Last night, Jon Stewart looked at how the right-wing, especially Sean Hannity, were going apeshit over Obama's new immigration policy on letting DREAM Act students stay in this country, and of course lying their asses off in the process.
Apparently, what Obama has done is completely without precedent in our democracy. To find examples of a President acting unilaterally on deportation policy would... I mean, to find examples of that, you'd have to go back as far as....
CNN (9/15/2007): George W. Bush issued an executive order ... the U.S. President has granted a reprieve to more than 3,500 Liberians who have been facing deportation from the United States.
All hail King George the Bush! Wow, other than George Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, no President in modern history has changed deportation policy through executive action... except all of them.
So the objections here may be what you call situational. Or so I thought until yesterday, when I saw this on Fox News.
SEAN HANNITY (6/18/2012): Let me play this for our audience so they understand and fully grasp here the magnitude of what he did on Friday. Let's play this.
There's a gotcha comin'! I bet it's a big one!
BARACK OBAMA (9/28/2011): This notion that I can just somehow change the laws unilaterally is just not true. ... The fact of the matter is, there are laws on the books that I have to enforce. And I think there's been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the DREAM Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It's just not true.
Holy shit. Um, wow, that was just nine months ago, the President, publicly admitting he's not allowed to do the thing that he just did. That's, ah... game over, Fox. Kudos. I know I'm sometimes a little bit hard on the folks over there, perhaps somewhat judgmental, quick to pounce, I'm a dick. I'm kind of a dick. But they got it right. I commend them. I acknowledge their diligence, and their accuracy, and I apologize.
(takes out cigar)
(in bad Peter Falk impression) Oh, ah, before I go, though, Fox, one more thing. Ah, maybe it's just me, but that video. It looked to me like the President might not have been done speaking. I don't know if that's the truth or not, and I'm probably wrong, but I won't sleep tonight unless we just give it a quick check and see what he says after that. Roll the unedited tape, Brad.
BARACK OBAMA (9/28/2011): The notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things is just not true. Now, what we can do is to prioritize enforcement — since there are limited enforcement resources — and say, we're not going to go chasing after this young man or anybody else who's been acting responsibly, and would otherwise qualify for legal status if the DREAM Act passed.
Motherfuckers! (wild audience applause and cheering)
You just cut Obama off, just before...!
They cut him off just before he very clearly says that he can do the exact thing he just did, but which you said he said he's not supposed to... motherfuckers!
Video and full transcript below the fold.
Now, as we've seen, the President's use of executive power to permit certain young immigrants to stay in the country.... It's upset many Republicans, and not because it could lose them the Hispanic vote... for generations, but because they feel badly it took Obama so long to do it.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-SC (6/17/2012): He promised immigration reform in his first year ... and he did nothing.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-AZ (6/17/2012): He had overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress, nothing was done.
FORMER GOV. TIM PAWLENTY, R-MN (6/17/2012): He had the full run of the table, and he failed to get it done.
"We were begging him to fundamentally transform America's approach to immigration. I mean, look how we rallied around him with the whole health care thing! We... love the guy."
So apparently, Obama missed a big opportunity to get immigration reform done 2-3 years ago. No use wondering now what might have happened, if only he tried. It was December 2010, yes, I remember it well.
(flashback)
(singing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town")
Pretty sure that was the wrong December 2010 memory. Pretty sure that was.... Boy, spanx will make anyone look skinny. That'll....
I was actually looking for the memory of Obama trying to get the DREAM Act through Congress, which was....
(flashback)
12/19/2010:
DAN HARRIS: The President was, we should say, dealt one significant defeat this weekend, when Republicans blocked the so-called DREAM Act.
TAHMAN BRADLEY: The Senate voted in favor of the bill, 55-41, but that wasn't enough to stop a Republican filibuster.
I could've actually grown a beard in that amount of time! Well, at least Obama failed the right way, legislatively. But this, this unilateral action...
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (6/17/2012): ... is simple Constitutional decency.
REP. JIM SENSENBRENNER, R-WI (6/18/2012): The executive branch has arrogated to itself something that the people's representatives in Congress rejected two years ago.
REP. BLAKE FARENTHOLD, R-TX (6/18/2012): We've got a President, we don't have a king.
But you admit he's President! Progress!!! You've done it! (kisses the sky) Freedom!
Apparently, what Obama has done is completely without precedent in our democracy. To find examples of a President acting unilaterally on deportation policy would... I mean, to find examples of that, you'd have to go back as far as....
CNN (9/15/2007): George W. Bush issued an executive order ... the U.S. President has granted a reprieve to more than 3,500 Liberians who have been facing deportation from the United States.
All hail King George the Bush! Wow, other than George Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, no President in modern history has changed deportation policy through executive action... except all of them.
So the objections here may be what you call situational. Or so I thought until yesterday, when I saw this on Fox News.
SEAN HANNITY (6/18/2012): Let me play this for our audience so they understand and fully grasp here the magnitude of what he did on Friday. Let's play this.
There's a gotcha comin'! I bet it's a big one!
BARACK OBAMA (9/28/2011): This notion that I can just somehow change the laws unilaterally is just not true. ... The fact of the matter is, there are laws on the books that I have to enforce. And I think there's been a great disservice done to the cause of getting the DREAM Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetrating the notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things. It's just not true.
Holy shit. Um, wow, that was just nine months ago, the President, publicly admitting he's not allowed to do the thing that he just did. That's, ah... game over, Fox. Kudos. I know I'm sometimes a little bit hard on the folks over there, perhaps somewhat judgmental, quick to pounce, I'm a dick. I'm kind of a dick. But they got it right. I commend them. I acknowledge their diligence, and their accuracy, and I apologize.
(takes out cigar)
(in bad Peter Falk impression) Oh, ah, before I go, though, Fox, one more thing. Ah, maybe it's just me, but that video. It looked to me like the President might not have been done speaking. I don't know if that's the truth or not, and I'm probably wrong, but I won't sleep tonight unless we just give it a quick check and see what he says after that. Roll the unedited tape, Brad.
BARACK OBAMA (9/28/2011): The notion that somehow, by myself, I can go and do these things is just not true. Now, what we can do is to prioritize enforcement — since there are limited enforcement resources — and say, we're not going to go chasing after this young man or anybody else who's been acting responsibly, and would otherwise qualify for legal status if the DREAM Act passed.
Motherfuckers! (wild audience applause and cheering)
You just cut Obama off, just before...!
They cut him off just before he very clearly says that he can do the exact thing he just did, but which you said he said he's not supposed to... motherfuckers!
You almost had me, Fox News. Almost had me, but then, vanoosh!, reverse gotcha! The whole thing is like a dream I once had....
(flashback)
(singing "Silent Night")
We'll be right back!
Jon also looked at how both campaigns are
pandering to voters, and
discussed the two campaigns' strategies with Wyatt Cenac and John Oliver.
Meanwhile, Stephen
noted that John Kerry will play Romney in debate prep for Obama, and how the United States Equestrian Foundation has
recognized him for his new dressage tradition, thanking him in a video that actually features Ann Romney in it. How does Stephen manage to pull this off?
He then looked at the
PooPrints service to find out which neighbor's dog pooped in your yard.
Jon interviewed actor Denis Leary, who is in the new The Amazing Spider-Man movie. He was bumped up a day after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) cancelled on Jon Stewart suddenly earlier that day, saying he had important votes in the Senate to attend to. Couldn't possibly be related to his failure to actually come up with any immigration bill before Obama upstaged him, could it? Anyway, Leary demanded extra time like the politicians sometimes get, so he got it. Here's the whole interview in two parts.
Part 1
Part 2
Stephen had on actress Olivia Wilde to promote her new film People Like Us, and her being a strong Obama supporter, also talk politics.