Jon Stewart Let Me Down

I'm hugely disappointed with Jon Stewart for his interview with John McCain last night. Time and again, he seemed about to ask a tough question, only to crack a joke and let McCain slide.

On the Ledbetter Fair Pay issue, he let McCain seem like a gracious candidate with high integrity for allowing a young women in a townhall to criticize him, yet when presented with the opportunity, Stewart didn't drill down and address the woman's real concern, which is that McCain doesn't support fair pay for women.

Stewart brought up Reverend Wright, but instead of asking about Hagee, he allowed McCain to crack some jokes at Bush's expense and seem like an independent maverick.

Stewart brought up Hamas's "endorsement" of Barack Obama and allowed McCain to infer that it was politically significant (and probably meaningful for our security).

Maybe I'm a fool to expect the Daily Show to tear down McCain's maverick image with their satirical spots and tough questions, but I had hopes. Jon Stewart has always loved McCain and it seems that's not going to change anytime soon. Huge letdown. We're going to need to rebrand McCain on our own.