Tag Archives: Daily Show

GOP Filibuster Kills Bill to Expand Background Checks on Gun Sales

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We at harikari have written much about guns, gun control, and the need to enact laws that make it more difficult for criminals and mentally unsound people to purchase guns. After the Newtown tragedy, Americans seemed to have had enough of the bullying by the NRA and they called for the expansion of mandatory background checks for nearly all gun-sale transactions. The Manchin-Toomey background-check bill was supported by nearly 90% of Americans. Polls show that a majority of Americans also supported a ban on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.

On Wednesday a bill to expand background checks was filibustered by Republicans, so it needed 60 votes to move forward. The senate voted for the bill 54-46. Yes, a clear majority of senators voted to move forward with the background-check bill but because of the Republican filibuster, the bill was killed. The senate also voted “down” the amendment to limit the capacity of ammunition clips 54-46.

90% of Democrats voted in favor of the bill, and 90% of Republicans voted against the bill that 90% of Americans supported.

For some smart commentary about how undemocratic the senate is and how the arguments of gun-control opponents are intellectually unsound, watch these two excellent segments from Thursday’s edition of The Daily Show.

First Jon,

and now John…

Chris Christie, Hurricane Sandy, and Bruce Springsteen

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These are lyrics from Bruce Springsteen’s, “Jack of All Trades” from his latest album, Wrecking Ball. 

The hurricane blows, brings the hard rain

When the blue sky breaks

It feels like the world’s gonna change

And we’ll start caring for each other

Like Jesus said that we might

I’m a jack of all trades, we’ll be all right

How’s that for Garden State prophecy? Huh? Pretty good stuff!

Governor Chris Christie has criticized Obama while campaigning for Romney but Christie is also a HUGE (and I mean that literally) fan of New Jersey’s most famous person, Bruce Springsteen. Read about it in The Atlantic If you’d like. And now he seems to be an Obama fan, because when it mattered, Obama was there for him and the citizens of his state who are reeling from destruction of Hurricane Sandy.

I was going to link directly to the YouTube video of Christie talking to the Fox News guys about the storm’s destructive blow to New Jersey and what great support he receieved from Obama, but Fox has pulled the video from YouTube. So instead you get this segment from The Daily Show that includes the Christie video.

Springsteen, who has not been a fan of Christie for obvious reasons, set aside their political disagreements and gave Christie a shout-out at last night’s show.

Jon Stewart Takes Down Fox News – the Lords of Bullshit Mountain

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I turned on my TV this morning hoping last night’s episode of The Daily Show was available on demand, and it was. Not only was it available, but it was uncensored. WTF? Yes, there were no bleeps in the opening segment titled “Chaos on Bullshit Mountain.” And I must say it’s one of the best segments I’ve seen on the show. It starts about 2:25 into this video…

…and continues with this one…

…and ends with:

The biggest problem with the denizens of Bullshit Mountain is they act like their shit don’t stink. If they have success, they built it. If they failed, the government ruined it for them. If they get a break, they deserved it. If you get a break, it’s a handout and an entitlement. It’s a baffling willfully blind cognitive dissonance best summed up by their head coach in what is perhaps my favorite sound bite of all time: Craig T. Nelson, “I’ve been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No.”

Enjoy. (No guarantee that the videos will remain uncensored.)

Welcome to Mitt Romney’s Republican National Carnival of Liars

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Washington State U.S. House Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers kicked off the carnival with one of the Republicans’ favorite new lies:

Good evening ladies and gentleman. Thank you. My name is Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and I am proud to represent eastern Washington in Congress.

Tonight, we’re going to do things a little differently. I have the pleasure of being your host for the night guiding you through the next few hours.

I’m delighted to report that we have a wonderful lineup for you. Each speaker will be joining together to send a message to President Obama. And that message is three simple words: We built it.

Yes, remember about a month ago when President Obama said to business owners, “You didn’t build that!” And all the Republicans at Fox News and all the idiots that watch them heard that four-word statement and completely ignored everything Obama said before and after it. He was of course was using “that” to refer to infrastructure: roads, bridges, schools, fire departments, police departments, the internet - all things that federal and state governments either funded or continue to run so that we have a solid platform in place that entrepreneurs can count on to be there for them when they start their businesses.

Just in case you missed the story, here’s what Obama said:

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.

(This segment from The Daily Show covers the lies about what he said better than any other story I’ve seen or read.)

Representative McMorris Rodgers went on to say: “Before I ran for office I worked in my family’s business, the Peach Crest Fruit Basket, for 13 years. I worked hard every day, and I can assure you that my family built that business from the ground up.”

Well maybe her family built the main house and the farm house, and maybe they planted some trees and built a stand to hawk their fruit, but they didn’t build the roads in Kettle Falls, WA, and they didn’t build the state highway that provides a route to and from their town and connects it to the interstate highway system. Nor did they build the schools that provided her with an education, or design and build the irrigation system that supplied their orchards with water, or the phone lines and internet that connected them with buyers of their fruit.

That’s all obvious to anyone with a minimal education, but not to a Republican. That’s why Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post gave McMorris Rodgers and the whole RNC theme “We Built That” FOUR Pinocchios. He had originally given the Romney campaign three Pinocchios, but because they chose to use such an obvious lie as the theme for their carnival, he added another one.

So that was the opening lie. There were many lies to follow, via Krugman:

The claim that Obama has gutted Medicare to pay for the expansion of health insurance — which isn’t true.

The claim that Obama has eliminated the work requirement for welfare — which isn’t true.

The claim that Ryan has a plan to balance the budget — which isn’t true.

The claim that Romney has a plan for economic recovery — which isn’t true. (The Economist: “The Romney Programme for Economic Recovery, Growth and Jobs” is like “Fifty Shades of Grey” without the sex).

There will be more carnival barkers appearing at the convention tonight, including the greatest charlatan of them all, Paul Ryan. He has a very serious plan alright – a plan that gives huge tax cuts to the rich, increases taxes on the middle class, cuts benefits for the needy, and adds trillions of dollars to the federal debt over a ten-year period.

Fighting for a Woman’s Right to Insurer Provided Birth Control

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Again…

I don’t know where or when this photo was taken, but maybe it was taken recently at a rally to fight for women’s rights to insurer provided birth control.

To learn or about the absurdity of this battle in these times, watch Jon Stewart’s interviw with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards from last night’s Daily Show.

Hey Mr. Tangerine Man Tell some Lies to Me

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Jon Stewart rips Boehner’s budget speech and exposes the hypocritical Weeper of the House as supporter of all the budget busting policies passed during Bush’s reign of error.

Gov. Scott Walker is the Koch Brothers’ Punk-Ass Bitch

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Everything you need to know about the unions vs. Governor Scott Walker and the Republicans of Wisconsin.  The Guardian reports:

The Republican governor at the centre of the union-busting protests in the US has been embarrassed by a prank call that he believed was from one of his billionaire backers.

On the recording of the call, which has been released online, the Republican governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker tells a caller impersonating one of the rightwing Koch brothers that he is looking forward to flying to California to celebrate with them once the battle with the unions was won, and jokes about taking a baseball bat to slug Democratic leaders.

Walker is under siege in his office in the state capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin, in a backlash against his proposed legislation to remove unions’ right to collective bargaining and cut public sector workers’ pay.

Ian Murphy, who calls in pretending to be David Koch, suggests planting troublemakers among the protesters, who have been peaceful through 11 successive days of demonstrations. Walker says he has thought about doing that but decided against.

The prankster says: “I’ll tell you what Scott, once you crush these bastards, I’ll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.”

Walker replies: “Alright, that would be outstanding. Thanks for all the support and helping us move the cause forward. We appreciate it and we’re doing the just and right thing for the right reasons and it’s all about getting our freedoms back.”

Part I:  The Daily Show covers the punking of Governor Scott Walker:

Part II:  The Colbert Report covers a similar story about a “great idea” by Mark Williams, a Tea Party operative, to have teabaggers dress up like SEIU protestors and act like goons.

Jon Stewart Derides Republicans for Filibustering the Bill to Provide Aid to 9/11 First Responders

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Jon Stewart is an angry man.  He’s angered by Republican senators who are filibustering the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 that was passed by the House.  (It should be no surprise to you that Mr. Weepy Boehner voted against it.)   The bill would provide funds for medical care needed by the 9/11 first responders who are seriously ill and dying from the shit they inhaled while working at Ground Zero.

The entire December 16, 2010 edition of The Daily Show is about the Republican filibuster.  The opening segment exposes Republicans for what they are:  Obstructionists who seem to exist for only one cause – to protect the rich from having their taxes raised for any reason.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
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The second segment is an interview with four first responders who are all sick and dying from diseases they contracted while working on September 11th or during the year-long cleanup that followed.  All four were disgusted with the likes of Senator John Kyl (the biggest prick in the Senate) and Senator Mitch McConnell (second by a hair) who led their party in filibustering the bill, and whined about how senators shouldn’t have to work between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  The firemen who put on their gear and headed to the Twin Towers on September 11th and would willingly respond to an emergency on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, if they were healthy enough to do so (they aren’t), weren’t too impressed by Senator Kyl’s vacation worries.

The third segment is an interview with Mike Huckabee who starts out just a little bit defensive of his party, but ultimately agrees with Jon.  He too thinks the Republicans in the Senate are terribly wrong.  Jon asks him why Fox/9-11 News isn’t all over the story and making a big noise about it like they did about the “Ground Zero” mosque.  Huckabee doesn’t give him the answer we all know is true:  Fox hasn’t broadcast much about the story because that would require them to be critical of their party.  If the criticism doesn’t involve Democrats, they don’t want any part of it.

So, if you missed it, please watch the whole show.

If Jon Stewart mixed just the right amount of anger and derision in his show, then the three major news networks that ignored the story will all be talking about it on Friday morning.

The Phony Story about Obama’s $200 Million Per Day Trip to Asia

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One of the big stories last week was about how Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and the rightwing gasbags at Fox News picked up a bogus story about the cost of Obama’s trip to Asia where he was to meet with leaders in India and attend the G-20 Conference in South Korea.  They were all making claims that it would cost $200 million or more per day and that 34 Naval warships would be traveling to the area in support of the president.  It was all a lie based on what an anonymous person claiming to be an Indian provincial official told India’s Press Trust.

I think the best reporting of the news coverage of the outlandish rumour mongering by the usual suspects on The Right was done by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show with a segment titled “Doubtsourced.”

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
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The best piece I’ve read about the story is today’s New York Times column by Thomas Friedman.  Mr. Friedmann’s column titled “Too Good to Check” is about how Anderson Cooper of CNN acted on his instincts telling him the story was too outlandish to be true, so he actually did some research and reported the facts, not the rumour.

“It was an anonymous quote,” said Cooper.  “Some reporter in India wrote this article with this figure in it.  No proof was given; no follow-up reporting was done.  Now you’d think if a member of Congress was going to use this figure as a fact, she would want to be pretty darn sure it was accurate, right?  But there hasn’t been any follow-up reporting on this Indian story.  The Indian article was picked up by The Drudge Report and other sites online, and it quickly made its way into conservative talk radio.”

…

Cooper then added: “Again, no one really seemed to care to check the facts.  For security reasons, the White House doesn’t comment on logistics of presidential trips, but they have made an exception this time.  He then quoted Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, as saying, “I am not going to go into how much it costs to protect the president, [but this trip] is comparable to when President Clinton and when President Bush traveled abroad.  This trip doesn’t cost $200 million a day.”  Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said: “I will take the liberty this time of dismissing as absolutely absurd, this notion that somehow we were deploying 10 percent of the Navy and some 34 ships and an aircraft carrier in support of the president’s trip to Asia. That’s just comical. Nothing close to that is being done.”

Friedman then closes by stating what is frighteningly wrong with our nation’s “news” organizations:

When widely followed public figures feel free to say anything, without any fact-checking, we have a problem.  It becomes impossible for a democracy to think intelligently about big issues — deficit reduction, health care, taxes, energy/climate — let alone act on them.  Facts, opinions and fabrications just blend together.  But the carnival barkers that so dominate our public debate today are not going away — and neither is the Internet.  All you can hope is that more people will do what Cooper did — so when the next crazy lie races around the world, people’s first instinct will be to doubt it, not repeat it.

Yes, if only our media outlets could employ people to research stories and report facts and then express opinions based on facts, maybe we would have an more educated public that would cast their votes based on the truth instead of lies.  We can only hope…