Last night, Jon Stewart tore into the NRA and exposed the hypocrisy of the pro-gun senators who are helping the NRA block Obama's surgeon general nominee, the extremely well-qualified Dr. Vivek Murthy.
So what were Dr. Murthy's comments about guns?
SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER, R-TN (2/4/2014): In your tweets of October 16, 2012, "tired of politicians who are scared of the NRA". Those are some of the words. And I would hope you would know that Americans have a First Amendment right to advocate the Second Amendment.
"Yes, Americans have a First Amendment right to advocate the Second Amendment. Apparently, you don't have a First Amendment right to have a different opinion from that. Everyone knows the First Amedment only applies to saying positive things about the Second Amendment. That's all. Says in there, you have the First Amendment right unless you don't have anything positive to say about the Second Amendment. Then you have to shut the fuck up. You have to shut the fuck up, is what I'm saying."
Not to mention that in addition to that tweet, Murthy also supports majority-popular ideas like background checks and an assault weapons ban. In other words, stop him!!
Full transcript below the fold.
Now before our break, President Barack Obama was about to get some rare good news. Congress was actually going to allow him to appoint his preferred candidate to a high-profile position.
MICHAELA PEREIRA (11/15/2013): President Obama set to make his pick for the next Surgeon General, the White House announcing he intends to nominate Dr. Vivek Murthy for the job.
BILL HEMMER (3/19/2014): The first Indian-American Surgeon General.
KRYSTAL BALL (3/22/2014): A Harvard Medical School instructor and tech entrepreneur.
Hold on there, Indian-Americans! You can have your Ivy League doctor, or you can have your tech genius. You cannot have both! But he seems eminently qualified, looks like smooth sailing for the good ship Murthy.
SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER, R-TN (2/4/2014): The second concern I have, along the same line, is about your comments about guns.
Iceberg!!
Someone said the word "gun", which of course means it's time for our new segment, American Stands Its Ground. So what were Dr. Murthy's comments about guns?
SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER, R-TN (2/4/2014): In your tweets of October 16, 2012, "tired of politicians who are scared of the NRA". Those are some of the words. And I would hope you would know that Americans have a First Amendment right to advocate the Second Amendment.
"Yes, Americans have a First Amendment right to advocate the Second Amendment. Apparently, you don't have a First Amendment right to have a different opinion from that. Everyone knows the First Amendment only applies to saying positive things about the Second Amendment. That's all. Says in there, you have the First Amendment right unless you don't have anything positive to say about the Second Amendment. Then you have to shut the fuck up. You have to shut the fuck up, is what I'm saying."
Not to mention that in addition to that tweet, Murthy also supports majority-popular ideas like background checks and an assault weapons ban. In other words, stop him!!
CHRIS HAYES (3/17/2014): The NRA and Rand Paul have managed to whip up quite a frenzy over Murthy.
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO, R-WY (3/10/2014): The Surgeon General of the United States ought to be focused on the major health issues of our country — heart disease, cancer, stroke. Those are the killers.
SEN. RAND PAUL, R-KY (2/27/2014): Being against smoking. Being against obesity. Things that are bad for your health.
(surprised audience laughter)
You know bullets... (audience laughter) are not generally considered superfoods. They are, as we have learned, low on omega-3 fatty acids and relatively high in lead.
But even if Murthy was anti-gun, he's just the Surgeon General. He's the nation's official scold. The worst thing he could do is put a warning label on bullets. That's not gonna do anything.
(audience laughter)
And you know what? It doesn't matter anyway, Republicans. The new Senate rules say you can't filibuster nominees anymore. All the President needs is a simple majority, and he's got more than enough Democrats to do that.
CHRIS HAYES (3/17/2014): According to the New York Times, "opposition from the [NRA] has grown so intense, it has placed Democrats from conservative states, several of whom are up for re-election this year, in a difficult spot. ... As many as 10 Dems are believed to be considering a vote against Dr. Murthy" on those grounds.
Well, I guess that'll teach Dr. Murthy to make wild accusations about politicians being scared of the NRA. (audience laughter) Is nobody in America able to take a common sense approach to guns?
MIKA BRZEZINSKI (3/5/2014): A fifth grader in Ohio is suspended from school for three days after pointing his finger like a gun. ... The principal says there is a zero tolerance policy, and students have been warned about pretend gun play multiple times this year.
Oh, for fuck's sake! I said common sense! Come on, that's obviously a self-defense finger gun. It's not like he's got one of them high-capacity magazine finger guns.
(audience laughter and applause)
It's just a regular old finger gun! It's not an assault finger gun. (Either I'm hungry, or those look a lot like stacked donuts.)
So let me get this straight. Real weapons are OK, great, completely imaginary weapons are intolerable. What about something in between there?
JOSH ELLIOTT, GMA (3/24/2014): A big toy manufacturer, making weapons now for girls.
Toy weapons for girls. Must've taken a long time to figure out how to take a boy's weapon, and adopt it for a girl's....
Oh I see, oh OK, well, that makes more sense. Tell me about these gentler, more feminine weapons.
MARA SCHIAVOCAMPO, GMA (3/24/2014): This is 8-year-old Grace Maher's favorite toy. ... The Nerf Rebelle heartbreaker, a pink and sparkly bow and arrow. ... But some wonder if teaching little girls to play war games could be sending the wrong message, not promoting empowerment, but violence.
(GMA video shows girl shooting toy arrow at boy, and hitting him with it)
(wild audience laughter)
She totally nailed that dude! And you know what? I'm actually OK with that. I got kids, and I can tell you something. That kid had it coming. (audience laughter) I don't know what he did, but he knows. We'll be right back.
Okay, for some reason, Comedy Central just completely re-did their website, changing everything up, and now all the links are different, and the embed codes no longer work on this site. Grrr. Anyway, I've provided the links to all the clips so you can at least watch them over on Comedy Central's website, though now you have to deal with a new 30-second commercial for every single one of them. :-\
Both Jon and Stephen also mocked the media coverage of the missing Malaysian Flight 370.
Stephen also did another Better Know a District segment, this time about NC-01 with Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D).
Jon had on Arianna Huffington, and Stephen had on actor Bryan Cranston.