Last night, Jon Stewart covered the vice presidential debate, and how Fox News tried to delegitimize Joe Biden's strong showing against Paul Ryan.
So, the vice presidential debate, Fox? Your move.
FRANCES TOWNSEND (10/15/12): Laughing off the problems the way Joe Biden did, people were offended by that.
PETER JOHNSON (10/12/12): And laughing in a hostile, aggressive, scornful way.
JIM PINKERTON (10/13/12): Raddatz was playing with the Biden team.
SARAH PALIN (10/11/12): ... the moderator's action, or inaction ...
GRETCHEN CARLSON (10/12/12): ... him smirking and smiling ...
SEAN HANNITY (10/11/12): ... rude, condescending, mean at times ... I wondered, you know, if he had some bourbon before he went out there.
SARAH PALIN (10/11/12): It reminded me kind of a musk ox running across the tundra with Paul Ryan and she herself, the moderator, under foot.
(confused audience reaction)
A musk ox across the tundra? Settle down, Eskimo Annie Oakley. Enough with the Mutual of Omaha! Look, we get it. You live in Alaska. But you live in Alaska in a town with roads, and a Walmart, and two Starbucks. And your own plane and television station in your house. It's not Call of the Fucking Wild over there! My guess is, you've never seen a musk ox running across the tundra.
Yes, at Fox, the response to Biden's strong showing was to delegitimize every aspect of that showing, from the moderator, to Joe Biden's demeanor. Which they proclaimed was especially offensive to one demographically critical voting group.
GRETCHEN CARLSON (10/12/12): I thought it was totally over the top disrespectful. I mean, just speaking as a woman.
ANN COULTER (10/14/12): I think it was a huge turnoff, and like I say, especially with women.
DANA PERINO (10/12/12): Say that you're in your 60s, you're thinking you like to date again. If you want to know exactly how to turn off a woman, watch that debate last night, and follow Biden's lead.
Yeah, fellas. If you're goin' a-courtin', and you wanna turn off a woman, act like Biden. Of course, if you're lookin' to keep women alive and healthy, well, you might want to focus more on what he was saying, vis-à-vis, health insurance and Medicare. (wild audience applause and cheering)
....
Here's how desperate Fox was to spin this debate. They called in a doctor for assistance.
DR. KEITH ABLOW (10/14/12): I did not evaluate Joe Biden. But if someone said to me, listen, we want you to do what's really required to know what happened there, you have to put dementia on the differential diagnosis.
(audience groans in disgust)
Yes, yes, that rare form of dementia where you remember too much.
....
So to sum up Fox's post-debate coverage, Joe Biden was an angry, demented, abusive, drunk, old, crazy person... who mopped the floor with our guy. (wild audience cheering)
Video and transcript below the fold.
Now we all remember what happened when the ghost of Barack Obama debated Mitt Romney.
CHRIS MATTHEWS (10/3/2012): What was he doing tonight? He went in there disarmed! He was like, oh wait, an hour and a half, I think I can get through this thing. ... Where was Obama tonight?
Remember? MSNBC readily admitted to the clock-cleaning. From Maddow to Matthews, Schultz to O'Donnell, all agreed to believe their eyes and ears. So, the vice presidential debate, Fox? Your move.
FRANCES TOWNSEND (10/15/12): Laughing off the problems the way Joe Biden did, people were offended by that.
PETER JOHNSON (10/12/12): And laughing in a hostile, aggressive, scornful way.
JIM PINKERTON (10/13/12): Raddatz was playing with the Biden team.
SARAH PALIN (10/11/12): ... the moderator's action, or inaction ...
GRETCHEN CARLSON (10/12/12): ... him smirking and smiling ...
SEAN HANNITY (10/11/12): ... rude, condescending, mean at times ... I wondered, you know, if he had some bourbon before he went out there.
SARAH PALIN (10/11/12): It reminded me kind of a musk ox running across the tundra with Paul Ryan and she herself, the moderator, under foot.
(confused audience reaction)
A musk ox across the tundra? Settle down, Eskimo Annie Oakley. Enough with the Mutual of Omaha! Look, we get it. You live in Alaska. But you live in Alaska in a town with roads, and a Walmart, and two Starbucks. And your own plane and television station in your house. It's not Call of the Fucking Wild over there! My guess is, you've never seen a musk ox running across the tundra.
Yes, at Fox, the response to Biden's strong showing was to delegitimize every aspect of that showing, from the moderator, to Joe Biden's demeanor. Which they proclaimed was especially offensive to one demographically critical voting group.
GRETCHEN CARLSON (10/12/12): I thought it was totally over the top disrespectful. I mean, just speaking as a woman.
ANN COULTER (10/14/12): I think it was a huge turnoff, and like I say, especially with women.
DANA PERINO (10/12/12): Say that you're in your 60s, you're thinking you like to date again. If you want to know exactly how to turn off a woman, watch that debate last night, and follow Biden's lead.
Yeah, fellas. If you're goin' a-courtin', and you wanna turn off a woman, act like Biden. Of course, if you're lookin' to keep women alive and healthy, well, you might want to focus more on what he was saying, vis-à-vis, health insurance and Medicare. (wild audience applause and cheering)
Not that politeness doesn't count. Politeness counts a great deal, because when a lady arrives by a court order at the doctor for her mandatory transvaginal ultrasound, she wants to be treated like a lady. "Good day, Madam." "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." (Jon makes transvaginal ultrasound probe noise)
"May I get the door for you?"
Here's how desperate Fox was to spin this debate. They called in a doctor for assistance.
DR. KEITH ABLOW (10/14/12): I did not evaluate Joe Biden. But if someone said to me, listen, we want you to do what's really required to know what happened there, you have to put dementia on the differential diagnosis.
(audience groans in disgust)
Yes, yes, that rare form of dementia where you remember too much. By the way, this knucklehead Keith Ablow is on Fox's Medical A-Team.
Little known fact, their Medical B-Team is a chimp with a screwdriver.
So to sum up Fox's post-debate coverage, Joe Biden was an angry, demented, abusive, drunk, old, crazy person... who mopped the floor with our guy. (wild audience cheering) We'll be right back.
Jon then looked at how
Martha Raddatz did as debate moderator.
Meanwhile, Stephen covered the
space jump and a
monkey on the loose, and had a
Tip of the Hat/Wag of the Finger segment on how the homophobic American Family Association now claims that teaching tolerance in schools turns our children gay.
Stephen talked with journalist
Evan Thomas, and Jon talked with
Harry Potter author
J.K. Rowling, which went long. Here's the unedited interview in two parts.
Part 1
Part 2