"The Daily Show" analyzes some campaign ads.

Very funny.

Now, I actually think that John Cornyn ad is terrific, though I find it hard to imagine the impression it would make on people who were unfamiliar with the original Jimmy Dean song "Big Bad John." Or does everyone know that song? "Then came the day at the bottom of the mine, when a timber cracked and men started crying...." I don't know if John Cornyn is ready to grab a sagging timber and stand alone like a giant oak tree and save crying men from a mine cave-in — or accomplish the congressional analogue of Big Bad John's heroic feat — but I love the invocation of that amazing ode to masculinity. "The Daily Show" did a fabulous job of lampooning Cornyn's ad — but, of course, it was already suffused with charming humor. (By the way, here's a tribute to John Wayne that uses "Big Bad John.")

And let's talk about the MoveOn.Org ad that begins the "Daily Show" clip. That was not suffused with humor. That was meant to hit you in the gut — and you either merge with the don't-take-my-baby message — as some members of the "Daily Show" audience audibly do — or you're disgusted and outraged at the low blow.