Jon Stewart is beating Bill O’Reilly, Nick Cavuto, and Sean Hannity in the ratings

I’m a huge fan on Comedy Central’s “Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” As political satire goes, it doesn’t get any funnier than this show.

Stewart does little to hide the fact that he’s a liberal, but the show isn’t about leftist propaganda, it’s a daily parody of the news and the media that reports it. He’s just as quick to mock a Democrat as he is a Republican. Thankfully, however, Stewart reserves his most biting attacks for Fox News Channel.

As an article explains in this week’s issue of The Nation, “Stewart reserves special derision for Fox News. After making fun of Iraqi state TV as a mere government mouthpiece, Stewart asked, ‘Imagine a government that has an entire TV station to lay out its agenda.’ He then aired Fox footage, after which he appeared to be hypnotized, chanting, ‘Must support war, tax cut good.’

“In another show, [Stewart] noted, ‘This war has truly belonged to Fox. Not only did they start it…they managed to offer fair and balanced coverage.’ We then saw Fox footage of a soldier saying hi to his family and closing with, ‘You’re watching Fox News.’ Stewart couldn’t believe it: ‘They’ve got soldiers doing station IDs!’ He then played a montage Fox aired of the ‘sights and sounds…of operation Iraqi Freedom,’ which showed massive bombs exploding in Baghdad accompanied by appallingly sentimental New Age piano music. ‘That was real,’ Stewart confirmed in disbelief. ‘Sounds like our troops have liberated a Yanni concert.'”

Demagogue, a good blog I read, highlighted the best tidbit in The Nation’s article: “More people (4 million) tune in to [Jon Stewart’s] Daily Show in a given week than watched Fox news at the height of the war (3.3 million).” To which Demagogue noted, “Let me get this straight — more people watch a latenight, left-leaning show that MOCKS the news than a 24-hour right-wing TV station that makes a MOCKERY of journalism? Maybe I’ll reconsider unpacking those bags I had ready for Canada.”

I had no idea Jon Stewart was beating FNC in the ratings. Not only is this good news for Western civilization, like Demagogue, it also gives me hope for the future.