Megyn Kelly Says Jon Stewart Was Not ‘A Force For Good’: Why She’s Right

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly finally weighed in on Jon Stewart and his decision to announce his retirement from The Daily Show this week.

Kelly was a frequent target of Stewart’s, as were most of the Fox News staff. Through selective editing and showing only one side of the story, the self-professed liberal comedian and news satirist was able to garner quite the following, and apparently it didn’t rest well with Kelly.

On the most recent edition of her show, she accused Stewart of not being a “force for good.” She also called out some of the tactics Stewart would use to get laughs while manipulating his audience.

“I have not enjoyed it at all. I know a lot of people say, ‘Oh he’s great, he’s great for journalism. He really holds reporters to account.’ But I can tell you my own feeling on Jon Stewart is, while I enjoy consuming his ‘news product,’ his fake news product, at home and laughing at it, I don’t think overall he’s been a force for good because especially in his later years, he got a little nasty. I think he got a little burnt out, and I can speak personally to a lot of the attacks that were levied on me, had no foothold in the facts.”

Megyn Kelly said that Stewart would attack her with comments like, “‘You had this person, why didn’t you ask these questions? Why did you only pursue this line of inquiry?'”

“And if you had watched the program,” she added, “I did ask all those questions just with the very next guest, but that would never be represented.”

As an independent voter with libertarian leanings, I feel Megyn Kelly is right. The wind left Stewart’s sails shortly following the first election of President Barack Obama in 2008.

With “his guy” in power, Stewart’s version of The Daily Show ceased to be a true satire where all media and political stupidity were called into question, and instead morphed into a left-wing Fox News clone.

In spite of the fact Stewart’s choice for President gave him ample material and reasons to ask the tough questions, he dug in his heels and continued going after the right. He seldom questioned authority or power during the Democratic supermajority from 2008 to 2010, instead playing along with the power brokers like his show was a piece of state-run media.

Staunch partisanship declawed what was once a funny and biting overview of the world that appealed to independents. It became, essentially, just another spin factory.

In the end, Jon Stewart appeared beaten down and out of gas. His once witty retorts devolved into a series of F*** You’s. He could either no longer keep pace intellectually with those on the right, or he simply didn’t have the energy to do so.

The few times his show worked in the last six years were when he turned his sights on President Obama’s myriad scandals. Unfortunately, he only picked at those scabs when it suited him, as in this rather brilliant clip.

http://youtu.be/spAv0HCyg5k

As for Megyn Kelly, she decided to, in the end, let bygones be bygones in spite of not caring for Stewart’s attacks. She ended her show with a series of clips where he poked some light fun at her, and this comment.

“I think he’s very funny when he’s going after other people.”

What about you, readers? Is Megyn Kelly right to call out Jon Stewart and his tactics?