And so today we witness the sad spectacle in which the American Left’s most influential cultural voice openly mocks a democratic election in a country brutalized by decades of Stalinist terror, has nothing to say to the vast majority of Iraqis who risked their lives to participate in that election and views the violence perpetrated by Islamic Fascists against them as a laughing matter. Last summer, Christopher Hitchens wrote a thoughtful essay on “the smug satire of liberal humorists,” his chief complaint being that they are mere water-carriers for the Democratic Party and the Left in general, reluctant to mock members of their own team. Whereas this biased posture was barely defensible when Republicans ruled the roost, it has become utterly tiresome now that liberals are in charge. It is a testament to the enduring quality of domestic political venom that this partisanship would extend as far away as Mesopotamia, where the brave people of Iraq have become pawns in a cable comedian’s shtick.

–Jamie Kirchick on how Jon Stewart has jumped the shark.