The Half Hour News Hour: or, How Fox News Missed the Point, Again.

Fox News has recently come up with a so-called Conservative answer to the Daily Show. It's pretty sad. In fact, it's down right pathetic. If it were a horse, I would put a bullet through it's head just to put it out of it's misery. While my "liberal" (whatever that means) bias might be clouding my humor receptors, this whole effort seems contrived. Well, actually, it most certainly is contrived, since it's an obvious response to Comedy Central's success with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Here's the problem. Critics of the Daily Show (i.e. Fox News, Republicans... Michelle Malkin) assume that it's liberal. This assumption is erroneous. While Stewart and Colbert certainly play to the 18-24 demographic - which tends to be, I suppose, more liberal than others - one must not confuse their jibes at Bush and Company as liberal attacks on conservatism; Jon Stewart is, essentially, anti-establishment. They derive their humor from a disregard of authority; from the idea that power corrupts. Stewart, and his predecessor Craig Kilborn, started the program during the Clinton Administration, and it took off during the 2000 election, not because of some liberal bias, but because that campaign, and the legal drama the followed, was ridiculous. It's not as though The Daily Show and the Colbert Report will hang up their ties when a Democrat wins the Whitehouse; it's not like they'll stop being funny when liberals move into power. Democrats make asses out of themselves as often as Republicans do, it's just that it's easier to identify when they have the bully-pulpit.

So, how might Daily Show critics appropriately respond to Comedy Central's anti-establishment tack? Try a pro-establishment strategy! Hey, guess what! Fox News already does that pretty well, and it's hilarious.

Check out this Slate.com review of a segment.

Although, I'll give them this... their sense of humor is not totally lost. This clip shows Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter as President and Vice-President. The idea that Republicans would elect a female VP is pretty funny (and good lord, what a terrible laugh-track...).