C'mon, Jon

I'm a huge Jon Stewart fan, but he just gave a classically nonresponsive Ari Fleischer a pass on a whopper. Stewart was asking Fleischer about Shrub's stage-managed campaign appearances.

"Oh, all politicians do that," says Ari.

No, they don't.

And Shrub and the Karl Rove Roadshow are still doing it, four months after the election. Item from Bloomberg News, via the Carpetbagger Report:

As during the presidential campaign, few people who oppose Bush's plans have made it to the rallies, since tickets are distributed by Republican lawmakers.

"We were told automatically to stop people that had protest signs, or any type of sign, and if they tried getting that in then we would ask to see their ticket and then rip it up," says Jesse Branch, a 21-year-old volunteer usher at a rally Bush held in Great Falls, Montana, which was attended by Rove.

Jon redeemed himself somewhat with his final comment, "I could talk about this for hours, and, clearly, you could deflect me for hours." True enough, Jon, but you coulda made him squirm a little.