Of all the pathetic media defenses of Georgetown University law student and women’s rights activist Sandra Fluke, Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart on Monday might have mounted the silliest one.
During a lengthy segment about “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Gross” Rush Limbaugh, the Daily Show host also went after Fox News’s Megyn Kelly by hysterically claiming institutions paying for contraceptives is the same as employers paying for maternity leave (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
After playing clips of various pronouncements by Kelly concerning the absurdity of law students wanting others to pay for their contraceptives, Stewart said, “I understand Megyn Kelly doesn’t think the government or employers should ever be required to subsidize someone’s sex – unless…”
An August 8, 2011, clip was shown of Kelly talking about how the United States is “the only country in the advanced world that doesn’t allow paid, that doesn’t require paid maternity leave.”
After the clip, Stewart mocked, “You know where that maternity leave came from, right? Nine months prior, half a bottle of Chablis, DVD copy of ‘The Notebook,’ scented candles, hmm. If you took maternity leave, and employers were required to pay that for you, we paid for you to have sex.”
Yes, it’s comedy. But like much of what Stewart does, it’s also advocacy, as unpaid maternity leave depending on how much a woman makes could cost her and her family tens of thousands of dollars.
By contrast, as NewsBusters reported Sunday, a full month of birth control can cost as little as $9. This is saying nothing about the societal benefit of babies actually being able to spend some time with their mothers in the first few months of their lives.
They would have exposed the hypocrisy of a woman wanting contraceptive coverage going to a Jesuit institution that doesn’t do it.
They would also have had great laughs over her being a 30-year-old student because, you know, conservatives are all idiots.
Imagine, too, the chuckles at her carping and whining about not being able to afford contraception as she attends one of the most expensive law schools in the country costing over $50,000 a year.
That would have been a hoot as they depicted her as part of the 1 percent complaining about having to actually pay for her own contraception.
Then they would have talked about – to great laughs from the studio audience – condoms being available on the internet for as little as 10 cents each if she bought in bulk. Imagine the laughter that would have generated.
Next, Stewart would have shared with viewers that since 2007, Walmart and Target have been selling a month’s worth of birth control pills for only $9.
They would have had a riot over the fact that just three miles from Georgetown University, there’s a Target participating in this promotion.
In fact, they likely would have done what MRC-TV’s Corwin Parks did last week - sent a “reporter” to Georgetown to uncover just how easy to find – and cheap! – birth control is in the Georgetown area.
Yes, Sandra Fluke and her mock "testimony" before Congress was tailor-made for comedians like Stewart to have a field day with its absurdity.
But no. Because Stewart is a liberal shill, and he quite understands how this issue is helping his Party as well as the president he adores, he decided to support this 30-year-old women’s rights activist despite how inherently laughable her position is.
And this is why having been a huge fan of the Daily Show for years I stopped watching it in 2004.
This is not a comedy program, and hasn't been for approaching a decade.
This is a platform for Stewart and his staff to propagandize the nation under the rubric of satire with a large percentage of the viewers seeing it as their only source of "news" each day.
And folks wonder why the nation is so ill-informed.
(H/T Mediaite)
