Fox News Personally Attacks Jon Stewart

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 04:59 pm

On Fox News Watch today, Fox contributor Jim Pinkerton upped the ante and personally attacked Jon Stewart as a demagogue. Pinkerton compared Stewart to Lonesome Rhodes by saying, “Five words A Face In The Crowd, the 1950’s movie starring Andy Griffith…about a talk show host who then thought he was a political and a demagogue.”

Here is the video from Media Matters:

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After playing a clip of Stewart on O’Reilly, explaining why he was holding a rally to restore sanity, a panel discussion was centered on the questions, “His rally is raising some eyebrows. Is he moving closer to participating in the very establishment that he lampoons every night? I mean, is he becoming a politician here? Token Democrat, Kristen Powers said, “I don’t think he’s becoming a politician. He’s a public figure, and he’s playing off of being a public figure, and there’s absolutely no problem with it in my mind. I think that he talks frequently, and I think it’s a legitimate gripe he has with the media that he feels that it is too polarized, and it doesn’t represent most people.”

Ah, but Fox can always count on Jim Pinkerton to deliver the attack and talking points. Pinkerton said, “Five words A Face In The Crowd, the 1950’s movie starring Andy Griffith that made him a star about a talk show host who then thought he was a political and a demagogue, and see the movie to see how it ends.” Powers responded, “Ah, Glenn Beck anybody? Seriously, you can’t say that, and then suggest that’s somehow strange that Jon Stewart is doing this. Pinkerton replied, “I didn’t say it was strange. I said it was almost predictable.” Powers continued, “Jon Stewart is a performer though. He’s out. He says he is performer though so there’s nothing unusual about it.”

Fox News has now moved from being freaked out about Stewart’s rally to now personally attacking him as a demagogic threat that is moving into politics. This was a slice of Fox News’ generational fear mongering at its finest. Pinkerton’s comments today were the first step in attacking the motives behind Stewart’s rally. Fox can’t handle the idea that there may be more moderates out there than Tea Partiers, so now they are going to try to paint Stewart as a demagogue who is going to move the youth of America towards Socialism.

As Powers pointed out, it is ironic to say the least that a network that features the 21st Century Lonesome Rhodes a.k.a. Glenn Beck would dare to suggest that Jon Stewart is a egotistical demagogue who is moving into politics. There is a political and social message to what Stewart is doing, but unlike Beck, Stewart has shown no interest in getting politically involved. Fox News feels very, very, very threatened by Stewart and Colbert’s rally, so we can expect these attacks to continue, as Fox does their best to discredit and undermine the motives of what is certain to be a larger gathering than anything Beck, Palin, Fox News, the Tea Party have ever put together or promoted.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association