Mr. Stewart's contract with DS reportedly runs through September 2015. If he stays on the show until then he will keep a free national media outlet to, perhaps, become ever more serious and less flippant about politics...right up until six months before the first presidential primary.
It's been more than obvious for a decade now that Jon Stewart has little in common with comedians who just make fun of politics and much more in common with writers (and politicians) who do political commentary. Most of his 'jokes' don't hinge on a clever twist of wordplay deployed to make a political quote seem absurdly funny, but rather, Mr. Stewart usually makes his audience laugh by simply highlighting some absurd aspect of the 'broken' American political system and then staring dumb-struck at the camera evoking the feeling from the audience that NOBODY is as angry and sickened about political hypocrisy and stupidity as is...Jon Stewart.
He's different from comics like the late Bill Hicks or today's Chris Rock because, while those two and many others, do love highlighting political hypocrisy and do make valid social commentary a part of their schtick, they also love to be just plain embarrassingly silly and even sleazy-anything for a laugh. Stewart gives the impression that he would rather give a lecture on climate control than put the audience in the aisles with bawdy non-sense.
I have thought for many years that it was all but carved in Stone that Jon Stewart would some day seek high elected office, he just cares too much not to. And now I think he's doing it. Probably more likely in congress than the Whitehouse...but I still love this picture.
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