With a new freshman class of federal lawmakers taking over D.C. this week, some of them might look to their elders for advice on decorum, policy, and tie choice. The last person anyone should check in with, says Jon Stewart, is Arizona’s Sen. John McCain, otherwise known as America’s crankiest legislator. Pointing to his stance on the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Stewart says the senator has gone “from a man of wisdom to full Gran Torino,” which means it’s now open season on McCain, and The Daily Show will spend 2011 incorporating him into every punchline possible.
the crustybastard
Jon Stewart is easily starstruck by politicians. Seriously, when was John McCain ever a “man of wisdom”?
McCain’s not merely a man of barely average intelligence, his entire existence is owed to family connections, and when he can’t even make that work, he engages in truly shocking levels of unscrupulousness.
I don’t claim to have any information that isn’t available to the public regarding McCain’s time as a POW, but many of the Americans imprisoned with him were shocked by what they saw as his weakness and collaboration with the enemy. McCain has gone out of his way to seal his US service records and insist the Vietnamese government not release other POW records. Rep. Bob Dornan accompanied McCain on one trip to Vietnam and said McCain flipped out in a meeting with the Vietnamese, screaming, “If you release any of these records that you have here in Hanoi on me or the other POWs, you will NEVER get diplomatic recognition.”
Then there was the whole Keating Five Scandal, where McCain intervened on behalf of his rich banker buddy who wiped out people’s life savings and cost the government billions.
I’d trust the keys to my house to any person randomly selected at the bus station before I’d entrust them to John McCain.
REBELComx
They could have just given Jeff Dunham a spot on the show and had him come out with Walter dressed as McCain. I thought for sure if they were going to make their own puppet, he’d look more like Oscar the Grouch.
alex
@the crustybastard: can you link to any articles that are “publicly available” which can serve as sources for what you’re saying about his POW time? I can’t stand mccain, but what you’re arguing is pretty rough…
GregorVonK
I was digging it until the puppet…what is it about puppets and punchlines? Maybe the writers slack off thinking the cute puppet will carry the bit. The only funny puppet I can think off was the insult comic dog on CONAN, and not even “he” was funny all the time.
Kieran
Hilarious. But McCain can only dream he had as much hair as that puppet.
B
No. 3 · alex wrote, “@the crustybastard: can you link to any articles that are “publicly available” which can serve as sources for what you’re saying about his POW time?”
It sounds like a case of swift boating (what they did to Kerry). However, I can believe he blew up in a meeting with the Vietnamese government, but mostly because he supposedly has a real anger-management problem in general, possibly exacerbated by what he went through while a prisoner.
In the Keating Five scandal, McCain came out of it (along with John Glenn) with the least amount of criticism from the committee that investigated the scandal. The committee did not accept charges of impropriety against McCain but did criticize him for poor judgment ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five ).
Ronbo
Was this before Stewart gave McCain more airtime on his show than ALL Democratic politicians combined? Stewart swings Right as much, or more, than he does Left. Remember his “Rally” where he blamed both sides for the rough political discourse? Now we have “independent” nutballs shooting 20+ Democrats at a Democratic meeting.
Stewart has far more Right-focused guests than Left-focused. I guess giving them so much airtime to spew their hate is funny?