Jon Stewart to Obama: You Lied

President soberly defends record, appeals to young viewers to vote

(NEWSER) - Critics are predictably split on President Obama's much-hyped Daily Show appearance last night, but no one seems to think he single-handedly saved—or doomed—Democrats:

• Though Jon Stewart and Obama are both funny in their own ways, they managed "to not be very funny together for the show's entire 22 minutes," writes Hank Stuever in the Washington Post . "Obama seemed resiliently cool as ever, ready-made for just about anything one can do on television ... But that anything—a surprise moment, or a difficult question, or a failed attempt at humor—never quite arrived."
• Also in the Post , Dana Milbank weighs in: "As in his MTV appearance a couple of weeks ago, Obama didn't try to connect with his youthful audience. He was serious and defensive," and even had "a Brownie moment" when he insisted that "Larry Summers did a heckuva job."

President defends his accomplishments on Daily Show

(NEWSER) - President Obama fended off ribbing about a "timid" agenda from Jon Stewart, and defended his accomplishments on a much-hyped Daily Show appearance. One standout exchange:

• Stewart: “Is the difficulty you have here the distance between what you ran on and what you delivered? You ran with such, if I may, audacity, yet legislatively it has felt timid at times. I am not even sure at times what you want out of a health care bill.”
• Obama: “Jon, I love your show, but this is something where I have a profound disagreement with you. This notion that health care was timid—you’ve got 30 million people that will have health insurance because of this.”

President will guest days before rally—sorry, Glenn Beck

(NEWSER) - Glenn Beck is probably not a fan of the upcoming Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally as it is—but his head is really “going to explode when he hears this:” President Obama will be a guest on the Daily Show just days before the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear . “So much for arguing this rally is not political,” writes Glynnis MacNicol on Mediaite . More»

Presents ad as Bush would have run it

(NEWSER) - Jon Stewart's explanation for Republicans' attacks on President Obama's Osama bin Laden ad: They must be on crack. "Republicans, you are annoyed by the arrogance and braggadocio of a wartime president’s political ad?" he asked on last night's Daily Show . "Were you alive lo these past 10 years? It seems unseemly for the president to spike the football." But when "Bush landed on a f***ing aircraft carrier" in Iraq, "he spiked the football before the game had even started." More»

One strategy: Change name to 'Palestein'

(NEWSER) - On last night’s Daily Show , Jon Stewart summarized the US response to Palestine seeking UN membership: To win a seat, “all you need to do is settle your differences with Israel!” Though a “spelling change” could also help--instead of “Palestine,” how about “Palestein”? Stewart likened Palestine’s membership effort to joining a housing co-op: The Palestinians are facing President Obama, “that one hardass on the co-op board who always shoots people down.” More»