It’s almost a week old but so brutal that we can’t let it pass unposted (and no, I’m not saying that because of this). What’s more painful here, the UFCW rep’s palpable discomfort in admitting that they’re paying people to walk the line for them or the fact that it took “The Daily Show” to bring the hypocrisy to national attention? Professional centrist John Avlon argued yesterday that political media polarization between right and left has created a vacuum in the middle for Stewart and Colbert to fill, but that’s neither exactly true nor the reason why this clip is as gratifying as it is. S&C may be more centrist than MSNBC but they’re reliably (if not exclusively) liberal, of course; the reason they’re popular is because they’re usually more effective at making the left’s points than most lefties are. Hence the astonishment at watching them go after a progressive sacred cow. That’s no great shakes for a true centrist — e.g., Mickey Kaus rails endlessly about union influence over Democrats — but from a liberal outfit it’s surprising.

Incidentally, I know this story about non-union picketers got some play in the blogosphere before this aired, but I can’t remember where it originated. I thought maybe it was with Gateway Pundit or one of Breitbart’s sites, but I can’t remember. If anyone knows, please e-mail and I’ll give credit.

Update: Thanks for the e-mail replies. Looks like Warner Todd Huston was writing about this back in July and then, via Breitbart, CEI did a video piece about it in August.