Jon Stewart on Rubio: ‘Obama May Need a Prompter, But At Least He Doesn’t Need an IV Bag.’

Last updated on February 17th, 2013 at 04:17 pm

Jon Stewart explained the difference between Marco Rubio and Barack Obama as, “He (Obama) may need a prompter, but at least he doesn’t need an IV bag.”

Here is the video:

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Stewart gave a blow by blow of Rubio’s meltdown and said, “Suddenly, the night’s big story was the self-deportation of Marco Rubio’s saliva from the inside of his mouth to the outside of his face. No, no, don’t wipe. You’re only drawing attention to the. No, no, don’t pick at the spittle. This can’t end well. As long as you don’t lunge out of…NO! Don’t! Why? I gotta say Obama talked for an hour without so much as a sip. He may need a prompter, but at least he doesn’t need an IV bag.”

Later, The Daily Show host broke down Rubio’s speech. He used clips of Rubio attacking Obama to illustrate the lesson that Republicans have not learned from their Romney/Ryan defeat last year. Jon Stewart diagnosed the GOP’s problem, “I see the problem. Once again, rather than responding to actual Obama, Republicans are stuck responding to the fictional image of Obama that they’ve created. The same boilerplate Republican talking points, just with a better back story…So Republicans, as you’re feeling around for a new strategy, a little tip. If Paul Ryan didn’t work, Pablo Ryal, isn’t going to help.”

Jon Stewart summed up what the left has been saying since the failure of Sarah Palin. Republicans refuse to get it. The problem isn’t the messenger. It’s the message. Modern Republicans have taken the completely wrong lesson from the election of Ronald Reagan. It wasn’t Reagan’s presence alone that twice won him election. It was the fact that he never tilted as ideologically hard right as the Republican Party is today. If he were a candidate today, Ronald Reagan would be considered too liberal by many rank and file Republicans.

Republicans can try to put a Sarah Palin face on it, an Eric Cantor face on it, a Paul Ryan face on it, or a Marco Rubio face on it, and it won’t work.

The Republican car has broken down along the side of the road, and they are convinced that the fix is a new paint job when it obvious to everyone that their engine has blown up.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association