Politics Isn't Funny
Here's an unintentionally hilarious Washington Post article gravely discussing the implications of Jay Leno emceeing Arnold Schwarzenegger's election-night party. "His appearance on campaign night," the Post's Sharon Waxman intoned, "seems to implicitly raise questions about what Leno's responsibilities ought to be—to his audience, to his network and to his entertainer-friends-politicians." Several hand-wringing quotes ensue. The silliest, maybe, comes from Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
If you want to play Peter Jennings, then you have to play by some of the same rules as Peter Jennings, even if 99 percent of your show is pure entertainment. You cross a line when you start to get into this other game. If his responsibility is to entertain people, and it ends there, maybe he should refrain from having political people on the air.