During Monday night’s episode of The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart discussed President Obama’s recent statements regarding his use of executive orders to address the ongoing immigration problems in our country that Congress, specifically the House of Representatives, refuses to deal with. After recapping the basics of what Obama intends to do, he pointed out that Congress intends to shut down the government in response to any executive orders that Obama may pass in regards to immigration policy.
After focusing on Congress, Stewart then turned his attention to two prominent Republicans who recently appeared on Sunday shows to object to Obama’s actions and public statements. One, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, was on Meet the Press and tried to claim that Obama was threatening to shut down the federal government. The other, two-time Presidential lose Mitt Romney, showed up on Face the Nation and showed an amazing lack of self-awareness by saying President Obama needs to realize he lost during the midterms and needs to do what Republicans want.
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Comedy Central:
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The best part of this segment was Stewart recapping the conversation between Jindal and Meet the Press host Chuck Todd. First, we see the clip of Jindal trying to convince Todd that Obama is actually the one who will be responsible for a government shutdown. That conversation, which Stewart likened to “weird magic,” went like this:
JINDAL: I don’t think the President should shut down the government to break the Constitution. The reality is this, I do think —
TODD: You think the President would be shutting down the government?
JINDAL: Oh, absolutely I do.
TODD: So you do want Republicans to fight him on this to the point where it could shut down the government.
JINDAL: I don’t think the President should shut down the government.
Following the clip, Stewart said it was “like watching a non-Jedi try a Jedi mind trick.” Obviously, Jindal, like other Republicans, is so used to blaming Obama for everything and constantly claiming he is tearing up the Constitution that he can’t keep his story straight. Remember, Jindal is the man who said the Republicans need to stop being the stupid party.
Stewart also took Romney to school over comments he made this past Sunday. After playing video of Romney saying that President Obama “lost this last election round” and the “American people spoke loud and clear,” Stewart took the opportunity to remind Romney that perhaps he shouldn’t be preaching to the President about learning lessons from past elections. Utilizing pig Latin, Stewart gave the following message to the 2012 Presidential runner-up:
“You know, I remember the American people saying quite clearly a few years back, ‘ix-nay on the itt-May, and yet here you are on the elevision-tey, talking it-shay. But you know what, I apologize, you look great, what’s your secret? It’s probably not being President.”
Stewart concluded the segment by stating that Republicans’ main concern with these immigration executive orders, which have been done by past presidents with little to no uproar, is that Obama is “shredding the Constitution.” Stewart then concluded with a montage of conservative pundits making those same claims going back to February 2009, weeks after Obama first entered office. Stewart then wondered how there was anything left of the Constitution for the President to shred if he’s been doing it for nearly six years.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
