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Must-see morning clip: Chris Christie performs with the Boston Pops

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., got into the Christmas spirit at the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra's Annual Holiday Program in New Jersey, where he read "'Twas the night before Christmas" to musical accompaniment.

Via NJ.com/Statehouse Bureau.

Must-see morning clip: Cory Booker on “The Daily Show”

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:49:00 +0000

During an interview with what he called "the superhero mayor of New Jersey," Jon Stewart was shocked to learn that Cory Booker regularly used Twitter.

"I can't imagine Fiorello La Guardia being like, 'I gotta go check my Facebook page. Who's that son-of-bitch who poked me?'" Stewart said.

The video lasted for three segments, during which Stewart told Booker he would "break through your veneer of optimism."

Watch part one:

Part two:

Part three:

Must-see morning clip: Jon Stewart on the “fiscal cliff”

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:51:00 +0000

Jon Stewart looked at the GOP's counter-offer in the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations, and concluded: "Basically they're trying to entice the Democrats by saying, 'I don't want you to fall off this cliff, so why don't you voluntarily jump off this steeper cliff? But don't worry, your fall will be cushioned by lava."

Watch:

Must-see morning clip

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel interviews Eric Hartsburg, the man who received $15,000 for tattooing the Romney/Ryan campaign logo on his face. Hartsburg says he plans to keep the tattoo "for the rest of my life," and says that his forehead space is still for sale.

Must-see morning clip: Obama talks debt cuts on “Morning Joe”

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:08:00 +0000

"Morning Joe"'s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski interviewed President Barack Obama during a recent New Hampshire campaign stop for a segment which aired Monday. The hosts lightly grilled the president over the Libya embassy attack and gave him the opportunity to talk about his immediate plans should he win a second term.

Obama told the hosts that "our first order of business is going to be to get our deficits and debt under control,” for which he said the Bush-era tax cuts' expiration would be a "forcing mechanism." He appealed to conservative undecided voters with talk of "steamlining" and questioning the size of government, but managed to slip in a back-handed compliment to Romney over healthcare. "I stole a whole bunch of ideas from a Massachusetts governor," he said.

Watch the full interview below, via MSNBC:

Must-see morning clip: Cameron’s citizenship

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:44:00 +0000

On The Late Show with David Letterman, UK Prime Minister David Cameron had some trouble answering Letterman's "dumb American questions" about British things like "Rule Britannia" and the Magna Carta.

"That is bad, I have ended my career on your show tonight," Cameron said.

Colbert assesses GOP primary insanity

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:41:00 +0000

Last night on "The Colbert Report," Stephen Colbert checked in with the Republican candidates for president and took stock of the nominating contest. The verdict: It's been a weird few days for the Republican Party, huh? Mitt Romney, who looked like the inevitable nominee after a pair of victories, found out on Thursday that he never actually won the Iowa caucuses. Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich, the man best positioned to seize the momentum and defeat Romney in tomorrow's South Carolina primary, faces some hash allegations from his second wife, Marianne. What else? Rick Perry dropped out of the race, and proceeded to endorse Gingrich anyway. And Rick Santorum said something weird about couches.

The worst, though, might be the vicious attacks leveled against quazi-candidate Stephen Colbert -- and by his former super PAC, no less.

Jon Stewart takes on SOPA

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:33:00 +0000

Rarely does a piece of legislation take over the national dialogue the way the Stop Online Piracy Act did yesterday; but that's what happens when Wikipedia shuts down in protest. What remains puzzling, though, even after a day of widespread virtual protests, is how the lawmakers who originally supported SOPA failed to gauge public sentiment so spectacularly. That's where Jon Stewart came in and illuminated matters on "The Daily Show" last night, with one particularly valuable insight: The people responsible for SOPA -- the members of the congressional subcommittee who gave the legislation their seal of approval -- have no idea how the Internet actually works.

Fun with federal election law

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

The grand experiment launched late last week continues: Stephen Colbert is exploring a run for president, while Jon Stewart manages Colbert's former super PAC -- and enthusiastically smears the candidate's would-be Republican primary rivals in the process. The problem with managing a PAC in support of your business partner's campaign, however, is that not a whole lot of it feels legal. (Even if it almost certainly is.) That's why Stewart and Colbert powwowed with their lawyer on "The Daily Show" last night -- just to make sure their "good"-faith efforts at non-coordination were still strictly within the bounds of the law.

Colbert super PAC wonders if Mitt Romney is a serial killer

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:04:00 +0000

This past Thursday, Stephen Colbert handed over control of his much-publicized super PAC to Jon Stewart in order to explore a run for the Republican nomination. Over the weekend, the PAC began showing a campaign ad in South Carolina that equates Mitt Romney with a serial killer, based on his work at Bain Capital. Did Colbert go too far? Well, of course not, because, as he pointed out on his show last night, election law prohibits him from coordinating with the PAC. So, clearly, Colbert (like all the rest of the candidates who just happen to have the support of super PAC money) remains helpless to stop his former organization from continuing to air its ads about "Mitt the Ripper." Totally helpless. Right?

Colbert for president?

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:42:00 +0000

What to do if you're Stephen Colbert? The "Report" host is surging in Republican primary polls (despite not being an actual candidate) and the temptation to explore a run for president grows larger by the day. The problem, however, is that candidates are prohibited by federal election law from operating a super PAC, which Colbert very publicly does.

The Comedy Central host solved that problem last night, when he filed the one page worth of requisite paperwork to declare his colleague Jon Stewart the new steward of the Colbert Super PAC, leaving him free to explore the possibility of higher office.

South Carolina braces for Hurricane Newt

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:50:00 +0000

The next week and a half is a pivotal one for the Republican Party. Its candidates for president have their sights set on South Carolina's January 21 primary; and, just three contests into the season, Mitt Romney could lock up the nomination with a win in the Palmetto State. But there are storm clouds on the horizon. However, the other candidates -- let by an angry and embittered Newt Gingrich -- will pour millions of dollars into negative advertising in the next 9 days, making the South Carolina primary the most brutal one yet. Last night on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart and co. investigated:

Jon Stewart issues some advice to Iran

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:42:00 +0000

Tensions have been running higher than usual between the United States and Iran this week. Not only has the Islamic republic begun enriching uranium, a fact confirmed by international watchdogs Monday; it has also threatened to block off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and sentenced an American to death for what it says was acts of espionage. That all in mind, Jon Stewart took time out from "The Daily Show" last night to have a candid conversation with Iran about the risks of its bellicose behavior

Let me just say this Iran. Americans don't hate you. And I hope Iranians don't hate us. But if you really want a war, f*** with America during an election season.

Jon Stewart identifies the GOP’s Romney paradox

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:40:00 +0000

The year-long grind of the Republican nominating contest has had a strange effect on the remaining candidates in the race. Sure, they're all still arguing for less government, less regulation, lower taxes on America's "job creators." And each of them will still emphatically state that our country's richest businesspersons don't deserve Barack Obama's "class warfare" and the politics of the 99 percent.

How is it, then, that those very same candidates have spent the past several weeks lambasting Mitt Romney over his significant net worth? The former Massachusetts governor -- between his history as a successful businessman and his free market ideology -- is the human embodiment of the Republican party platform. As Jon Stewart put it on "The Daily Show" last night: "You're mad at Mitt Romney? For God's sake, it's like Mitt Romney answered the Republicans eHarmony ad, and now you're saying its unfair."

“The Daily Show” details the absurdity of GOP obstructionism

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:35:00 +0000

Barack Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray isn't just the latest political controversy du jour. It's also the first time in a long while that the president hasn't been hamstrung by Republican obstructionism. The stakes of Obama's gambit seem clear enough: Rather than sit by while House Republicans quietly prevented the Consumer Financial Protection Board from ever becoming operational, he would take matters into his own hands. But how we got to this point, and how the political battle might play out from here, is a lot more complicated than it appears on the surface.

That's why Jon Stewart and "Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver hashed it out last night, diving into obscure items of constitutional and parliamentary arcana in order to lay out exactly how Congress has succeeded in doing nothing for so long.

Dan Savage’s victory lap

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:49:00 +0000

Rick Santorum surely hopes to parlay his upset near-victory in Iowa Tuesday night into a fighting chance at the Republican nomination. Problem is, he still faces at least one big obstacle: The first thing that many people have learned about the former senator from Pennsylvania this past week is his lingering, embarrassing Google problem.

The architect of said problem, sex columnist Dan Savage, was on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" last night to take a victory lap of his own, and explained how SpreadingSantorum.com might have hurt the conservative candidate at the caucuses:

Jon Stewart’s compelling anti-Santorum argument

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:53:00 +0000

Though "The Daily Show" taped before the Iowa caucuses last evening, and Jon Stewart didn't know just how close the contest would be, he was nonetheless prepared for the eventuality of a Rick Santorum upset victory. After all, this isn't the first insurgent candidacy the GOP has seen in the past few months. To illustrate just how far into primary season this "Santorum Surge" might extend, Jon Stewart broke out the props, and asked viewers to imagine that the GOP field was a box of chocolates.

The point? No matter how bad each of the other pieces of candy (insurgent candidacies) might have seemed, Rick Santorum is still the least appetizing choice of all.

Bachmann unclear on what a “Gotcha!” question is

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:42:00 +0000

The national spotlight can at times be difficult for someone like Rep. Michele Bachmann to deal with. The Minnesota congresswoman prides herself on being a true social conservative -- one who has stuck to her guns over the years, regardless of politics. When the media subsequently digs up impolitic remarks from years past, it can be hard to deal with.

Case in point: During an interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien this morning, Bachmann was once again confronted with an unsavory comment out of her past, and proceeded to get a bit testy:

O'BRIEN: You said, at the Educators Conference in 2004: "Gays live a very sad life," and that "it’s part of Satan." And that’s quote. You’ve taken a lot of flak for that. Do you pull back on any of that?

BACHMANN: You know, it's just a bizarre thing to bring up today. Today is the election and what people recognize, the most important issue that people will be looking at is, "Who is the best person to deal with the economy?"

“Game Change”: The legend of Sarah Palin

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

The 2008 presidential election was the stuff of modern myth-making: an epic Democratic primary contest, the legacy of two wars, a catastrophic financial collapse -- and the election of our country's first black president. True, it was the arc of Sarah Palin's vice presidential candidacy that helped define the campaign's homestretch, and also provided maybe the general election's most dramatically potent subplot. That in mind, it's possible we can still jive with the upcoming adaptation of John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's campaign yarn, "Game Change," despite its narrow focus on only six of the book's 23 chapters (i.e. the ones that deal with Palin). Just judging by the newly released trailer, the film should be plenty entertaining, if nothing else, and Julianne Moore does a mean Palin impression.

Bill Clinton handicaps Obama’s 2012 chances

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:14:00 +0000

Bill Clinton sat down for an long interview with Bill O'Reilly last night on Fox News, where the two discussed everything from economic and immigration policy, to the horse-race politics of the 2012 election. Clinton issued a favorable forecast for Barack Obama's re-election -- saying his prospects were better than 50/50 -- and commented that the president's current, tougher political posture would help him in the long run.

"[Obama's] out there running against himself now," Clinton said. "Soon as he gets an opponent, it will be about the next four years -- who do you think is going to take us in the right direction."

Clinton also weighed in a few of the Republican candidates, saying of one-time nemesis Newt Gingrich that he respected the man's ability to "think and do." The former president was, however, momentarily lost for words when O'Reilly followed up by asking if he respected Gingrich "as a man." Clinton tip-toed around the answer, then spent the next few moments criticizng the former speaker's "scorched-earth" political approach.