Let's Hope Jon Stewart's Audience Really Is Full of Stoners—and Not the Lazy Kind

The Yes on 19 campaign has a new TV ad, funded by a recent infusion of cash from antiprohibitionist benefactors George Soros and Peter Lewis, that it plans to run in California during The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. The initiative's backers are also sending a contingent to the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. The Drug Policy Alliance's Ethan Nadelmann explains:

Supporters will march in business suits—not Birkenstocks–to reinforce the message that there is no archetypal marijuana legalization supporter. The desire to end marijuana prohibition crosses ideological and partisan boundaries. Calls for reform come from across the entire political and social spectrum—this week it was George Soros in the Wall Street Journal, today it's students, civil rights leaders, law enforcement, major unions and moms. Our presence at the rally brings these voices together.

"The entire political and social spectrum"—all the way from George Soros to students who watch The Daily Show. Nadelmann, who usually makes more of an effort to form alliances with libertarians and conservatives, might want to throw in this endorsement (or this one) or mention some pot-tolerant Republicans the next time he is trying to illustrate the ideological diversity of Prop. 19's supporters. Katrina vanden Heuvel does not serve that purpose herself, but she does graciously offer this in her recent Washington Post column on Prop. 19:

As editor of the Nation, it's not often that I find the magazine in a bipartisan alliance with Reason magazine. And the National Review was on board for legalization when William F. Buckley Jr. served as editor a decade ago.

That bipartisan part makes me a bit queasy, but her heart is in the right place. Likewise New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who yesterday cited libertarian economist (and Reason contributor) Jeffrey Miron's recent Cato Institute paper on the budgetary impact of legalization in a essay that concludes, "I hope California will lead the way on Tuesday by legalizing marijuana."

[Thanks to David Goldberg and Harry Levine for some of these links.]

Comments

[Catchy]

"Billionaires for Pot."

[Marshall Gill]

Non-lazy stoners? They must not be doing it right.

[Wind Rider]

Sure they are. They avoid the "couchlock" strains.

[Tman]

What they need to do is to get all the people from the law enforcement community together pro-Prop.19 and have them march. That would be awesome.

[cynical]

They would need special training to unlearn their natural tendency to goosestep in such occasions.

[Sudden]

As happy as I am to have Soros kicking money in on the yes on 19 campaign, forgive me for being cynical. I think he wants to bring a few extra young stoner types to the polls since they are reliably TEAM BLUE in California. Hell, that's one of the key reasons it made it to the ballot this year.

[Matt Welch]

Soros was on the sidelines until recently. His interest in pot legalization far pre-dates his Bush Derangement Syndrome.

[wayne]

Very true. I am in complete agreement with Soros on P19.

[Wind Rider]

It's unfortunate that he couldn't make it in pass through fashion, so that his name wasn't so prominent. He totes a lot of negative baggage in a lot of folks opinions. . .and the expectancy of rationality is a fools game in politics.

[Afroman]

I was gonna vote for Prop 19, but then I got high.

[Calvin Broadus]

I voted early bizatch

[Colin]

This would make a great campaign commercial.

[Ken Shultz]

In most political ad campaigns, you can't really use a hot chick to sell product. I mean if you are a hot chick, that definitely helps, but generally speaking, having a hot chick sitting on your lap doesn't work well for most political ads--just ask Gary Hart.

However, in one out issue ads? If there were ever an advertising campaign that called for the use of hot chicks telling everyone how awesome decriminalization is? This is the one.

Hot chicks as a marketing gimmick has worked like a charm since that snake recruited Eve to help him market apples. As a general rule? I think we should use them whenever possible.

Shultz's Rule of Social Dynamics #8: People buy stuff 'cause hot chicks say it's awesome.

[?]

That ad looks like it's painted on a tank. You'd think a Nazi paid for it.

[wayne]

Actually, I thought it was pretty effective. I agree with the message itself, of course, but flashing the text with the voice over really did it for me. It's kind of like the "subliminal message" craze that went around about twenty years ago, except this time you can really see it.

[Collapse The Drug War]

The initiative's backers are also sending a contingent to the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

And the DEA will be headlining the "Keep Fear Alive" Rally.

[Tony]

Maybe if you spent less time bashing liberals and doing lame GOP PR and more focusing on what you can do to change policy, liberals would invite you to their party. Oh and finding common cause with head-stomping teabagging militia types doesn't help. You're becoming more republican all the time, reason; now you are learning to act like a whiny victim.

Don't look, it's a Soros! Run!!!

[Hugh Akston]

Any party that you would attend is not one that I want an invitation to.

[Tony]

Good. Now go on and keep enabling theocratic corporate stooges and bitching that nothing ever gets done about weed.

[John Thacker]

I thought that was your job, Tony?

I'm absolutely thrilled to have Soros spending his money on an actual good cause. It's a two-fer, since it means he's not spending it on things I hate.

[Tony, hate doesn't look good]

Tony, you are starting to sound hateful like Max. You get worse when you are flustered.

[BakedPenguin]

Maybe nothing gets done about weed because high profile politicians such as Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer, and Dianne Feinstein are all fighting tooth and nail against it.

Gee, what do they have in common? Oh yeah, they're in the same political party as the president who's fighting the judicial overturn of DADT.

[Ken Shultz]

You got it all backwards, Tony.

Libertarians won't get into power by playing nice with liberals--liberals might stay in power if they started playing nice with libertarians.

I'm still waiting for Guantanamo to close, Tony.

Still waiting.

Maybe if the liberals gave any inkling whatsoever that they cared about libertarians, but why would we support a group of people who haven't shown any indication that they care about us at all...

All I see coming from them is hostility. Active hostility directed at libertarians. He hate me.

[Wind Rider]

Tony, I could go into a detailed description of how fucked in the head you actually are, but I'm aware this is a battle that's been going on for many years, has cost billions of dollars, and caused millions of casualties. I'll just boil ti down to a lame analogy, which everyone knows the outcome of already - liberal/progressives = bolsheviks; libertarians = mensheviks. Hey, it's not completely accurate, let's just call it Oliver Stone level artistic license, m'kay?

[Steve]

Theocrats for weed!

[Anonymous Coward]

Learn your history, Tony. Theocrats have been using drugs to induce altered/higher states of conscious (and get that really great buzz) for millennia, long before your mom lit up a joint to stick it to, and get stuck by, THE MAN.

[wayne]

I live in California. I agree with Nick and Matt that prop 19 is THE most important issue in the whole country in 2010. I detest Democrats, but I am willing to look the other way if Dems walk away with the elections in California if that causes 19 to pass. Foolish politicians can be ousted later, but an amendment to the CA constitution has more staying power, e.g. prop 13.

So, while it is painful for me to say this, here goes: give me a hug, ya big lug!

Is it you or Max that tells these filthy Libertarians to go suck Ron Paul's cock? No matter, we are brothers today, so all you Libertarians, go suck Ron Paul's cock!!!!

[Max]

It's me.

[SIV]

They're replicating

[Paul Weenie Complex]

Not you too, Wayne?

[wayne]

It is for the greater good.

Now go suck Ron Paul's cock!!!!!

[Jordan]

What do you care? According to you, the only freedom that matters is the freedom to leave.

[Spoonman.]

Obama sued to reinstate DADT.

Fuck you, Tony. Fuck you so much.

[Tony]

I'm sorry you're pissed that the executive didn't decide to unilaterally ignore a law of Congress. Perhaps it will be more activist in the future. Will you stop bitching then? I doubt it.

[John Thacker]

Speaking of National Review, they editorially remain against the Drug War and published a Conrad Black piece against the WoD today.

[me]

I watched a little of the Jon Stewart/Hopey McChange interview and for all the talk about how Jon "challenged" the President, he is such a fucking gutless wonder. Why not "Jeeze, Mr. President, you were an avid drug user in your youth, how do you justify to yourself using the power of the state to destroy the lives of people engaging in the same behavior that you yourself enjoyed so freely? How do you justify being such a fucking hypocritical piece of shit scumbag?" That would have been challenging the President. Not licking his shoes to a deep enough shine hardly qualifies.

[wayne]

+10

[Colin]

The irony of her statement is that the Nation was once libertarian (or, at least, classically liberal.)

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[Paul]

The Yes on 19 campaign has a new TV ad, funded by a recent infusion of cash from antiprohibitionist benefactors George Soros and Peter Lewis, shadowy corporate donors,

Fixed.

[Terry]

Thanks so much for posting the video, most interesting! I guess I will download YouTube video using http://downloadyoutubevideo.net/ to discuss it with my coworkers in the office.