So by now I imagine everyone is aware of the furor generated by Mount Vernon, WA mayor Bud Norris planning to give the key to the city to Glenn Beck. Well, in response to this, Dan Pike, the mayor of Bellingham, Mount Vernon's neighbor to the north, has offered the key to Bellingham to Comedy Central's Jon Stewart.
From the Bellingham Herald:
"The mayor of Mount Vernon is free to do whatever he wants, but I think Glenn Beck is out of touch with, what I think, certainly most of the constituents I talk to believe," Pike said. "I actually think Jon Stewart does a lot better reporting."
Pike says he sent both an e-mail through Comedy Central's Web site as well as a follow-up letter about his invitation. He's not optimistic about hearing back, however.
"To be honest, I don't think that I will, but I did offer an inducement that we'd try to track down Stephen Colbert's eagle," Pike said, referring to "Stephen Jr.," which was named in honor of the satirical Comedy Central "Colbert Report" host that has been sighted traveling in the area.
Original article can be found here.
A Facebook page and online petition have been created in an effort to entice Stewart to accept.
As a resident of Bellingham, this whole sideshow has become quite amusing. When I first learned of Mount Vernon's honoring of Beck it seemed kind of out-of-the-blue (or is it out-of-the-red?), but digging a little deeper I discovered a few more interesting things. I've only lived here for four years (as of Sept. 1) after moving from rural Pennsylvania, so I'm still learning things about my new home, but each new one still surprises me.
Bellingham, nicknamed "the City of Subdued Excitement", I've come to appreciate as what you might call a "liberal bastion." So it comes as no surprise that we're inviting Jon Stewart in. Points of interest include being the city of residence of comedian Ryan Stiles, former home of the infamous "DC Sniper", origin point for the band "Death Cab for Cutie", and location of Sehome High School, whose graduates include actress Hilary Swank (a Bellingham native) and none other than Glenn Beck. It was something of a shock to learn that I live scarcely a block from Glenn Beck's old high school. I feel somewhat unclean, and only the purifying aura of Jon Stewart can expel this miasma hanging over the town.
I'd also settle for Stephen Colbert, but continuing the weird confluence of events, our mayor, Dan Pike, apparently attended the same New Jersey high school as Jon Stewart, though they didn't know each other.
Although this general area above Seattle does play host to a healthy Republican population, from what I've seen so far even some Republicans are unhappy with Mayor Norris turning Mount Vernon into "a national laughing-stock".
I'll continue to watch this and see how it develops. I really hope Stewart accepts the honor, for it would be a pleasant (if slightly petty) jab at Beck and Norris, as well as amusing me and other residents of Bellingham no end.
(First diary; hope I didn't do too badly.)