[Peace-discuss] our banner on The Daily Show

[Linda Evans]

There is no such thing as bad publicity.

Linda

--- Randall Cotton <recotton at earthlink.net> wrote:

> 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]
> 
> 
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