So, am I the only one who is FLOORED that The Colbert Report just had on both Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama (via satellite), and John Edwards? It was all silly fun with only the slightest bit of seriousness from John Edwards. His appearance was the most interesting to me, since he came out and said, for the first time on camera, I think, what he’s would like from the candidates in order to secure his endorsement.

Jet skis, in case you were wondering.

(and something about making poverty a key part of their campaign, pledging a minimum wage increase, and some issue called “healthcare” or something).

In all seriousness, I don’t think any other show could’ve set up a triple appearance like that. It’s amazing to me how “serious” the Colbert Report and The Daily Show have become.

It’s an almost complete archive. You can just browse by day. Farhad Manjoo posted up this extraordinary clip from Sept. 19, 2001’s episode, which was the first after 9/11. It’s hard to watch it, but it’s a reminder of what we thought about the world then. Of course, it just reminds us of what little George W. Bush was able to accomplish in that time, but hey, who’s quibbling.

Almost cried myself watching that… (this isn’t a featured video because, really, I don’t know if I could handle it being on the page every day for a week)

I am impressed with both of them, her for coming on and him for trying to be direct. I had some concerns, which I outlined yesterday. Part 2 is where I think he started edging right up to (and perhaps slightly over) that line.

I love the Daily Show, and tonight I saw one of the most awkward interviews ever by Jon Stewart. He interviewed Lynne Cheney about her book and while doing so, really asked some tough questions about Dick Cheney and politics. They weren’t tough in that they were hard, but they were awkward questions. Stewart, to his credit, figured out why part way through: he was unfairly using Lynne Cheney as a proxy to ask questions he would rather ask the Vice President. It was unfair, but I can imagine that he was struggling because it was a rare opportunity to talk to someone with a real familiarity with the Vice President. I’ll post the video up when I find it.

Though I’m not a fan of the VP, I was glad Stewart backed off. Worth watching if you’re on the west coast tonight.

Full interview from The Daily Show including the parts that were cut out. Happy I saw the shorter one.

Update: that last line didn’t come out right, just meant I was happy to see both versions. Another random thought, can you imagine President Bush speaking that comfortably and articulately on, well, any topic?

I've been meaning to write more about this issue, but it's complicated and the sheer volume of crap from both sides makes writing a simple explanation tough. Lots of fear from the blog side of the debate. Lots of hollow claims and more fear from the telecom industries.

Whenever a tough issue like this surfaces, though, you can count on Jon Stewart to clear it up for you. And make fun of everyone.

You can read more about Net Neutrality at Wikipedia. More on the bill passed by the House to ban online gambling (except for horseracing) at MSNBC.

Tom Friedman
Ken Mehlman
Tim Russert

The first two are clearly Bush administration supporters saying the same damn crap they say whenever they come on any TV show. “The next six months blah blah blah.” “When they stand up blah blah blah.” “Of course we were never wrong on Iraq blah blah.”

Tim Russert talking about his faux spontaneous book. At least Stewart wasn’t deferential to Tim Russert.

All three weren’t that funny.