Topic: NewsBusters
Geoffrey Dickens has absolutely no evidence that Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" joke that Herman Cain doesn't "like to read" is "racially charged" -- indeed, as the transcript Dickens supplies in his June 10 NewsBusters post demonstrates, the full context of the joke makes it clear that Stewart was mocking Cain's contention that legislation should run no longer than three pages.
But Dickens has decided it is anyway, putting "racially charged" in his headline. His reasoning? "The Daily Show" might have said that if a right-wing radio host had said the same thing about President Obama. No, really:
It would be unfair to call Jon Stewart a racist but when he mocked GOP presidential contender Herman Cain as essentially an illiterate, on Thursday's show, it has to be asked wouldn't Stewart and his cronies at The Daily Show have satirized any sort of conservative talk show host, like a Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, as a bigot if they had joked that President Barack Obama didn't "like to read?"
So it's unfair for Dickens to call Stewart a racist but perfectly in bounds to falsely call Stewart's joke "racially charged" when he has no evidence to back him up? We're confused.
