Daily Show: Democratic strategists are 'thinking three failures ahead'
October 01, 2009
"Three years ago, the Democrats in our federal government lived in legislative exile," Stewart began. "But all that changed in 2006 when the Democrats regained control of this nation's House of Representatives and its Senate."
"And with that control," he went on, "they still failed ... to get anything. Basically, the Democrats seem like the kind of people who switch to Geico and lose money."
"But it's really only because until recently they didn't have that one thing that would finally allow them to execute their agenda," Stewart continued more hopefully. He played a series of clips from earlier this year of tv news reporters predicting that with the election of Sen. Al Franken, there would be a "Democratic Super Majority" which "Republicans would be powerless to stop" and which would give Obama "the power to steamroll his agenda through the Senate."
After that buildup, Stewart appeared dumbfounded that the Democrats were still unable to get a public option for health care through the Senate Finance Committee.
"For God's sake, Democrats," he moaned, "they're countering your arguments with nonsense and crushing you."
As an example of Republican nonsense, Stewart showed Sen. John Ensign claiming that even though the US has the 19th worst preventable death rate in the world, "If you take out accidental deaths due to car accidents, and you take out gun deaths, because we have a lot -- you know we like our guns in the United States ... we actually do better as far as survival rates."
"I imagine also if you took out Senator Ensign's long-term affair with a staffer from his marriage, that makes you nearly monogamous," Stewart remarked.
Stewart then played a clip of Democratic Finance Committee member Charles Schumer claiming after the defeat of his public option amendment, "We're feeling good and all of us are pleasantly surprised that we're making progress."
"Well, then you're fucking idiots," Stewart yelled. "You must be out of your minds!"
Stewart turned for insight to Wyatt Cenac, who told him, "This is grand master chess. The Finance Committee has rejected the public option so the Democrats can now keep it alive in a joint meeting with the Health Committee -- where it can get killed again in a larger, more humiliating forum. ... They're thinking three failures ahead."
This video is from Comedy Central's The Daily Show, broadcast Sept. 30, 2009.
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