Last night, Jon Stewart again turned to the videotape to show how Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is lying through his teeth when he claimed that DEMOCRATS were responsible for the government shutdown.
Now tomorrow night, the President will address the state of our union. But let's get a jump on him with our own check on some of society's institutions in our new segment, Where Are We Now?
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So what about our elected representatives, for instance, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, potential presidential candidate, leading light of the Republican Party? A few months ago, he pushed the GOP to shut down the government. Any regrets?
1/26/2014:
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TX: I opposed a government shutdown. I said we shouldn't shut the government down. ...
BOB SCHIEFFER: Senator, if you didn't threaten the shutdown of the government, then who was it that did? I mean, but we'll go on to something else.
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TX: It was Harry Reid and President Obama.
(shocked audience reaction)
Wow, I don't remember it that way. And there is just one thing about that.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (1/6/2013): Senator John Cornyn ... he said "it may be necessary to partially shut down the government in order to secure the long-term fiscal well being of our country.
REP. PETER KING, R-NY (10/6/2013): We are the ones who did shut the government down.
REP. JOE WALSH, R-IL (2/2011): We will do what we have to do to shut down the government if we have to.
REP. LOUIE GOHMERT, R-TX (11/2010): Government's gonna have to shut down.
REP. MIKE PENCE, R-IN (3/2011): I say, shut it down!
Well, it looks like we've got ourselves one of those he said, actual tape recordings of the events at the time said, disagreements. I guess we'll never know the truth.
You can learn more about what happened at Ted Cruz's inventive re-imagining in his new series, Cruz Your Own Adventure, on the Bizarro History Channel,
from the northern states' secession from the Confederacy, to moon man Neil Armstrong's historic landing on Earth. If Ted Cruz remembers it that way, then it's true.
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So things are looking pretty bad for everything. But let's not forget, we don't have to go in that direction. We've got a new inspirational Pope. No matter how tough things seem, we can find solace, at least, in his profound message of peace. Yesterday, he demonstrated that again with a moving prayer, followed by the symbolic release of two white doves.
TAMRON HALL (1/27/2014): One of the doves was actually attacked by a seagull, the other by a black crow.
(shocked audience reaction and laughter)
OK, you may see that as a chilling omen of peace torn asunder by the forces of violent chaos. I see a black crow and a white seagull putting aside their differences to work together! (audience laughter) We're all gonna be fine! We'll be right back.
Video below the fold.
Jon also looked at
Sean Hannity's whining about living in New York by paying tribute to Sean with a
star-studded musical.
Meanwhile, Stephen started coverage of the
Superb Owl (due to logo restrictions) and the fallout from
Richard Sherman's postgame interview.
He then noted who won at the
Grammys over the weekend, though it looks like copyright issues have led to them pulling the video. Oh well.
Jon talked with comedian Jeff Garlin, and Stephen talked with statistician and former Kossack Nate Silver.