During a segment called “Democalypse 2016" on Tuesday night's edition of The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart hammered former Florida governor and likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush for supporting the decision made by former GOP president George W. Bush -- his older brother -- to invade Iraq “even knowing what we know now.”
“Long term, mentioning his brother's name is like wearing an 'I F**k Dogs' T-shirt during your campaign,” the departing liberal anchor claimed, adding that he might only “be appealing to a small fringe of dead-enders.”
As part of the segment, Stewart played a clip of a male reporter saying: “After weeks of publicly trying to distance himself somewhat from his brother, we're told that at a Republican event the other day, he cited George W. Bush as one of his top foreign policy advisors.”
The comedian could barely contain himself when the chance to slam the former president arrived. “I think at this point, most of America agrees that when it comes to foreign policy, George W. Bush is an excellent painter.”
But the most explosive video clip Stewart showed was part of an interview with Megyn Kelly, host of the Fox News Channel's The Kelly File:
On the subject of Iraq -- obviously very controversial -- knowing what we know now, would you have authorized the invasion?
“I would have,” Bush answered, “and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody, and so would almost all of everybody who was confronted with the intelligence they got."
The liberal host then sat quietly for several long seconds before stating: “When an Iraq War question starts with 'knowing what we know now,' 'Hell yes, I would still do it' is not an acceptable response. Sure I'd get on the Titanic again,” he joked.
The next clip featured Ava Navarro, a former aide to Jeb Bush, who stated: “I emailed him this morning. I'm genuinely wondering 'Did you mishear the question?' And he said 'Yes.'”
The following video featured a man who said that “mentioning his brother's name in that regard is a good thing. Long term, I'm not so sure.”
“I think that's probably correct,” Stewart responded. “Long term, mentioning his brother's name is like wearing an 'I F**k Dogs' T-shirt during your campaign” because you “might be appealing only to a small fringe of dead-enders.”
Of course, Jeb Bush wasn't the host's only target that night. He added Hillary Clinton to his hit list when he stated: “Right now, the two front-runners both represent dynastic families. The race could come down to how each candidate handles their perspective relationship to their family's legacy.”
In another clip, MSNBC host Andrew Mitchell stated: Hillary “Clinton called for an end to the era of mass incarceration, but that is a rejection of tough measures signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1994 with Hillary Clinton looking on. He backed a federal law that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.”
“So she's running against Bill's record,” Stewart noted. “I mean, trouble in paradise, you know what I mean? And by 'paradise,' I mean a politically symbiotic partnership based on mutual ambition for global domination.”
The host also showed former Arkansas governor Mike “Hucklebee” during an interview on CBS's Sunday Face the Nation news/interview program.
Retiring host Bob Schieffer stated: “An infomercial you made for a diabetes cure is simply not supported by the medical community.”
The Comedy Central anchor noted that Huckabee's infomercial touted “a diabetes reversal kit featuring diet changes” and “medically questionable pills made of cinnamon and something called chromium picolinate.”
Stewart then asked: “Mike Huckabee, how do you plead?”
If that's the worst thing somebody can say to me is that I advocated for people who have diabetes, to do something to reverse it and stop the incredible pain of that, then I'm going to be a heck of a good president.
“First of all,” the comedian stated, “the unrealism of that statement at the end basically is saying if the worst thing you can say is if I leveraged my reputation as an elected official to sell a specious cure to enrich myself from those suffering with a debilitating disease.”
“Huckabee wasn't the only candidate answering for past errors in either judgment or statement,” Stewart said before turning to an interview by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday with Dr. Ben Carson, a Republican presidential candidate who claims ObamaCare “is the worst thing since slavery” and on par with Nazi Germany.
For now, the liberal host has a lot of material to play with, but in the world of politics, anything can -- and usually does -- happen between now and the next election.
