As we prepare for today’s speech from Barack Obama on his response to the draconian cuts to social services proposed by Paul Ryan in his deficit reduction plan, it is very informative to watch Jon Stewart’s perfect dismantling of that plan from last night’s Daily Show. Stewart is right to poke fun at the “creepy music” to which Ryan presents his plan that the Washington villagers laud as so bold and decisive, but the real value of Stewart’s piece comes in his demonstration that the exact same amount of deficit reduction can be achieved by ending the Bush tax cuts. There were hints yesterday that Obama might actually suggest ending at least some tax cuts, but it remains to be seen just what kinds of revenue improvements Obama will suggest and, more importantly, how hard Obama will fight for them when it comes time to put his plan through Congress.

As far as American political and economic life goes, this is the Era of Elmer Fudd. It’s a time when Elmer defeats the irreverent, freedom-loving Bugs Bunny, when the idiot Wile E. Coyote catches up to all those American roadrunners, from Johnny Appleseed to John Muir to Jack Kerouac and the eponymous Roadrunner himself.

It is downright inappropriate to have an unapologetic terrorist sympathizer head our Committee on Homeland Security. So long as King maintains his terrorist support was justifiable but that of brown people is somehow different, he stands as a symbol of US hypocrisy on terrorism.

The typical Bill Gates/Arne Duncan perspective of privatization and union-busting is so prevalent on American television, critics like Ravitch never get an opportunity. She rightly points out that Finland, held up as a model in movies like Waiting for Superman as having the best schools in the world, have no charter schools, offer no standardized testing, and have 100% teacher’s unions. She points out that it’s poverty more than anything which is the greatest indicator of a successful classroom.

Nothing changes. The Class War is over, and the rich won. Time to hide under the fur and suck as much from the beast as possible, and get away from it.

It’s fallen to The Daily Show’s JON STEWART, of all people, to make an issue of the failure to pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which would provide needed funds to victims of the environmental and health hazards at Ground Zero.. He basically turned his show over to it last night.

It’s been about seven or eight hours now, so it is high time to render a final, definitive verdict: Has the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” succeeded? Or failed? Has sanity indeed been restored? The answer is.. no. Clearly, the entire enterprise has been an utter debacle of utterly debaculous proportions. [...]

Just wow. I had a tremendous time today at the Rally to Restore Sanity. The crowd was huge and entirely friendly. There were lots of creative signs, but people were very polite and lowered their signs when asked once the rally started. I did smell a little weed in the air now and then and saw a few folks sitting on top of traffic signals. The musical guests were tremendous. By inviting Muslims Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Yusuf (formerly Cat Stevens) to take part in the rally, Stewart did a nice job of putting faces to Muslims as opposed to fanning the flames of hatred by stating all Muslims are terrorists.

The most disturbing moment of John Stewart’s interview with President Obama was when Obama claimed the soon-to-exit director of the National Economic Council, Larry Summers, had done a “Heckuva Job.” It was a statement both profoundly wrong and politically stupid. On so many levels, it was an awful thing to say just days before the election. It is a moment that has honestly made me question Obama’s judgment and basic intelligence.

I was on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan show at 4pm EDT discussing Barack Obama’s appearance on the Daily Show. There were some claims made about the impact of the health care bill that are, at best, obfuscations.