This is interesting. The Washington staff of Britain’s Telegraph decided to rank the United States’ top 100 liberals and conservatives (so, 200 people, overall). They’ve only published 61-100 for each side, and Stephen and Jon both made the cut. From the Telegraph:
The top US conservatives and liberals
By Toby Harnden
Last Updated: 1:31pm GMT 30/10/2007. . .
81. JON STEWART
Presenter: The Daily ShowA former stand-up comedian, Jon Stewart presents The Daily Show on Comedy Central, blending his wry humour with the day’s top news stories, often lampooning the hypocrisy and shallowness of politicians and mainstream journalists.
Since he helped end the CNN political show Crossfire by appearing as a guest presenter and denouncing it as “hurting America” by pitting “partisan hacks” against each other, Stewart has been an unlikely champion of substantive news. His show is a must-do for any politician or author and his recent lampooning of Hillary Clinton showed that it is not just Conservatives who should fear him.
. . .
61. STEPHEN COLBERT
Comedian and satiristShot to international prominence in 2006 when he delivered a searing performance lampooning President George W. Bush and lambasting a pliant media. His eponymous character – a ludicrous figure – is based on Bill O’Reilly of Fox News and is a biting satire of right-wing, personality-driven talk shows.
Colbert has recently launched his own presidential campaign. A stunt, certainly, but he will generate massive attention and heap ridicule on Republicans. A self-described Democrat, he has recently been quoted approvingly by Hillary Clinton in her stump speeches.
I’m a little surprised to see Stephen and Jon so far apart in the rankings; they usually seem to be within a few notches of one another (and Jon is usually seen as the more influential, frankly). But what particularly amused me was seeing that both Bill O’Reilly and Ann Coulter were ranked lower on the conservative scale (82 and 84, respectively) than either Stephen or Jon were on the liberal scale. I know it’s not an apples to apples comparison, but it still made me smile a bit.
The hateful right wing comments about this list are nauseating.
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It is the Telegraph, so has to look at the wider global appeal. In that sense, Colbert’s WHCD speech made him a massive figure, far more so than the Crossfire incident could ever do. Also, Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly are seen in Britain as jokes. Coulter was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman once and basically 90 per cent of his questions where variations of “You don’t actually believe this stuff in your book, do you? Really? No, you’re kidding, honestly?!”
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