The Daily Show and C-SPAN Gems

There is a lot of talk out there about how many young people get their news from The Daily Show. For people who do not pay attention to current events or politics, I think that is a fair statement. On the other hand, for the people out there who do pay attention to the news, The Daily Show provides poignant satire on politics and the sad state of mass media. Still, for the latter group of informed fans, The Daily Show does provide an educational service of high value.

If you were to ask anyone you know if they watch C-SPAN, the answer would most likely be no. If you asked the same question to the writers/editors of The Daily Show, the answer would be different. The Daily Show sifts through C-SPAN for gold. By gold I mean the absurd, theatrical, and/or sad actions of Senators and Congressmen on Capitol Hill.

Last Monday, March 1st, The Daily Show produced a segment about Senator Jim Bunning and his obstructionist tactics. By his objection alone, he blocked a motion to extend unemployment benefits for one month to the unemployed.

Jon Stewart does not only scold Jim Bunning, but also the Democrats who Bunning played like a fiddle. Due to the farcical old rules of Capitol Hill, for the motion to be passed, all the Dems would have had to do is get Bunning out of the room. Stewart makes jokes about how the Dems should have called him to the 'courtesy phone', but the point he is making is simply that the Dems are a bunch of inept jackasses with their thumbs stuck up their asses.

Bush pretty much did whatever the fuck he wanted to do while he was president, and he never had anything close to a supermajority. What he did have was Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, two very smart and politically savvy veterans of D.C. who knew how to get things done when they wanted to. I disagree with most of what they did, but I still have to respect the fact that they got it done. Politics is a dirty game, and the Democrats just don't seem like they know how to play.

To quote Jon Stewart, from a different episode of The Daily Show:

"It's not that the Democrats are playing checkers and the Republicans are playing chess. It's that the Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are in the nurse's office because once again they glued their balls to their thighs."

So thank you Jon Stewart and staff, without you, most of us would never see for ourselves, in cold, hard evidence just how dysfunctional D.C. really is.