Ill. governor confused by 'Daily Show' bit

[Behind the Aegis]

ST. LOUIS — Gov. Rod Blagojevich wasn't in on the joke. Blagojevich says he didn't realize "The Daily Show" was a comedy spoof of the news when he sat down for an interview that ended up poking fun at the sometimes-puzzled Democratic governor.

"It was going to be an interview on contraceptives ... that's all I knew about it," Blagojevich laughingly told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a story for Thursday's editions. "I had no idea I was going to be asked if I was 'the gay governor.'"

The interview focused on his executive order requiring pharmacies to fill prescriptions for emergency birth control.

Interviewer Jason Jones pretended to stumble over Blagojevich's name before calling him "Governor Smith." He urged Blagojevich to explain the contraception issue by playing the role of "a hot 17-year-old" and later asked if he was "the gay governor."

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This is too damn funny! :rofl:

[Up2Late]

1. Oh, that's too funny!

Here's a link to the video. It's the one labeled "Pill of Rights"

<http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/jason_jones/index.jhtml>

[Tiggeroshii]

2. YES!

But I mean..

How can you not have heard of the daily show? So weird.

[lakeguy]

5. that's the problem with some politicians....

they are in their own little world/bubble. it is not the same world we live in, unfortunately, and that is part of the problem. the daily show probably doesn't have that large of an audience country wide though.

[leesa]

9. Some of the top political people in the country have been on the show

how could he not be aware of it? It's what they live for? He's BSing.

[trogdor]

18. He had to know TDS punks everybody.

Colbert too. The idea isn't to see if you can punk TDS back. The idea is to show people you can take a joke.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

23. Kind of like when Bush the Elder

Didn't know what a bar code scanner was -- in 1992.

I agree that most politicians are completely isolated from the real world. However, shouldn't someone on his staff have been aware of TDS?

[Critters2]

29. I remember that!!

Unbelievable!

It's kind of a good feeling to know you're better informed than the POTUS.

[jbnow]

3. Can't believe the staff

who set it up didn't find out what kind of show it was or clue him in.

He handled it OK, it was on some time ago. He did look off to the side and ask someone "Is this guy serious"?

I did wonder if people in those strange interviews know ahead of time, but you'd really think a governor wouldn't have an interview without the show being vetted first.

[shugah]

7. his staff probably assumed he knew?

maybe they just figured that everyone, including the governor, knows of jon stewart and the daily show? :shrug:

[LibDemAlways]

4. How clueless is this guy? Doesn't his staff

brief him before an interview or are they clueless, too?

More or less off topic, but this reminds me of a discussion I had years ago with an old high school classmate who had moved to a small town in Nebraska. She was in Los Angeles visiting her parents, and I stopped by to take her to lunch. A Phil Collins song came on the car radio and I made some comment about the singer. "Who?" she asked. "Phil Collins," I replied. "Never heard of him," she said, and then added, "We don't have him in Nebraska."

[Critters2]

17. Puhleeze!

I lived in western Iowa for 5 years, and we had access to the same media and culture as anyone else. This has nothing to do with her being in Nebraska. It has to do with her being a ditz. You can find them anywhere, too.

[rodeodance]

6. funny--

[asthmaticeog]

8. I always, ALWAYS wonder how they get people to do interviews.

You'd think by now, people would know they were going to be played for fools by TDS correspondents. People's heads are very, very far up their bottoms, it seems.

[supernova]

10. I wonder the same

a lot of the time. You know they can't possibly agree to be the patsy ahead of time. :rofl:

[Occulus]

12. Every once in a while, though,

they'll get someone who a) gets it and b) plays along. Those are actually some of the best...

[Orangepeel]

21. e.g., John McCain during the 2000 primary

I don't remember the specifics, just that it included an interview aboard the "Straight Talk Express", that it was hilarious, and he was completely in on the joke. That interview went a long way toward making me have the respect for him that I have since completely lost.

But, that still wasn't as good as when Bif Henderson interviewed Dean for the Letterman show.

[rocktivity]

27. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones' interview with Colbert

should be required watching for all politicians. She calmly sat through Steve's requests for recipies, and even took part in a one-minute Judge Judy-type trial (Steve's ex-girlfriend had burned his furniture).

:headbang:
rocknation

[Arugula Latte]

30. I know. Getting snookered by TDS five years ago was understandable

... but if you're in politics now and you're not familiar with it -- :wtf:

[AngryAmish]

11. Blago isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer

This doesn't surprise me at all.

[davsand]

13. What a terribly bad PR move for him to admit that!

Wow. Talk about taking aim on your foot! Blag didn't come across that badly in the interview. He was where he needed to be as a Democrat on the issues and he had the opportunity with that interview to appeal to a pretty decent market group.

Admitting IN PUBLIC that he didn't know what he'd done really makes him look like either a liar or terribly out of the loop. NEITHER of those scenarios is especially comforting to voters in an election year.

All I can say is "Wow, how unfortunate."


Laura

[northzax]

15. I don't know

he seems to be laughing at it and himself, that's not a bad pr move...

[Mithras61]

14. That's good...

I remember reading some polling info that showed where people get their information about Iraq and the number of misconceptions they had, and that people citing "The Internet" and "The Daily Show" were the ones most likely to have few or no misconceptions. I Guess Rod B. didn't see that poll either...

:D

[Critters2]

16. I'm not surprised

He doesn't even know which city is the state capitol. Thinks he's the governor of Chicago. Surely dems can come up with someone better than this. He only won because of Republican corruption. Of course, there's always enough of that to get him re-elected.

[stop the bleeding]

19. I saw it and was rolling on the floor - the Gov's expression was

PRICELESS:rofl:

[annofark]

20. Someone should be fired

I was saying to someone...how was he not briefed on that before?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

22. because he is an egotistical jerk who listens to no one. Ever.

He thinks that he is presidential fodder. And mudder. And every other candidate will cry uncle when they meet him and let him win the nomination.

[Critters2]

28. Once he's elected

he'll insist that he can't live in Washington, because his wife won't leave Chicago.

Asshat.

[Orsino]

32. This interview could be re-run again and again...

...and prevent his getting anywhere near the Oval Office.

He's swift-boated himself.

[davsand]

24. I agree--it was a really funny appearance on an extremely popular show.

I saw it when it aired and I was like you--LMAO.

I was really kind of happy for Blag after it aired (he's not terribly well liked by some of the Dems here in Illinois) because that interview made him look good. It was on a "hip" show, he was in the right place on issues, and mostly, it was pretty common sense statements coming from a guy who is seeking re-election. THAT is PR coup for any campaign, IMO.

I suppose it is possible that Blag made a joke with the Post Dispatch reporter and they ran with it as a story--I dunno. I'd hope THAT is what happened.

I'd HOPE Blag isn't that far out of touch. He's done some pretty good stuff in his term like this particular bill that requires Pharmacists to DO THE JOB when it comes to dispensing Birth Control. The Kid Care program is gonna help a lot of poor kids get access to medical care, and he's been out front on the whole issue of access to prescriptions. Blag has supported stem cell research and he's managed to deal with one hell of a mess left over from his GOP predecessors.

Blag did not do any of it all by himself--our Dems in the State House and Senate helped it along--but it got done on Blag's watch. Its a hell of a lot more than what we ever had under the previous GOP regimes here in Illinois.

I'm sad to see this in the media right now. It calls into question Blag's level of "hipness" or the quality of his staffers, and those are not flattering images for any politico who is seeking to hold onto office.

It is a shame he didn't just STFU.



Laura

[Lisa]

26. if he came up with that bit about how they should ask the California Gov.

... to do the acting improv instead ... that was actually a pretty good come-back. When I heard that, I assumed that he knew that it was a satirical show.

[0rganism]

25. So... wait... he didn't know TDS airs on COMEDY CENTRAL?

Or did he just not figure on a connection between "Comedy Central" and "funny interview"?
I give this one three crazies! :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

edit: just watched the clip, and I gotta say... you can't buy that kind of "straight man" schtick.
"Is this legit?" :rofl:

[Dem2theMax]

31. I just had to add this little tidbit I ran across a few days ago.

{I did a search and didn't find it mentioned anywhere on DU.}

This was in an article on CNN.com about Jon Stewart hosting the Oscars.
You can read the whole article at the link. I only wanted to highlight one sentence.
It floored me, in a good way.

~~snip

Time magazine named Stewart one of its most influential people of 2005.
Outside the United States, "The Daily Show" is broadcast on the news channel CNN International.

How'd ya like that? Outside of the US of A, he IS considered a NEWS show! LMAO!


(That ~snip~ is in the very last section of the article.)
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/20/oscars.jon.stewart.ap/index.html

[Shelor]

33. LOL