[Peace-discuss] our banner on The Daily Show

[Randall Cotton]

So for some reason, our "Central Illinois says no to War" AWARE Banner was
featured prominently by John Stewart tonight. He actually read out the words
of our sign. Bad news is, it was in the middle of a segment lampooning the
DC demonstration and our sign was the butt of a little joke. The humor at
our expense wasn't the worst of the segment though, which seemed very
uncharacteristic of the show's writers (maybe they're on vacation or
something). The worst,  I think, was the flippant dismissal of the
demonstration's anti-racism thrust. Making fun of Cindy Sheehan kind of
rubbed me the wrong way as well. I'm generally a big fan of John Stewart,
but this piece as a whole left a bad taste in my mouth. The joke about our
banner completely escapes me, but the audience did laugh. Maybe someone can
explain to me how this was funny - perhaps I'm a little too close to the
subject to understand.

This edition will replay tomorrow on Comedy Central 10:30PM

Following is a transcript.
R

John: So on Saturday, 100,000 strong peace marchers descended on Washington
seeking to crystallize America's dissatisfaction with the war into *one*
*single* *idea*

protest speaker: PEACE!

John: d-Okay! [audience laughs]

protest speaker: JUSTICE!

John: [pause] Fine. [fewer laughs]

protest speaker: ENVIRONTAL PROTECTION!

John: [puzzled look on his face] [audience laughs]

protest speaker: NO RACISM! [weak audience laughs]

John: [even more puzzled look on his face] Dude, I didn't hitchhike from
Overland for this. [stronger audience laughs]

Yes, this protest march was like many we've seen over the years. First came
the traditional running of the liberals [shot of what is probably the lead
marchers running down the street] [audience laughs] Followed by the ritual
display of somewhat eccentric signage like this one: "Central Illinois Says
No to War" [John said this mockingly to weak audience laughs] - reflecting
the political wisdom that as goes Effingham, so go Altamont and Beecher City
[audience laughs and even applauds] And no protest is complete without the
presence of the Raging Grannies - their slogan: "ask us about our
grandchildren .... NOW!" [very weak laughs] ... uh, they're grannies, but of
course ... raging [John was acknowledging here that this joked bombed].
Among the orators - the Reverend [pause] Jesse Jackson.

Jesse Jackson: America, the whole world is watching.

John: Reverend, with all due respect, you're on CSPAN [audience laughs and
applauds]  Uh, I don't wanna - I don't want to be rude here [pause]
America's not even watching [audience laughs]. Jackson, though, had the
honor of introducing the day's main attraction, Cindy Sheehan. Then, of
course, he took care of some personal business [camera shot shows Jackson
wiping his nose behind Cindy, who's at the podium]. [audience laughs] [John
then imitates Jesse Jackson, poorly of course, saying:] Before I leave,
also, we must also win the war on ragweed [audience laughs] Very much
affecting the linings [pause] in my nostrils [weak audience laughs]. I'm not
a very good impressionist. [audience laughs] Sheehan, of course, is the
grieving mother who has become the symbol of the anti-war movement

Cindy Sheehan: My good friends in the media aren't doing their jobs. Most of
our friends in congress aren't doing their jobs.

John: [continuing on in Cindy's tone] Clearly many of you don't have jobs
[audience laughs] But like Martin Luther King Jr. before her, Sheehan closed
her speech in Washington with a stirring rhetorical flourish.

Cindy Sheehan: I'll see you at 4:30 over there! [audience laughs and claps]

John: No! no! wait! wait! [pause] make it 5! [audience laughs] I have a
thing. When Sheehan left the stage, a bit of the glamour of the event went
with her. Luckily the organizers knew exactly how to keep the marchers
entertained.

Are you guys ready for a treat? Our next speaker is a poet [audience laughs]

John: And she will tell us where the treat is? [audience laughs] Seriously.
And, oddly enough, the poet came on and opened with "There once was a man
from Nantucket" [audience laughs] All in all, the rather disorganized
left-wing protest, one that no doubt cheered conservatives, I mean what
could look worse than *that* - except a right-wing counterprotest the next
day that was 99.6 percent smaller. [audience laughs] *400 people* -
organizers had been expecting 20,000 people. So apparently, there was some
kind of miscalculation by people on the right concerning the number of
people it would take to accomplish this mission [laughs leading into
extended applause - the strongest reaction of the whole piece]. To be fair
the protestors did greet each other as liberators [mixed reaction from the
audience]. Finding the level [John is referring to the odd audience
reaction]. So large protest, tiny counter-protest, that should be the last
word, no? No. Because yesterday came the counter-counterprotest.
Demonstrators gathered around the White House, including [shot of Sheehan
being arrested] [pause] Yes, she's back. And Washington police converged
swiftly on the group, which had no permit and made Cindy Sheehan the first
of hundreds of arrests. Uh, she's smiling. [audience laughs] You know what,
I don't think she's being arrested - I think a Jewish wedding just broke
out. [bigger laughs and a clap or two]. [unscripted] Now, you folks aren't
really sure how to take all this tonight are ya?

[end of piece]