I’m calling you out

Yeah, you…You self-described progressive. You who are so positive that you’re on the right side of everything. All the time. I’ve noticed the deafening silence on your pop culture heroes crossing picket lines to make you giggle. That’s right, I’m talking about the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. In the past year, I’ve watched the liberal blogosphere rally around boycotting entire stations like Fox and ABC over their biased “reporting”, yet I’ve heard nary a peep regarding a boycott of what are clearly strikebreakers. There’s no confusion about this: Both shows have crossed picket lines to go back on air.

In a search for “daily show boycott” I came across 3 left-leaning sites where a boycott was mentioned:

Left in East Dakota writes:

Boycott the Daily Show and Colbert Report!…until the writers come back, or they at least work out a Letterman-type deal with the WGA. I am quite disappointed with these two. Both of them are writers for Christ sake! They are set to cross picket lines on Monday night.

This Just In gives us:

I find it really sad that these two would jump back on air so quickly and even more shocking is that they would cross the picket lines. How can they claim any democratic credentials anymore, and I use a small “d” not a “D” on purpose. It is totally possible that I am wrong about this. It could be that the two of them are going to use their pulpits to lambaste the networks, which pay them, and show support for the writers. Unfortunately if that is the case someone will have to tell me because I will not be watching. I expect this kind of shit from Jay Leno but Stewart and Colbert, they know better.

Paul Kiel at TPMuckraker linked to a Daily Show clip. Only 3 responses talked about Stewart’s and Colbert’s roles with the WGA strike:

Zac wrote on January 18, 2008 2:47 PM:

Too bad the only people willing to cross the picket lines and appear on A Daily Show are schmucks like this guy, and John Bolton, and Jonah Goldberg. But then, what can we expect from — well, you know ..

and

Jake wrote on January 20, 2008 9:55 AM:

I don’t think it’s a good idea to be linking to The Daily Show while its writers are on strike. I doubt you’d all be crossing a hotel workers picket line. Same thing going on here.

and

Comrade Rutherford wrote on January 21, 2008 11:41 AM:

I keep forgetting that some people are actually watching Daily Show without the WGA.

In our house we are boycotting Daily Show and Colbert Report simply because unions need more support.

I keep seeing clips posted to blogs that claim to be liberal, yet these same blogs don’t support the writers in their struggles to get apid for their work.

Watching and posting Daily Show and Colbert Report clips are undermining the WGA effort and bolstering the extremist right’s position that non-wealthy people shouldn’t be allowed to make money.

Please, STOP all reference to Daily Show! Don’t even go to Comedy Channel’s website, ever.

Be an actual Liberal and boycott Comedy Central!

As some of you know, I have friends who are writers on various TV shows. I also have friends who produce, direct and/or act on some of these shows. That doesn’t count the hundreds of below-the-line workers financially affected by this strike. I’ve never been one to cross picket lines, and when some of my writer friends went on strike, they urged me to blog about it. I declined. Not because I didn’t support them, but because they’ve crossed picket lines out of sheer convenience.

How many writers crossed picket lines during our overly long grocer’s strike a few years ago? Every single person I know who works in the entertainment industry did and they whined about it. It was “Does a cashier really need to make $17 an hour? They’re being greedy.” When I explained that it wasn’t just $$$, but also health insurance and protecting their jobs, the writer’s didn’t care. The shelves weren’t stocked because the drivers wouldn’t cross the picket lines. To them, the grocery workers were whining over mere pennies. Sounds familiar? Now that the shoe is on the other foot, the writer’s would like to have solidarity with all unions, but when the Teamster’s went on strike against the studios, the writer’s crossed that picket line. The Teamster’s still remember.

My point is union is union. You honor other picket lines.

Republican candidates have gone on Leno’s show. Mike Huckabee started it, then came Ron Paul and most recently Mitt Romney. David Letterman’s production company made a deal with the WGA, so his show and Craig Ferguson’s show are not struck shows. Sen. Clinton and Sen. Edwards have both been on Letterman.  Unfortunately, Sen. Obama has agreed to go on Conan O’Brien’s show this Friday.

Which brings me back to the overwhelmingly silent liberal blogosphere.

When Obama appears on O’Brien, there will be a lot of teeth gnashing and hair-pulling from liberals. Many will claim that they are now not going to vote for Obama, even though a quick look at their posts will show that they probably weren’t going to anyway. It will be loud, overly dramatic and they will do whatever they can to make sure it stays news through Super Tuesday.

Very few of them will recognized their hypocrisy of watching struck shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Once, they’ve finished with Sen. Obama, they will go right back to watching those shows and the WGA will still be on strike.