Stewart vs O'Reilly - Round 2

[Zinegata]

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... right.html

I found it really, really funny and enjoyable.

Those two actually have very good chemistry.

[Zinegata]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-s ... l-o-reilly

And O'Reilly visits the Daily Show. And it's also great fun.

[Liberty]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-s ... l-o-reilly

And O'Reilly visits the Daily Show. And it's also great fun.

I saw this one too, and I really enjoyed it. Stewart was amazing, and both he and O'Reilly referred to Fox News headquarters as "the temple of doom" throughout the entire interview.

[CaptainChewbacca]

This is really how politics should be. Disagreement with respect, and cordial discourse throughout. The level of meanness in American politics has to stop.

[Liberty]

This is really how politics should be. Disagreement with respect, and cordial discourse throughout. The level of meanness in American politics has to stop.

Goldwater was very disappointed when Kennedy was assassinated because he was looking forward to running against him in 1964. He liked Kennedy personally, and was hoping that they could get a private plane together and fly around the country holding joint town hall meetings, presenting their different plans and issues. He wanted to completely dispense with any other form of advertising. When Kennedy was killed and Johnson because Goldwater's opponent, this became moot. Still, it seems to me that this is indeed how politics should be, like Chewbacca said of Stewart and O'Reilly.

However, I feel like, as an American historian, I need to point something out. American politics has NEVER been cordial. If anything, early republic and antebellum politics was worse. Andrew Jackson's wife Rachel died shortly after his political campaign because of the stress she was under; she was called an adulterer and a whore and completely smeared by John Quincy Adams. And have we forgotten the caning of Charles Sumner, a senator viscously beaten unconscious by a congressman on the senate floor? American politics has always been this way. My dad ran for a state office some years back and it was so bad that he lapsed into depression the following summer over all that had happened. He ran again two years later, and my mom got so fed up with it all that she finally packed up the kids and left to her parents' house in a different state until things blew over. American politics is hell. Do I like that fact? No. But that's how it is and that's how it's always been.

And I don't know how to fix it.

[Setesh]

American politics is hell. Do I like that fact? No. But that's how it is and that's how it's always been.

And I don't know how to fix it.

Actually compared to a lot of countries American politics have become down right tame. In countries like Turkey, Mexico, Italy, South Korea, and Taiwan, fist fights and/or small riots in congress/parliament are common. South Korea's National Assembly rather famously, after last years worldwide televised brawl that included sledge hammers and fire extinguishers used as melee weapons.

[JME2]

American politics is hell. Do I like that fact? No. But that's how it is and that's how it's always been.

And I don't know how to fix it.

Actually compared to a lot of countries American politics have become down right tame. In countries like Turkey, Mexico, Italy, South Korea, and Taiwan, fist fights and/or small riots in congress/parliament are common. South Korea's National Assembly rather famously, after last years worldwide televised brawl that included sledge hammers and fire extinguishers used as melee weapons.

Wasn't there also a fistfight in the Japanese parliament a year or two back?

[Liberty]

American politics is hell. Do I like that fact? No. But that's how it is and that's how it's always been.
And I don't know how to fix it.

Actually compared to a lot of countries American politics have become down right tame. In countries like Turkey, Mexico, Italy, South Korea, and Taiwan, fist fights and/or small riots in congress/parliament are common. South Korea's National Assembly rather famously, after last years worldwide televised brawl that included sledge hammers and fire extinguishers used as melee weapons.

Interesting point. I don't remember that happening in South Korea; how did I miss that?

I guess what I meant was that politics in America have never been "civil." (This was in response to a comment that O'Reilly and Stewart carry on a civil disagreement, which is how politics should be). Rather, they have always been about mudslinging, spear campaigns, name calling, etc. They have not generally included actual violence, however. Mexico and other countries have experienced coup after coup, but America never has. This is impressive. However, this doesn't mean that politics is "civil."

[Pelranius]

American politics is hell. Do I like that fact? No. But that's how it is and that's how it's always been.

And I don't know how to fix it.

Actually compared to a lot of countries American politics have become down right tame. In countries like Turkey, Mexico, Italy, South Korea, and Taiwan, fist fights and/or small riots in congress/parliament are common. South Korea's National Assembly rather famously, after last years worldwide televised brawl that included sledge hammers and fire extinguishers used as melee weapons.

Wasn't there also a fistfight in the Japanese parliament a year or two back?

That might have been the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan.

[TithonusSyndrome]

Yeah, the Taiwanese legislature has these brawls like perennial clockwork. If your political heritage includes the mass-murdering likes of Chiang Kai-Shek, though, what can you expect?