Jon Stewart vs. John McCain

Last night was one of those nights when you realize just what an important show "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" is, and watching he and McCain talk was like watching a good couple whom you really love break up. You know it's the right thing, and that one of them is messing up, but seeing it happen is painful. And it's even more painful because they're being adults about it, not screaming and shouting, but talking through their differences respectfuly, even fondly, until they come to the inevitable conclusion that maybe it'll be different in the future, but this is where they part ways.

Stewart set up exactly all the reasons he (and others, including me) have held McCain in such high regard -- from his stand against torture to his battle for campaign reform, McCain was the soul of the Republican Party, the guy you always believed would fight for sanity while everyone around him was mired in partisan politics and corruption. It was enough to make you forget his role in the Keating Savings & Loan scandal.

Now, as Stewart so concisely summed up, he's become one of a corrupt president's mouthpieces, has hired the Bush team which he lambasted for waging a dirty campaign against him, and his cozying up to Jerry Farwell.

I'll say this for McCain -- he didn't lie when asked point blank if he was going to "Crazy Base Land." Hell, he even had the good taste to look a little sad at how all that was unfolding. He should. I think he knows the dance to the right is what's going to do him in, that America wants the old John McCain, not Bush-lite. Every day he moves right is a day he moves away from his real base, his allies in the center. And they're not going to forgive him for that.

R.I.P. Buddy Seigal, AKA Buddy Blue

Buddy Seigal, also known as musician Buddy Blue, a longtime OC Weekly writer and roots/jazz/rock guitarist, survived alcohol, the Beat Farmers, and the Weekly itself, but finally fell to a heart attack April 2. He was 48.

Buddy may be the only person I ever worked with whom I was consistently, tongue-twistedly in awe of. He was the baddest of the bad-asses, who both wrote and played like a fucking sledgehammer. He was truthful in a way only the truly, unapologetically vulgar can be. He was also the best damned rock critic I ever knew. From Wynton Marsalis to to James Brown to Elvis Costello, the man could cut through the bullshit like no other, giving praise and brutal criticism in the same breath. And let's us not forget his calling bitter, defeated ex-Congresman Bob Dornan a scumbag in front of a class of Catholic schoolgirls.

Or the music. Just go friggin' buy everything the Beat Farmers did.

Rest in peace, Buddy. You were a good guy to share a smoke with outside the Galaxy Theater. You'll be missed.

ETA: I think this all needs some illustration, so here he is, discussing David Bowie:

Bowie is a useless old man as opposed to a useless young man now, yet he’s still widely hailed as being vital and "important" among jelly-brained, oh-so-chic music critics, while other geezer rockers such as the Rolling Stones and the Who are routinely subject to ridicule for their Paleolithic irrelevance. While I won’t put up much (much, I say!) of a battle in defending the current status of the above, at least they were once undeniably great by anyone’s standards. David Bowie, on the other hand, has always sucked harder than Jenna Jameson on crystal meth.

Even if you don't agree with him, you gotta admit, no one else could put it like that.

Bush family values

Does anybody remember Bush talking about returning dignity to Washington? No, really. He used to talk about it a lot.

So, fast forward six years, and we've got multiple counts of campaign-finance and ethics related charges being filed, and more to come. Which I can almost live with. I mean, it's worse than usual, but it's still the sort of Washington sleeze we're accustomed to.

But then, one of Bush's top advisors got stung running a fraud ring against local Target stores. Which was weird and kind of funny. Not "Dick Cheney shot a guy in the face" funny, but funny.

But now we have this: Homeland Security official arrested in child sex sting. I'm not laughing anymore. These people are the scum of the Earth.

More Jon Stewart and John McCain

Lots more on last night's Daily Show out there. Salon weighs in with thoughts not very unlike my own (if even kinder on McCain, but read the comments for some stinging criticism) and the extremely smart mightygodking weighs in with some very good reason why the Left has been deluded in their McCain love.

I think the Left's love of McCain has, for the most part, been that they've seen in him some sign of sanity in the right wing. Few of us were under the illusion he wasn't a conservative. We were however, under the impression he was honest and not corrupt -- qualities that I, as someone who's not a traditional liberal, value more than ideology. What I think we saw in on "The Daily Show" last night was the American Left finally abandoning their infatuation with the man. It's too far gone to carry that illusion any longer.

Judge for yourself. Crooks and Liars has The Daily Show clip up.