Liberals have their actor-pundits, too

Less than 24 hours after Clint Eastwood spoke at the Republican National Convention, the liberally controlled news media began expressing its mocking and jaded opinions of his appearance. It’s been asked, what’s he doing there? He’s just a rich Republican who’s parroting the ideas of his political party. He’s only an actor. Who is he to do a satire on a discussion with an imaginary President Obama sitting next to him?

Consider just one of the more in-your-face liberal or Democratic “expert” — Jon Stewart. Mr. Stewart is a comedian who portrays himself as a news reporter. But people tend to forget he is just a comedian as he does his act behind the stage of a working newsroom. His jaded opinions go out to the millions who watch him every night.

Diane Sawyer is a news commentator. For the most part, she stays within the parameters of her role — to provide fair and balanced reporting. Jon Stewart does not. He’s an actor and a comedian, pretending to be fair and balanced, all the while delivering his personal political opinions and cynical satire for a laugh at somebody else’s expense within his comedy routine.

The scary thing is, too many of his true believers can’t separate the two. When someone heckles or disagrees with a comedian, how does the comedian respond? They learn early that they have to come back louder and more insulting. It doesn’t matter if what they’re saying is accurate and truthful, just so it embarrasses the heckler from going any further. Unfortunately, many in our society perceive Mr. Stewart to be something that he’s not. So what qualifies Jon Stewart to be more of a trusted and qualified spokesman than Clint Eastwood?

John K. Nolan

Mount Prospect