After watching Sen. John Kerry on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. His first person-to-person since the DNC, Kerry seemed loose and willing to make fun of himself. Since the advant of Presidential candidates going on comedy shows to play the dancing monkey for the masses, Kerry ranked a five. He didn't match the ten hit by Richard Nixon's "Sock it to me"? on Laugh-In or Bill Clinton playing the sax on The Arsenio Hall Show. But it wasn't close to the one suffered by...John Kerry when he drove his motorcycle onto the Tonight Show set at the low-point of his primary race. But this morning, everyone from Slate to The Washington Post to CNN lambasted Kerry for being "stiff" to "humorless". For a second, I thought they were talking about Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn that directly followed. But no, they cited Stewart's "powder-puff" questions that Kerry "failed to even make an attempt to be humorous in response." They cited the moment when Stewart asked if Kerry made a nickel everytime someone used katsup. "Would that if it were", in that flat Bostonian sort of a way. But, in order to make Kerry look "stiff" and "humorless", they fail to mention the follow-up when Kerry grabs Stewart's arm and says, "Seriously, use as much as that stuff as you can." As to say, "I mortgaged my house for this damn campaign. Keep eating katsup"! When they cited  his ho-hum response to the Swift Boat Veterans claims, he also said, "I'm trying to figure out if I were in Vietnam, too."

These critics also failed to cite the funniest moment, when Kerry marveled at people who wanted to shake his hand in the men's room. Or after Stewart lobbed an accusation about his voting record, Kerry leans in with a Three Stooges-type sound effect. What's the deal, liberal media? Stewart fed him "puff ball" questions? Yes, but he's on Comedy Central. His show is supposed to be a joke. It shows how far Stewart has wandered into the political conscience when he not only lands the Democratic nominee, but gets accused of being soft on him. Certainly The Daily Show is in the tank for Kerry and the Dems. Their show has become a funny version of www.spinsanity.com; where Stewart rolls out a Bush clip and then proceeds with another Bush clip that totally contridicts the recent statement. He's got an agenda, but he's funny and self-effacing enough where no one really takes it too seriously. But outfits like The Post and CNN have already established their story line that Kerry is a bore who can't relate to the general electorate. These cherry-picked lines not placed Kerry back in that fuddy-duddy mode, but he was a fuddy-duddy on Comedy Central. It's like any moment where Bush says something goofy or when Howard Dean got too excited at that rally. It's fits with the media's preconceived notion and makes their half-assed job all the easier.  It's also possible the mainstream wanted  Stewart's interview to be a dud. The Daily Show finds it easier and easier to score important guests. Even Ted Koppel stated he was "concerned and disturbed" by the rising popularity of Stewart's format.  Bill Clinton was on just last week. Ed Gillespie appeared tonight. Kerry even reminded Stewart that John Edwards formally announced his candidacy back in January. "But he lost," Stewart retorted. "No", beamed Kerry. "He's about to win big time."

And, more significantly, they failed to notice Kerry bringing out his A-material. In response to being called a flip-flopper, Kerry went into a long diatribe about this President who "makes a wrong decision yet stubbornly refuses to accept it." He repeated the word "stubborn" over and over again. It's a good term that's the perfect response to the Bush campaign's assertions. And Kerry finally talked about his environmental record. A record he seems to dodge in the mainstream. "Instead of invading our way out of the oil crisis, we need to invent our way of  the oil crisis." Good line. It should be on a bumper sticker or something. Kerry's not a bad candidate, he's just been poorly handled. And the media has bought it. Could it be fatal. Jon Stewart doesn't seem to think so. In these tense and terse times, perhaps this little comedy show turns out to be the light at the end of the tunnel.

---Jimmy O