Last night, both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert took a look at what's going on in Egypt.
Wait, but why would they say that Mubarak was dead, and now they're saying he's in a coma? Why would they even lie about it? It doesn't even.... eh.
DAN EPHRON (6/20/2012): Maybe something had happened so that he could be pulled out of that prison, and sent back to the military hospital where he had been for a number of months up until his trial, where the conditions are much better.
Ahhh. So this is all just a big con to get Mubarak a nicer hospital room. Oh, what's wrong, Hosni? Semi-private not good enough for you? Your roommate too noisy? I don't think so!
No, yeah, I know a lot about Egypt. Mummies are apparently everywhere.
But one way or another, the time of dictatorship in Egypt is done.
....
CANDY CROWLEY (12/14/2011): Islamist parties have won a majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections. The Muslim Brotherhood party appears to be one of the major winners.
RICHARD ENGEL (6/18/2012): The Muslim Brotherhood is vehemently anti-Israeli, it is not pro-American.
What's with the anti-American stuff? What did we ever do to the Muslim Brotherhood, besides support the dictator who suppressed them for 30 years? Look! Who may or may not be a Ray-Ban-wearing corpse. Listen! The important thing is this. Egypt held free and fair elections with clear winners, so the country can finally move forward.
ANDERSON COOPER (6/15/2012): The military council, which has been running the country since Mubarak's ouster last year, dissolved the first freely elected parliament.
Or backwards. Backwards is nice too. But at least the presidential runoff election went over the weekend, right? Free and fair? Clear winner?
RICHARD ENGEL (6/18/2012): Unofficial results show that the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi will become the next President of Egypt.
NEWSCASTER (6/20/2012): Meantime, Egypt's election committee said it will not announce the presidential runoff winner tomorrow after all. The group said it has to review hundreds of complaints about the voting.
(Jon facepalms)
You're not going to announce the winner of the election, because in a country of 83 million people, you got... hundreds of complaints. You're new to the democracy thing, I get that. Hundreds of complaints? You know what that's called in Florida? The best, most efficient election in the history of Florida! (audience applause) What are you doing? Take the money and run! You get more complaints a night in Boca Raton at an Olive Garden! "The salad bar plates are very small. I can't keep going back and forth."
Videos and full transcript below the fold.
In a few minutes, Bassem Youssef will be joining us. He's a very very sharp, funny observer of Egyptian politics. But we thought, boy, before he comes out, maybe we should do a quick review of what's been going on. Not that Americans aren't up on it, we're up on it! We... we're up on it.
So here's what's going on. Hosni Mubarak was Egypt's leader, U.S.-backed leader, for 30 years. He was immensely popular amongst his people, typically winning elections between 98% and 127% of the vote in any given election. He was so beloved, so popular, that last winter, his people demanded he take a well-deserved retirement. Lest they grow to love him too much. They just didn't want to smother him.
So where is he now?
BRET BAIER (6/19/2012): Big story here today is breaking. A report that former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is clinically dead.
The news now official, 11:15pm Eastern Standard Time, Hosni Mubarak... I'm sorry, we're getting an update.
SHEPARD SMITH (6/20/2012): The former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is now reportedly in a coma.
OK, he was dead, but now he's in a coma. Wait, how can you tell? Whenever you see him, he's just on a bed wearing sunglasses. Maybe he died weeks ago, and the Egyptian military is just pulling a "Weekend at Hosni's" thing.
You never really know. Wait, but why would they say that Mubarak was dead, and now they're saying he's in a coma? Why would they even lie about it? It doesn't even.... eh.
DAN EPHRON (6/20/2012): Maybe something had happened so that he could be pulled out of that prison, and sent back to the military hospital where he had been for a number of months up until his trial, where the conditions are much better.
Ahhh. So this is all just a big con to get Mubarak a nicer hospital room. Oh, what's wrong, Hosni? Semi-private not good enough for you? Your roommate too noisy? I don't think so!
No, yeah, I know a lot about Egypt. Mummies are apparently everywhere.
But one way or another, the time of dictatorship in Egypt is done. 'Cause here's the new reality.
ANDREA MITCHELL (11/28/2011): Egyptians turned out in huge numbers today to vote in parliamentary elections starting today, the first since Hosni Mubarak was toppled last February.
Freedom!! I gotta tell you, watching people get their first taste of freedom never gets old. I almost don't care who won.
CANDY CROWLEY (12/14/2011): Islamist parties have won a majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections. The Muslim Brotherhood party appears to be one of the major winners.
RICHARD ENGEL (6/18/2012): The Muslim Brotherhood is vehemently anti-Israeli, it is not pro-American.
What's with the anti-American stuff? What did we ever do to the Muslim Brotherhood, besides support the dictator who suppressed them for 30 years? Look! Who may or may not be a Ray-Ban-wearing corpse. Listen! The important thing is this. Egypt held free and fair elections with clear winners, so the country can finally move forward.
ANDERSON COOPER (6/15/2012): The military council, which has been running the country since Mubarak's ouster last year, dissolved the first freely elected parliament.
Or backwards. Backwards is nice too. But at least the presidential runoff election went over the weekend, right? Free and fair? Clear winner?
RICHARD ENGEL (6/18/2012): Unofficial results show that the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi will become the next President of Egypt.
NEWSCASTER (6/20/2012): Meantime, Egypt's election committee said it will not announce the presidential runoff winner tomorrow after all. The group said it has to review hundreds of complaints about the voting.
(Jon facepalms)
You're not going to announce the winner of the election, because in a country of 83 million people, you got... hundreds of complaints. You're new to the democracy thing, I get that. Hundreds of complaints? You know what that's called in Florida? The best, most efficient election in the history of Florida! (audience applause) What are you doing? Take the money and run! You get more complaints a night in Boca Raton at an Olive Garden! "The salad bar plates are very small. I can't keep going back and forth."
Wait this wouldn't have anything to do with that thing the military did, the dissolving of the parliament, would it?
WOLF BLITZER (6/19/2012): Thousands of people have gathered right now in Tahrir Square, opposing what they see as a military coup.
JAMIE RUBIN (6/18/2012): The military government, they're afraid of a Muslim Brotherhood president.
So just like its ailing ex-leader, Egyptian democracy is either dead, in a coma, or trying to get a better room. We'll be right back.
This led up to Jon's interview with Egyptian comedian
Bassem Youssef, basically Egypt's version of Jon Stewart. Of course, this interview went long. Here's the unedited interview in two parts, which is really worth watching.
Part 1
Part 2
To open the show, Jon covered the whole
Fast and Furious scandal, with some
false equivalence arguments that Democrats are now making. Warning: You will most likely get very annoyed at Jon if you watch this segment.
Stephen also had another
ThreatDown segment, and escalated his quest to gain access to
Sweden's Twitter feed. He then interviewed cosmologist
Lawrence Krauss.