Open Letter To Lee Siegel

Dear Mr. Siegel,

With all due respect, I have to take issue with this:

That could be why all the pre-election talk about Jon Stewart sending his young viewers--though the average age of a "Daily Show" viewer is actually 47--to the polls in great numbers to vote for Kerry was just that--talk. It simply never happened.

That's tired and lame conventional wisdom. It is false.

Youth voter turnout was the highest in 2004 since 1972 (when 18-year-olds were first allowed to cast a ballot). They voted overwhelmingly for John Kerry. See my Nov 5th 2004 post on this topic if you need a refresher in the facts:

What's more, in battleground states -- where MFA and a host of others did the bulk of their work -- turnout was above 60%, and broke for Kerry by an average of almost 20 points.

As for the impact of John Stewart and the "Daily Show" specifically, as someone who founded and helped operate that youth politics organization Music For America from 2003 - 2004, I can tell you from experience that their comedy was an enormous asset in motivating and, yes, even educating our peers to get involved.

I can only hope you will reconsider your prejudices and preconceptions. Perhaps you'll even, you know, seek out some actual young americans before next succumbing to grumpy-old-man syndrome and deciding the thing to do is patronize my generation.