Shooting the Messenger

Richard Morin is complaining about the Daily Show:

This is not funny: Jon Stewart and his hit Comedy Central cable show may be poisoning democracy. Two political scientists found that young people who watch Stewart's faux news program, "The Daily Show," develop cynical views about politics and politicians that could lead them to just say no to voting.

So the problem is not that our politicians are a bunch of incompetent buffoons, our electoral system is broken, and the news media is asleep on the job. The problem is that the Daily Show points these facts out to people. Oh, for the good old days when everyone bought into the myth of the public servant and smoothly-running democracy!