On Monday night, Jon Stewart ripped into Rick Santorum for his idiotic comparison of apartheid with Obamacare.
But the former South African President also got some props from less expected figures.
ALEX WAGNER (12/9/2013): Newt Gingrich also called Nelson Mandela "one of the greatest leaders of our lifetime".
CHRIS HAYES (12/6/2013): Ted Cruz released a heartfelt statement.
Wow, "Ted Cruz released a heartfelt statement" would be news whether Mandela died or not. (audience laughter)
So it's not news that people would be rushing to praise Mandela. But apparently, what is news is the reaction to that praise.
12/8/2013:
CANDY CROWLEY: You wrote a Facebook page and put out a statement praising Nelson Mandela, a man that you supported very early on. ... And then you were surprised by some of the reaction you got. ... "This clenched-fist, murdering, gorilla warrior does not deserve respect from informed Americans."
NEWT GINGRICH: Well, I was very surprised by it, and Callista had posted my statement on her Facebook page, and was amazed at some of the intensity, some of whom came back 3, 4, and 5 times, repeating how angry they were.
"For instance, this one gentleman suggested that for dinner this very evening, I eat a bag of dicks. And said I resembled, quote, an elderly baby. They claimed I was a suxxor n00b, who is going to get pwned. The Internet is quite mean."
Of course, that is why the Internet was invented, to say hateful things with greater efficiency, reach, and freedom from anyone finding out how disgusting you truly are in your heart. I would never say those things, it was DrAwesomeBalls69!
But what about Ted Cruz? Did he escape the Internet's wrath?
JAKE TAPPER (12/6/2013): "Nelson Mandela," he wrote, "will live in history as an inspiration for defenders of liberty around the globe." ... More than 5,000 people liked that comment. But not all of Cruz's Facebook followers agreed. "He was a murderer and a Communist. Why are you inspired by this, Ted?" "What about the rampant White Genocide BECAUSE of south africans' 'freedom'???????" And another writes, "Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, and FDR are also dead. They don't deserve a positive Eulogy either."
(shocked audience response)
You know the ghost of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was like, "How the fuck did I get dragged into this??" (audience laughter and applause) "What'd I do? Now bring me a martini in a teacup, and one of my second cousins. Rrrrrrrrr."
Anonymous jerks on the web say stupid shit all the time. What about non-anonymous jerks on the TV?
RICK SANTORUM (12/5/2013): Nelson Mandela stood up against a great injustice, and was willing to pay a huge price for that. And that's the reason he is mourned today, because of that struggle that he performed.
That's great, as long as you don't say anything else, I think....
RICK SANTORUM (12/5/2013): We have a great injustice going on right now in this country with an ever increasing size of government that is taking over and controlling people's lives, and Obamacare is front and center in that.
(shocked audience response)
How can I put this in terms you can understand here? Apartheid is not Obamacare. The systemic subjugation of a race of people is different from the establishment of subsidized health care exchanges. The fact that that insurance is now mandated, again, gets us nowhere close to apartheid-level injustice in any way, shape.... I cannot stress this enough. So let the word go forth to a new generation of Americans, wherever people gather,
on whatever it is Americans read,
apartheid, injustice-wise, greater than by a large amount of degrees, Obamacare. If I may shout it from the hilltops:
(sings to The Sound of Music)
♫
Obamacare is not apartheid....
(audience cheering and applause)
The only injustice here is that you can make a statement like that and still get to have the TV talking stick. We'll be right back.
Video below the fold.
Jon also covered the story about the NSA
spying in games like World of Warcraft with
Aasif Mandvi.
Meanwhile, Stephen paid
tribute to Nelson Mandela.
He then looked at how
John Stossel went undercover as a homeless man to show why people should NOT help the homeless, because they don't have it so bad, inspiring Stephen to do something
similar.
Oh, and Stephen's been nominated for
another Grammy as well.
Then last night, Jon talked about how horrible our Congress is, and Jason Jones looked at the key reason behind why: gerrymandering.
Jon then looked at the
media insanity over Obama shaking hands with Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela's memorial service.
Meanwhile, Stephen looked at
Walmart's low acceptance rate of job applicants, and in his own special way,
destroyed Bloomberg columnist Virginia Postrel for her ridiculous column that poor people don't need higher wages because they can watch TV.
He then noted how Venezuela has declared that
Christmas starts on November 1st.
Last night, Jon talked with actress Amy Adams, and Stephen had on NPR's Alex Blumberg. On Monday night, Stephen had on environmental scientist David Keith, and Jon talked with former Pakistan Ambassador to the U.S. Husain Haqqani, which went long. Here's the unedited interview in three parts.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3