Wish I could say this [1] was surprising (hat tip [2]):
In the midst of debates on financial regulation and China’s currency in April, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner sat down to discuss the U.S. economy — with comedian Jon Stewart.
Geithner and Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” held an off-the-record meeting at Stewart’s office in New York on April 2, according to Geithner’s appointments calendar, updated through August on Treasury’s website [3].
Geithner didn’t stay for a television interview with Stewart although other administration officials — most notably President Barack Obama last week — have turned up for on-camera chats.
“Jon Stewart is influential in America, so we took the opportunity for the two to meet and to discuss the economy,” Treasury spokesman Steve Adamske said in an e-mail yesterday. Stewart’s program has poked fun at Geithner, including a segment last year about the Treasury secretary’s trouble selling his New York home.
Well, hey, what do you expect from an administration who is headed by a man who consulted with George Clooney about foreign policy as a candidate for President [4]? Not only that, but this is the same administration that looked to director James Cameron [5] for solutions to the oil spill crisis, and which takes to fluffy daytime [6] and late night [6] TV talk shows for a little “reputation rehab.” It’s all just one big happy “patriotic” family [7].
Because every celebrity administration has to have celebrity advisors. Right?
I feel so much better now.