My not-sinking heart

I was trying to think of something to say to this statement by Anne Applebaum (h/t Balloon Juice), but I mostly just snickered at it:

I don’t know about you, but my heart sank when I read about Jon Stewart’s Million Moderate March, planned for the Mall next weekend. My heart sank further when I learned that liberal groups, lacking any better ideas, have decided to take this endeavor seriously. It’s bad enough that the only way to drum up enthusiasm for a “Rally to Restore Sanity” is to make it into a television comedian’s joke. But it’s far worse that the “moderates” in attendance will have been bused in by Arianna Huffington and organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Applebaum seems to be under the impression that Stewart is just Jay Leno, but of course Stewart is a satirist and not a hack. He has a point of view and speaks truth that is difficult to find elsewhere in the media. This whole argument is something that bugs me about the media in general. Look, I don't mind if the Villagers get upset when Alan Grayson starts yapping about how Republicans want you to die. That's fair enough. But it seems like literally any attempt by the Democrats to play politics is disdained by the chattering class. Going after the Chamber of Commerce, the megabucks outfit funding your opponents? Unfair. Bringing up Bush and Cheney to remind people of what they have to look forward to? Not classy. Personally, I don't see the problem posed by having popular political commentators holding a rally before an election. It's not like they bill themselves as journalists, or appear on a station with "News" in the name, which is more than can be said for other Washington rally-holders of note.