Samantha Bee deserved the world. She should have risen from the ashes of The Daily Show like a phoenix. For a time, she did have her own cable show, Full Frontal, and these days, she’s still engaged in the political-comedy world. For the last weeks of the election cycle, she’s the new co-host of The Daily Beast podcast. To promote the gig, she obviously chatted with the Daily Beast, and she shared her thoughts about undecided voters. Every election cycle we go through this, and every election cycle, “undecided voters” are desperate for attention and validation for their stupid opinions. Instead of educating these voters on the actual policy differences of the candidates, the national media instead fetishizes their undecidedness. The cycle is played out and Samantha Bee has had enough:
Samantha Bee is here to share her unfiltered thoughts about interviewing Kamala Harris, being exhausted by Donald Trump, and those pesky “undecided voters” who seem to get so much attention this time of year.
With less than six weeks to go until Election Day (“Every time someone says that, my whole body seizes,” Bee jokes), she is feeling some combination of hopeful optimism and terrified doom. “We’re not going to know until we know,” she says. “And even when we think we might know, we still might not know, and that’s pretty scary.”
What she really doesn’t have time for in this final stretch are the self-identified “undecided voters.”
“These drama queens, these divas,” Bee snarls. “Get famous in a different way. I’m so tired of undecided voters. And I know that this is not, I guess, a popular opinion. Everybody wants to put them on TV and talk about what their grievances with Kamala Harris are. I’m tired of it!”
“I’m too Canadian when it comes to undecided voters,” the Toronto-born comedian, who became a U.S. citizen in 2014, adds. “You have to pick a lane. You have to hold your nose and vote—every time. If you have concerns, you just have to think about the greater good. Every time, every election, my confusion about undecided voters deepens. It’s like watching auditions for American Idol, for me, like, what are you doing?”
On a slightly more serious note, Bee shares this important message with “undecided” voters: “No one is watching you vote. It’s the one thing that is sacred.” So no matter what these confused citizens might tell pollsters, they can still “do the right thing” when they enter the voting booth.
The one thing I don’t agree with is “You have to hold your nose and vote—every time.” I was thrilled to vote for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, and I’m incandescent with joy to cast my vote for Kamala Harris. It’s so exciting! I hate when people are not wrapped up in the pleasure of doing their civic duty as a citizen of this country. Every time I step out of my polling station with my “I Voted” sticker, I’m practically skipping and saluting the flag! But yeah, everything about undecided voters is very true. I blame those people, but I also blame the media. The “undecided voter” panels have gotten ridiculous, and these people are not being vetted at all – usually, it’s just some jobless MAGA cult members who want to get on TV and say sh-t about “DEI hires” and “illegals.”
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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I think the “hold your nose” is also directed at folks who are “undecided” about voting at all. THOSE people frustrate me. I watched a special about a gathering of young women (black, Muslim, etc.) who were on the fence about voting for anyone.
AH! Ladies! None of you have enough privilege to opt out of voting in this election. None. You not being involved now does not protect you from the consequences in the future.
AnysocalledAmerican still an undecided voter need to just stay home onElectionday and consider movingtoanothercountry with-less-Democracy. Believe me,trumpisplanningto make his escape plans once he loses-bigly. Karmahashisnumber and has court plans planned for him after the election.
The hold your nose and vote is a Canadian thing. For me, it means voting for the party whose platform on the important issues most closely aligns with my own views even if I don’t like the leader or candidate in my riding. I’m fiscally conservative, but socially liberal. Safe to say I won’t be voting for PP’s version of the Conservative Party and his cast of nut jobs, loonie tuners, racists, and out right Nazis. We’re voting provincially next month. The Conservative Party in BC is even worse than the federal version and is openly, proudly racist. At least there are other parties to choose from.
“I hate when people are not wrapped up in the pleasure of doing their civic duty as a citizen of this country”.
Seems like an anomaly these days to admit this. Everyone talks about patriotism, but I hardly hear a peep about civic duty. Not only am I’m proud to vote, I like getting jury summons and serving jury duty and paying my share of taxes (I do mind at times how my taxes are being used) as I know I’m doing my part as an American citizen.
Same! I love voting, was excited to get a jury summons last year (I did not get picked, alas) & am happy to pay my taxes as my obligation to the society we all share. I’ve voted in every election since I was 18, including when I lived abroad.
It’s become clear that these “undecided” voter panels have less value than ever now that they keep getting exposed as Trump supporters. All they do is further a right wing agenda.
I don’t think undecided voters are any more diva/drama queens than those who are passionately one side or the other. Everybody wants to be heard and everyone wants to loudly criticize one other for their political choices. Decided voters are noisy all year long – the undecided ones just get a few weeks.
But I agree with her about “hold your nose and vote.” The holding of the nose is not about the act of voting (which I am proud to do), it’s that no one candidate is perfect and can or will deliver everything a voter wants. An undecided voter entering the voting booth will end up being decided.
I just don’t understand what undecided voters care about. The options couldn’t be more different. What’s unclear at this point?
Agreed. And even if someone hated Harris’s policies (like I assume the Cheneys do), she’s clearly the only presidential candidate who’s a sane, functioning adult who should trusted with the nuclear codes.
Ikr? If the Cheneys can decide, clearly anyone can. There are some funny YouTube videos about undecided voters. Samantha is not the only one who finds them annoying.
Exactly – either they truly have their head in the sand and don’t know anything, or they want to vote for trump but don’t want to admit it.
The differences are stark, and important, and as you said, can’t be more clear.
Stephanie Ruhle said this on bill Maher. Even if you don’t know all Kamala’s opinions and stances because she’s only been the nominee a short time you know *every single one* of Trump’s. There’s nothing left to decide in terms of who to support. It’s a very stark binary choice.
I, honestly, don’t think they’re undecided. I think they’re Trump voters who don’t want other people to know they’re voting for Trump and why (I think they realize his stances are deplorable and don’t want others to know that they welcome a 4th reich)
Nah, I agree with her about holding your nose every time. There’s always some position where I’m going “Ugh I’m not going to see this out of any of these candidates” [Palestinian statehood-end to genocide/reparations for descendants of African slaves/end the death penalty/defund the police]) but I have to do what I have to do and get to the polls. Trust me, plenty of us progressives have had to do this every election cycle now.
But hey, it is what it is. I was excited to vote for Obama because I turned 18 the summer of ’08 so it was my first election I could participate in. That’s definitely a fun memory. But hey, it’s been a chore ever since, but a chore I will do.
I feel you on your second paragraph (and the first TBH), I turned 18 in 1997 and my friends and I all left school at lunch to go and vote Labour then stayed up watching the results come in. We’d lived almost our entire lives under the Tories and it was an amazing experience.
Since then it hasn’t been quite the same but I’ve never missed a chance to vote and will never take it for granted.
Yes, I identify as progressive and those issues bother me, too. As does our chaotic immigration policy. I’m not against immigration, I’m an immigrant myself, but I think it’s cruel to bring people into the country without any clear and workable plans of how to help them once they are here. And don’t get me started on all of our proxy wars…but, I will still hold my nose and vote.
🎯
Any time I see those panels of “undecided” voters lately, their comments make them look some combination of:
unengaged – they don’t know, haven’t bothered to find out, don’t really care … but want to get their 2 minutes of talking if there is a microphone or camera around (see also the people who mug behind reporters during on-location shoots … getting their face out there)
heavily influenced by SM or garbage aggregators – the ‘data’ or ‘views’ they refer to are proven falsehoods or trivial nonsense
are posers – faux-undecided … they voice RW talking points, sometimes verbatim, or speak in dog whistle language about ‘reasons’ they’re ‘just not comfortable’ voting for Harris (and if I borrowed a tin-foil hat from the folks in the prior category, I might wonder if they could be astro-turfers sent in to spin and distract from real healthy debate)
I’ve just realized that Samantha has a strong resemblance to Melissa Ethridge. Samantha should have been a bigger deal now, but she called Ivanka a See You Next Tuesday and got backlash for it. Fake outrage because people were so precious about that traitor.
Yep…she should have been a bigger deal. She is wayyyy more interesting than Jon Stewart.
Also, belated happy birthday, Kaiser…I don’t know when it was but do know you’re a Virgo! Hope you had a great one this year.
This year … vote. 🗳️. Your intention is everything.
I love Sam Bee. Full Frontal was great, but I had to stop watching a lot during the 2016-2020 national nightmare. I wish she’d gotten the Daily Show gig, but she also has another podcast right now called Choice Words, that’s piling up in my library to listen to.
I voted on Saturday by mail. I was happy to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, and blue straight down the ballot.
I have yet to see an undecided voter that I believe is an actual undecided voter. You can clearly tell that they are leaning in one direction and not open to changing their mind. Kaiser and Sam are right. They are just attention seeking drama queens. Zero chance you don’t have an opinion in an election involving Donald effing Trump.
i am pretty sure this comment will not see the light of day. however i am shocked by the comments. yes palestinian american’s don’t want to vote for someone who is enabling genocide, nor someone who is proundly racist. they are snowflakes because they lost their whole families in a genocide aided and applauded by the governement. white people are on their high horses again and it is nothing new.