Wow. They went there. Jon Stewart and Larry Wilmore exposed how Newt Gingrich is using racially tinged code words when he talks about his solutions to poverty by making poor kids clean the school bathrooms.
NEWT GINGRICH (12/5/2011): Some people who suggest that the working poor by definition know how to work, which is true, that's why they're called the working poor. I was talking about the people who come out of areas of neighborhoods where they may not have that experience.
LARRY WILMORE: Ohh, OK, he's not talking about poor people, he's talking about poor black people. Chuck, could you change my.... (graphic changed his title back to Senior Black Correspondent) Thank you.
JON STEWART: But Larry, he didn't say black.
LARRY WILMORE: No, Jon, those are his exact words. He said "in neighborhoods where they may not have that experience".
JON STEWART: (stares blankly) That's... that's code for black?
LARRY WILMORE: No, it's code for inner city, which is code for urban, which is code for black.
JON STEWART: It's a lot of code.
LARRY WILMORE: Well, Jon, it's 2011, you can't just call poor black people lazy.
JON STEWART: But he didn't use the word lazy either!
LARRY WILMORE: Right, he said we "have no habit of showing up on Monday".
JON STEWART: Code for lazy, I guess.
LARRY WILMORE: Well, technically, it's code for shiftless, which is code for lazy, which is code for black.
....
LARRY WILMORE: Well, Jon, somehow when black people are poor, it's their fault. They're on welfare and lazy, but down in poor white Appalachia, you're not the problem. It's China's fault, or India's fault, or all the money we're spending on black people on welfare! I'm sorry, inner city government subsidy recipients. It's code, Jon.
JON STEWART: I get it, I get it. But does it really matter whose fault it is?
LARRY WILMORE: Yes, Jon, it does! Because it matters to the solution. Look, here's Gingrich's.
NEWT GINGRICH (12/2/2011): It would be great if inner city schools and poor neighborhood schools actually hired the children to do things. ... What if they cleaned out the bathrooms, and what if they mopped the floors?
(audience groans in disgust)
LARRY WILMORE: Wait, Jon, so his plan to fix America is for black kids to start cleaning toilets? "Hey, what'd you learn in school today, son?" "I learned black people need to chew their food better, dad." This is unbelievable, Jon! He wants to give kids jobs by firing their parents from one of the few jobs they can get to support their kids!
JON STEWART: Well, I'm sure Gingrich has a good reason, let's listen.
NEWT GINGRICH (12/2/2011): They had money on their own, they didn't have to become a pimp or a prostitute or a drug dealer.
(audience groans in disgust)
Video and full transcript below the fold.
JON STEWART: The Republican presidential race is heating up, and it's hit on a hot button issue: the poor. Here to discuss it, Senior Poverty Correspondent, Larry Wilmore. Larry, thanks for joining us. Appreciate you coming.
LARRY WILMORE: Thank you, Jon. Jon, I am excited, the Republicans have a new frontrunner, an idea man who's not afraid to take on a tough issue like poverty.
NEWT GINGRICH (12/1/2011): Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday.
LARRY WILMORE: I'm speechless, Jon. I mean, has he ever heard of the working poor? What, does he think if you have two jobs, they cancel each other out?
JON STEWART: Well, Gingrich did take some heat for that comment, and he clarified the comments soon after making them.
NEWT GINGRICH (12/5/2011): Some people who suggest that the working poor by definition know how to work, which is true, that's why they're called the working poor. I was talking about the people who come out of areas of neighborhoods where they may not have that experience.
LARRY WILMORE: Ohh, OK, he's not talking about poor people, he's talking about poor black people. Chuck, could you change my.... (graphic changed his title back to Senior Black Correspondent) Thank you.
JON STEWART: But Larry, he didn't say black.
LARRY WILMORE: No, Jon, those are his exact words. He said "in neighborhoods where they may not have that experience".
JON STEWART: (stares blankly) That's... that's code for black?
LARRY WILMORE: No, it's code for inner city, which is code for urban, which is code for black.
JON STEWART: It's a lot of code.
LARRY WILMORE: Well, Jon, it's 2011, you can't just call poor black people lazy.
JON STEWART: But he didn't use the word lazy either!
LARRY WILMORE: Right, he said we "have no habit of showing up on Monday".
JON STEWART: Code for lazy, I guess.
LARRY WILMORE: Well, technically, it's code for shiftless, which is code for lazy, which is code for black.
JON STEWART: But you know, it still feels like you're making a leap that he's talking about black people. Shouldn't we give him the benefit of the doubt?
LARRY WILMORE: Well, maybe, but let's play a little more.
NEWT GINGRICH (12/5/2011): You have 43% black teenage unemployment.
JON STEWART: It wasn't code! Look, shouldn't Newt Gingrich get credit for addressing what is a real issue, black poverty?
LARRY WILMORE: Right, but I didn't know there was a black poverty, Jon. I thought it was just poverty, OK? We can't even be poor as good as you guys?
JON STEWART: Larry, that's not true, you're very good at.... I mean... you're... I'm all screwed up now!!
LARRY WILMORE: Well, Jon, somehow when black people are poor, it's their fault. They're on welfare and lazy, but down in poor white Appalachia, you're not the problem. It's China's fault, or India's fault, or all the money we're spending on black people on welfare! I'm sorry, inner city government subsidy recipients. It's code, Jon.
JON STEWART: I get it, I get it. But does it really matter whose fault it is?
LARRY WILMORE: Yes, Jon, it does! Because it matters to the solution. Look, here's Gingrich's.
NEWT GINGRICH (12/2/2011): It would be great if inner city schools and poor neighborhood schools actually hired the children to do things. ... What if they cleaned out the bathrooms, and what if they mopped the floors?
(audience groans in disgust)
LARRY WILMORE: Wait, Jon, so his plan to fix America is for black kids to start cleaning toilets? "Hey, what'd you learn in school today, son?" "I learned black people need to chew their food better, dad." This is unbelievable, Jon! He wants to give kids jobs by firing their parents from one of the few jobs they can get to support their kids!
JON STEWART: Well, I'm sure Gingrich has a good reason, let's listen.
NEWT GINGRICH (12/2/2011): They had money on their own, they didn't have to become a pimp or a prostitute or a drug dealer.
(audience groans in disgust)
JON STEWART: Wow. Wow.
LARRY WILMORE: Yep, dream big, black people. Hey, you don't have to be a pimp, prostitute, or drug dealer. You can clean up people's shit! Hey, that sounds... come on! Gingrich 2012, Yes We Clean!
JON STEWART: Larry Wilmore, everybody. We'll be right back.
Jon also had a great segment blasting the Florida Family Association bigots for whining about the reality show featuring American Muslims, and talked with Aasif Mandvi about Lowe's surrendering to the FFA's angry e-mails.
Jon then interviewed
Lawrence Lessig. The interview went long, so they put the full unedited interview online in two parts.
Part 1
Part 2
Meanwhile, Stephen lamented how Donald Trump has cancelled his debate.
Stephen then talked about how
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) is charging protesters to protest now, and offers up some ideas of his own.
Stephen then got into a tiff with
Anderson Cooper over a penis party. He then talked with CNN Worldwide managing editor
Mark Whitaker.
