'What the hell is wrong with these people?': Jon Stewart blasts Fox News' gushing over Putin

Even if the rest of the world sees Russian President Vladimir Putin fully as a "semi-delustional autocrat" who has bought too far into his own propaganda, Daily Show host Jon Stewart observed on Thursday, Fox News is all too willing to treat him as a legitimate world leader.

But while conservatives trip over themselves to praise Putin for acting unilaterally, Stewart said, they immediately cry "imperial president" when U.S. President Barack Obama does the same.

"What the hell is wrong with these people?" Stewart asked. "What happened to these people as children that has enabled this love-hate relationship with authoritarian figures and the inherent cognitive dissonance that goes along with such a schism?"

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's (R) joke about Obama wearing "mom jeans," Stewart noted, had become a right-wing talking point, even if it tied in to overblown stories about Putin, like the story about him shooting a tiger -- which turned out to have been tranquilized and trapped beforehand.

"For God's sakes," Stewart said. "How, in a 24-hour news cycle, do you upgrade Putin from wrestling bears to tigers, anyhow? By tomorrow, it'll be, 'Putin once smacked the teeth out of a great white shark and made it bl*w him, while Barack Obama just sat there, wistfully, wearing Capri pants and a baby bonnet."

Stewart also mocked Sean Hannity for gushing over the sight of a shirtless Putin riding a horse.

"That's an image that should be airbrushed on the side of a truck at a New Jersey rest area," Stewart said, facepalming.

Watch Stewart's commentary, embedded in two parts, below:

Part One:

Part Two: