll never see it. And you'll never see another capable person with opposing views on his show again. He got handled by Huckabee, a couple more guests like that and Stewart will be out of a job. Hell, he's already out of credibility….
I am sorry, but there is nothing good or likable about Jon Stewart. I know it is wrong to think violently about Stewart and Maher, but these are the kind of guys who got the stuffing beat out of them in school, and you would say to yourself "I know I should feel badly about those guys, but I no matter how hard I try, I just can't.)
"we NEVER wanted your whiny azz in the first place"
Not true, I'm sure he'd be great at parking cars or cleaning toilets….
Guess what Shill Maher- we DON'T want you on our "team"! If anything, all we want from you is to see Artie Lange booked on your show and pwn you the way he did Joe Buck…
Don't hold your breath. Stewart has become more and more liberal as time goes on. Soon he'll be foaming at the mouth like Maher.
I used to think he was a nice guy and pretty funny. But he's morphed into a Bill Maher jr. all he needs is a forum to curse and he'll be a Maher clone.
[...] original here: Late Night Round-Up: Huckabee and Stewart Spar on Abortion This entry is filed under America – Blogs, Big Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this [...]
"I know it is wrong to think violently about Stewart and Maher,"
On this point, I must respectfully disagree. One should be free to think however one wishes. Nothing right or wrong about it. A person is defined and judged by their actions, not their thoughts.
Only liberal elitists (and various tyrannical potentates) want to control how people think.
Thanks Tim for the update! Huckabee is a genuine person that knows what he believes and can express that belief without pushing people off. His ability to speak extemporaneously is superior to most politicians, his years as a Baptist minister I’d recon. I also love his position on the, “Fair Tax.” His one big negative is his congeniality, to knock off Barry going to take someone that will go for the jugular, and call him the Marxist that he is, unabashedly IMO. Comity with these radicals will spell defeat. That being said there is a place for Mike Huckabee in the monumental debate that’s coming in 2010, and 2012.
I don't know Hank, something tells me he'd suck at those things as well. I mean he already sucks at being a "comedian AND a human being, don't you think.
Ok, ok, I'll make up team that he can be on..How about "Team Titanic".
In all fairness, who would have expected a staunch abortionist Bernard Nathanson like (mentor to George Tiller) to become a pro-life activist? Yet, that is exactly what happened:
http://www.lifenews.com/state4235.html
I heard on Richard Land's radio show that Nathanson's pro-life activism led to his salvation through Christ.
Heck, a decade ago, if you told me I'd be volunteering at crisis pregnancy center, I'd have been ROTFL. Now, God has gotten the last laugh.
So, I wouldn't dismiss that Stewart could become pro-life later in life.
Well, actually, it is sinful for people to hate your enemies. Christ is quite clear
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' ut I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Matthew 5:21-24
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matth...
I do agree with you that, not being God, liberal elitists lack the divine wisdom and morality to fairly judge people's thoughts. That's why "hate crime" bills and PC "thought police" are such horrible ideas.
Stewart is great. He's a good guy too. Not sure why you don't find him likable. And note too he actually invites republicans on to his show and they get along.
You make a valid point. I recind my new job offer for Bill Maher.
The guy is just a complete disaster as a human being, how he continues to get a paycheck is beyond me.
Anyone have a "Titanic Rowing Team Est. 1912" t-shirt we can send him?
Were we neighbors I would relish many an evening of thoughtful philsophic debate (I am Jewish after all, we can never resist a good healthy arguement) over a pint or two. While we may not agree on some points, we do agree on that which matters most. As many of my martial arts teachers in my past have said, "there are many paths to the same destination."
Stewart makes a good point in the end. If abortion is illegal and a woman gets an abortion then is she not a murderer and is not the man who impregnated her an accessory to the crime? I have to disagree that the audience was 'stunned'. Huckabee makes good points. But they are points that every pro-choice person thinks about. No one is pro-abortion. The idea is to try and have few of them – whether through educating people about contraception and just being smart. It's called pro-prevention.
Personally, I laughed loud and hard at the Nixon quote from "Colbert…"
Of course, I have a sense of humor, unlike Mr. Maher.
I was referring to Sarah Palin.
It was the first time in my memory that a Republican stood up to a comedian who had gone too far.
Democrats have no problem demanding apologies for jokes less offensive than the A-Rod remark, but this is the first time an expression of outrage came from the right.
It's because the golden calf is failing miserably. They have to blame someone else. They also think they'll be among the ruling elite if they keep sucking up. Let's face it, you'd have a better chance of talking with Obama if you have a camera in your hand than if you have a policy proposal.
Thanks for the tip on the Huckabee-Stewart discussion. Just watched the video at HuffPo, and was impressed with Huckabee's composure and the good points he made. I would like to see more conservatives unabashedly and unapologetically stand up for their principles in such a well-spoken way.
No but I have an anchor he can take with him when he goes swimming.
You could be right, and I'd love to give him the benefit of the doubt. I guess my own bias is preventing me from doing so and that's my problem not Jon Stewart's.
I'm still not holding my breath, he's demonstrated that he is willing to attack all things conservative while giving a pass to all things liberal. If he turns, I fully expect to see pigs fly…..or Bill Maher to act like a human being.
[...] Late Night Round-Up: Huckabee and Stewart Spar on Abortion by Tim Slagle [...]
These late-night round-ups are much better than actually having to watch late-night TV. Late-night died with Carson. (Speaking of which, RIP Ed McMahon.)
Maher on our team? I'm sorry but, I would never pick the intellectually crippled. Hit him over the head and take his baseball cards maybe………….
I appreciate the roundup, but the only way I could endure all of these shows, week-after-week, would be to strapped down in a chair, eyelids propped open as I was transformed into a common clockwork orange. Conan can be funny, but the rest of these people are hacks. Want topical humor – stick with The Soup and South Park, and you're bound to get it week after week.
I wonder – is Letterman still making Joey Buttafuco jokes? He nursed that baby for what, five, six years?
I perfer watching horse racing to late night comics. The racing hosts are usually funnier!
[...] Here is the original: Late Night Round-Up: Huckabee and Stewart Spar on Abortion [...]
On that note, check out this comment by Townhall's Matt Lewis (emphasis mine) :
While I don't agree with all of Huckabee's positions (especially his populist economic positions), it's hard to deny his likability, charisma and humor.
It is clear that Huckabee is far and away the best-equipped contemporary Republican –in terms of his ability to communicate conservative positions to non-conservatives …<i/>
http://townhall.com/blog/g/ab5d92b8-e261-4660-95f...
I couldn't have said it better.
Bill Maher always gives me a laugh.
I think it's funny to see someone sooooo stupid, yet soooo arrogant.
That was not a good point, it was a typical hysterical strawman from Stewart.
The problem with making abortion completely illegal excecpt in extreme cases like rape, is that it would spawn an illegal underground industry. making it completely illegal could end up being a disaster.
But Stewart got his arse handed to him, you can tell he did just by that nonsensical statement about the man who impregnates a woman that gets an abortion. It's meant to derail the discussion because it wasn't going his way, Stewart knew it, and his audience knew it. Anybody with a brain knows it….
wait a minute… you're calling that a 'good point'?
You put your money in a bank… that bank gets robbed… by your logic, MD… you're now an accessory to a bank robbery.
wait a minute… you're calling that a 'good point'?
You put your money in a bank… that bank gets robbed… by your logic, MD… you're now an accessory to a bank robbery.
Huckabee is such a joke it's not even funny…
I'm really surprised he didn't come into the studio with a bible in one hand and a handful of SNAKES in the other. Must have left those in his double wide trailer LOL
I was voting for "Team Hindenburg"… so that it can go down in flames.
Because it is their way to cling bitterly to their victimhood and dialectic.
"The guy is just a complete disaster as a human being, how he continues to get a paycheck is beyond me."
Which is why I cancelled HBO and told them I'd consider a resubscription AFTER they toss Bill Maher in the dumpster where he belongs. Ignoring him won't make him go away, especially when millions of people keep giving HBO $10 a month.
As a woman, I accept that pregnancy is my decision (unless I'm raped). My decision. If I terminate that life, it's my decision, my responsibility. I would never do that, but I own it, no matter what the sperm donor does. Personally, I don't even hold the donor responsible unless we have a commitment to each other. I mean a real commitment, not one of those "Sure, I love you tonight, honey" kind of arrangements.
And, if abortion isn't wrong, then why prevent it? You can't have it both ways.
Maybe he meant the point on top of Stewart's head…..
Amen to that
Imagine how Jon Stewart and his producers feel after getting their butts kicked by Huckabee.
I'm no Huckabee fan, but Stewart came off as a blithering idiot…..
Maher is a supreme douche drinker. But he also knows he's working the same side of the street as Stewart, so Maher has to make sure his audience knows he's still cool with the left and detests the right. That's why at any point Maher says something even remotely sensible, visible conservatives should praise it to the heavens.
It probably won't help change Maher's opinion, but it might just make his head implode from cognitive dissonance. That'd be fun.
The hell he did! I saw the video and frankly I think he held up well, considering how much down-home country bumpkin NONSENSE he had to deal with…
Huckahick is an EMBARRASSMENT TO HUMANITY and should be confined to his trailer home for life.
Yeah, LOL. Standard references to: Bible, check; snake-handling, check; double-wide trailer, check. Lazy, tired, overused stereotype complete.
Watch the vid. He was well-spoken and made a good argument that had nothing to do with religion.
Because they didn't win. Sure, they won an election, but not the war of ideas. If they did, we'd be living in the Soviet States of America right now. Until we are, lefties like Bill Maher will always be angry.
I don't understand why a guy who depends on corporations (HBO, advertisers, etc., etc.) continues to refer to them and think of them as "douchebags". Who does he think will pay him for his humorless, reasonless screeds if not them?
I can see why one might think they're idiots for sponsoring this kind of tripe, but douchebags?
That's probably what Stewart expected, too. When it didn't happen, Stewart was forced to debate the issues rather than attack Huckabee's faith. You take ad hominem attacks out of a leftie's arsenal and he's got nothing.
Heck, your posts would be completely blank.
We probably shouldn't pollute the ocean like that.
They won't let up until US has no standing army.
So if abortion was made illegal what does that mean to you?
Would the woman getting the abortion be charged with a crime?
Would the doctor?
What would you have done to the woman?
Dang! I am going to have to look up the John Stewart episode on Hulu…
And Bill Maher can fall off the face of the planet for all I care and I wouldn't miss him for a minute he is a douchebag that thinks his douchebaggery self is important just because he has a show on HBO.
Actually I think the "EMBARRASSMENT TO HUMANITY" is reserved for you and the likes of you…. You and your trailer statements are just a deflection for a truth you don't want to see let alone understand….
One correction, Planet Zero doesn't live in a trailer, Planet Zero lives in his momma's basement. . . beneath the trailer.
Screw all you right wing bastards on here. All you seem to do is belittle, insult, and mock people that you don't like. It's so negative. You want blame liberals for everything but the only big idea righties seem have is to cut taxes. That is their solution for everything. It's like pressing a button. But you know what? Keep on acting like unfriendly, narrow-minded, intolerant people with no new ideas so as to further marginalize your beloved GOP.
Wow… Apparently you haven't been on the Huffington Post lately… only that's the left hating on the right… or the Daily Kos.. which is the same as the HuffPost…. :/ really? Perhaps you should also look at the left because it's happening ALL THE WAY around… :/
"I don’t want to be on your team, pick another kid."
It's funny that that quote stuck out to me and so many others. I'm a guy guy, and grew up in an era where we picked teams nearly every day. Little Bill revealed something about himself with that remark and it explains a lot about him. Clearly, 40+ years later he's still nursing the wounds of being the kid who was not picked, the kid who ended up standing there and hearing the words, "Someone has to take Billy." He didn't want to be on their dumb ol team anyway!
It explains why a kid like him grew up to be a whiner and thinks he's fighting injustice when he wants to force "teams" (now businesses) to hire individuals who are not qualified, or have to take direction from liberals like him who were never able to make the "team." Maher, do us all a favor. Go home and cry into your pillow until you feel better, maybe that will help you grow up and become a man.
Answer the question thrown at you first, MD,, then you can go off on another tangent…. that's the idea behind a debate…
"is not the man who impregnated her an accessory to the crime?"…
You approved the statement that Stewart made.. No changing the arguement until you successfully defend that as a valid point…
When the writers were on strike we were spared Stewart's asinine nightly routine.Much funnier than he is are the drooling left wing nut jobs who think he,personally, actually has something clever to say politically.Of course, they also don't get Obama's teleprompter addiction either.
That's what is freaking out Planet Hero. He can't believe that Huckabee can demolish the pro-choice position without mentioning God.
Hero wouldn't be so shocked after reading about pro-life activist Bernard Nathanson who stopped performing abortions after scientific evidence proved the humanity of the fetus:
http://www.lifenews.com/state4235.html
On his radio show, Richard Land quoted Nathanson as being baffled that his protege, the late George Tiller, didn't become pro-life given the new evidence.
(cont.)
Similarly, atheist David Harsanyi concluded that abortion because of its disturbing eugenics undertones:
http://townhall.com/columnists/DavidHarsanyi/2009...
In short, secular arguments (scientific, philosophical, etc.) are proving as devastating to the pro-choice position as religious arguments. So, is it any wonder that more Americans are becoming pro-life?
The man who got the woman pregnant is an accessory to the pregnancy not to the abortion.Stewart. the moron .is too stupid to figure this out, but the average poster here shouldn't have a problem with the distinction
Thank you for articulating what MD has missed….
**crickets**
That explains it.
Oh you must've been watching through those sh!t-colored glasses Jon Stewart is so fond of….
Anyone ever tell you that you are a bigot?
Gonna have to call you out on this one: "the straw men Stewart usually attacks" in regarding the abortion debate.
Stewart has always been relatively moderate on this point.
what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent post was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul….
Since abortion is a hot topic, here is a timely excerpt from an article about America and Christianity (emphasis mine):
Frank Pavone of Priests for Life notes that we're seeing a "strong and ever-growing involvement of young people in all aspects of the fight to end abortion." He also points out that among older people working either in abortion businesses or pro-life centers, the flow of conversions is in one direction—from pro-abortion to pro-life.
(cont.)
Liberal secularists downplay such stories: It would be front page news if a pro-lifer were to repent of saving babies, but the many instances of abortion industry veterans repenting are like trees falling in the forest. (A broader measure of attitudes last month also received little attention: A Gallup Poll reported that 51 percent of Americans surveyed called themselves "pro-life" and only 42 percent "pro-choice." Gallup began asking that either-or question in 1995, and this is the first time a majority has embraced "pro-life." Ultrasound machines, pro-life pregnancy resource centers, and a generation of regret-filled women are all having an impact.)
http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15477
So what happened to him on this particular night? I mean besides getting handled by Huckabee?
The Huck is the only person I have ever donated to. I discovered how great he is, so I figured it only right to support him. His comments on why is is a Republican won me over.
Where have you been? All I hear from the left is hate.
Ever notice that angry atheists bring up God and/or the Bible more often than the average religious person? And that people like Hero seem to get very incensed when a religious person doesn't conform to his bigoted stereotype?
I agree with you, Fred, and I'm definitely pro-life, but I don't object to someone attempting a reasoned argument in favor abortion. As much as I disagree with Stewart, he was at least respectful and composed. What I object to are hate-filled comments by bigots who have no intellectual recourse than to invoke pathetic stereotypes to make their case ("Why don't he go back to his double-wide and fry somethin', yeehaw!") while inferring that the target of derision is unintellectual. My irony cup runneth over.
I love the term "White Liberal" this has to be a phrase that conservatives pound into the public consciousness. For all of the years the left tried to attach racial motives to everything conservative, it is about time we play this game.
Stewart and Maher… NOW I know what SandM really means! No wonder I can stand their shows.
Only until the whips and chains come out.
I take it you're still master of your domain—-
[...] coverage of the life issue. Big Hollywood TV correspondent Tim Slagle, not a fan of Stewart, observes with glee: Governor Huckabee very clearly laid out the constitutional pro-life position for the Daily Show [...]
Perez Hilton called. He wants you number. He likes guys like you.
If the woman has the baby and one month after it is born she kills the baby , Is the father an accessory to the Killing? PS Steward is a fool.
These people are mouth-breathing Red-State Rejects who talk tough but waddle away fast as they can when you call their bluff…
Yup, all I want to do is cut taxes. Now scram.
What about the rights of a father?
A couple guys I know wife's had abortions during the marriage. Both women sited their career as the priority. Both women initiated the divorce. And both collected half the guy's stuff and the homes. However, one guy got to pay off his ex wife's credit cards (though they were both doctors and she made more seemed to elude the feminist Family judge). The other guy got an Order of Protection and a domestic violence charge on his record (for his future employers to see), though he never hit her – she "felt" afraid. She wasn't too afraid t pull the trigger on killing/abortion the guy's child.
The woman's right for what now?
I think that would be "team Lewinsky".
I know I'm BAAAAAD..
Ok Tim. Glad you clarified that, but remember "The Republicans" are the people that had the "listening tour" a month or two ago. And they didnt invite Sarah Palin.
What would happen if everyone suddenly CHOSE to stop having abortions? Abortion clinics would go out of business. A billion dollar industry would collapse. Abortion rights groups would cease to exist, and the Democrat Party would lose a major source of funding. So you think NARAL and NOW and Planned Parenthood will ever do anything that might kill that cash cow? No, they're going to do everything in their power to insure that every possible abortion happens. So yes, for the sake of self-preservation, liberals are indeed "pro-abortion".
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