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http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/jon_stewart_stephen_colbert_americas_anchors/page/1

“Real” journalist Maureen Dowd tries and fails to keep up with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert – the most trusted men in fake news.

It shouldn’t be surprising that two observational comedians are able to pick out a lot of the Bush administration’s psychological quirks, but I’m consistently impressed with how many of their jibes are accurate indictments.

I firmly believe there will – eventually – be books written about the the state of the media in the early 21st century. The years when the traditional media turned their focus away from egregious political malfeasance in order to cover vapid celebrity gossip and to happily become the lickspittles of the ruling administration. I would cry aloud for the return of Woodward and Bernstein, if Woodward himself hadn’t been one of the aforementioned bootlicking toadies. That we’re turning to comedians for our hard news is astounding.

STEWART: The cornerstone of politics these days is grievance. It’s really hard to keep that going when you’re in power. I’ve admired their ability to hold on to that idea of being aggrieved while maintaining almost absolute control of all functions of government. I love it. And what are they most angry about? People who play the victim card…

COLBERT: I think the way you said it the other day on your show was “Bush is not dumb. He speaks to us like we’re dumb.”

DOWD: But just before he ran for president, he was still trying to figure out why North Korea and other hot spots were important.

STEWART: That’s being uncurious about the world, and self-involved. But that has nothing to do with intelligence. It just would surprise you that someone who wants to lead the free world would not necessarily know what that free world consisted of. And had only been to Epcot Center. It was sort of like his trip to Baghdad. He went for four hours into the Green Zone and comes back and says Iraq is making great progress. It would be like if we went to the Olive Garden and started going, “I understand Italy.”

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