I still do not understand how a corporation can have person-hood if it has no soul and never dies.
Liberal and conservative have lost their meaning in America. I represent the distracted center.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the diminishing significance of traditional political labels in America, suggesting a shift towards a moderate perspective.
Jon Stewart’s quote reflects on the changing landscape of political identities in America, where terms like 'liberal' and 'conservative' no longer convey their original meanings. He identifies himself with the 'distracted center,' implying that many people feel detached from extreme political ideologies and seek a more centrist approach to governance and public discourse.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech discussing political polarization, you might say, 'Liberal and conservative have lost their meaning in America. I represent the distracted center.'
More from Jon Stewart
All quotes →President Bush announced his new economic plan. The centerpiece was a proposed repeal of the dividend tax on stocks, a boon that could be worth millions of dollars to average Americans. Well, average stock-owning Americans. Technically, Americans who own a significant amount of shares in dividend-dealing companies. Well, rich people, that's what I'm trying to say. They're going to do really well with this.
Wait a minute! Wait a minute! I figured this out. I know what's wrong with what we've done in Iraq. We've been following time as it goes forward. What a classic mistake. Linear time is so pre-9-11.
You just have to keep trying to do good work, and hope that it leads to more good work. I want to look back on my career and be proud of the work, and be proud that I tried everything. Yes, I want to look back and know that I was terrible at a variety of things.
If you don't stick to your values when they're being tested, they're not values: they're hobbies.
Thomas Jefferson once said: 'Of course the people don't want war. But the people can be brought to the bidding of their leader. All you have to do is tell them they're being attacked and denounce the pacifists for somehow a lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.' I think that was Jefferson. Oh wait. That was Hermann Goering. Shoot." [Hosting the Peabody Awards for broadcasting excellence at the New York Waldorf-Astoria, June 6, 2006]
Similar quotes
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I learned to be far more skeptical of what I'm told by presidents, no matter who the presidents are, and also to be much more cautious, always, in any action or vote that could lead to the use of American military power and most particularly what we call 'boots on the ground.'
There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When an official reports that talks were useful, it can safely be concluded that nothing was accomplished.
The people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government and to reform, alter, or totally change the same when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.
In the United States large corporations control some members of Congress. All this does is delay the corporation’s funeral at our expense.
I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine - not Russia - attacked us in 2016.