Jon Stewart

On the “The Daily Show” tonight, comedian Jon Stewart offered some advice to U.S. Congressman Ron Paul on his recent performance at the first GOP presidential debate last week. Stewart noted that Paul had already won several straw polls and could be a favorite for the nomination if he would just compromise his libertarian principles. Then Stewart played two clips of Paul criticizing the military’s use of secret prisons and of runaway military spending. “We do not need secret prisons nor do we need the torture that goes on in these secret military prisons,” Paul said.

On Monday, I conducted a very unscientific poll on this blog, asking readers if they believed Pakistani officials played a role in protecting bin Laden. More than 90 percent of respondents said they did think Pakistan helped the terrorist leader in some way.  Jon Stewart pressed this issue hard on Tuesday night's "The Daily Show," accusing former President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan of lying about his knowledge of bin Laden's whereabouts.  "When you say 'I don't know,' You knew!"

When Donald Trump was publicly proven wrong yesterday by President Barack Obama releasing his long-form birth certificate (reiterating what we already know is true: He's a U.S. citizen), most people expected Trump to react with some variation of "I'm an idiot. I was wrong. " Instead, Trump used the opportunity to praise himself.   "Today, I am very proud of myself," he said at a news conference. "... I feel I've accomplished something really, really important and I'm honored by it. "  How does one make sense of this inexplicable behavior?

Last night, Jon Stewart deftly skewered the idea that Donald Trump's high poll numbers mean that Trump deserves more and more media coverage (even as he says more and more ridiculous stuff). See posts here and here .  Stewart rightly pointed out that Trump and the media have a reciprocal relationship in which the more crazy stuff Trump says the more he gets covered and the higher his poll numbers (and presumably the ratings) go.  "His poll numbers are high mostly because they keep putting him on television to spew the craziest s--- he can think of," Stewart said.  But Stewart's next point was his most salient: He pointed out that Trump's early polls are "completely and totally meaningless.

Here at The Ridiculous Report, we do not blame Joe Biden for falling asleep during President Obama's 45-minute budget speech. We used to fall asleep in any class that began before 11 a.m.  Not everyone else is so understanding.  Last night on "The Daily Show," host Jon Stewart -- after a brilliant skewering of GOP hurt feelings -- bestowed upon Joe "Good Times" Biden a new nickname: "Rip Van Biden. "    The Daily Show Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor & Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook

Perennial Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced his campaign exploratory committee on Monday and the comedians reacted Tuesday night. On TBS, Conan O'Brien joked that Romney was running solely on "good looks" and edited his announcement video to make it, um, sexy and creepy?  As for Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, he dubbed Romney "Captain Buzzkill" and said, "Not the guy who looks like anyone who's ever fired your dad!" Thus far, the jokes about Romney are 1)

Last night on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart and Wyatt Cenac had some fun with Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, who falsely claimed that more than 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's business is providing abortions.   While Planned Parenthood does provide abortions (statistics show as many as a quarter of all abortions in the United States are performed through Planned Parenthood) the procedures make up about 3 percent of the organization's total business.  Confronted with the facts, Kyl's office claimed his remarks were not meant as a "factual statement.

Tonight, Jon Stewart dedicated his program to an epic Glenn Beck-style parody that might be his best work this year.  Some of his best lines:  • "The only real difference between Glenn and Paul Revere is that when Paul Revere told you the British were coming, they were, in fact, coming. "  • "I don't think I want to live in an America where Charles Manson tells our children what [they] can watch on television. "  • "What I'm about to say to you is the kind of thing that will make you wonder how I even dress myself in the morning.

NEW YORK -- Hipsters on the streets of New York are wearing "Stewart/Colbert '08" T-shirts, promoting a Dream Team presidential ticket featuring the Comedy Central stars. And the subway is plastered with ads for Man of the Year, the new Barry Levinson film that imagines an American public so disgusted with politics that it elects a fake news anchor president. Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, insists he's not running. But judging from the reverential reception he received at last weekend's New Yorker Festival, and the fact that tickets to his appearance sold out in about two minutes, there's a hunger for something truthful and authentic in American politics.

KEENE, N.H. -- Sen. John McCain began his week by embracing the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the conservative religious leader he once denounced as polarizing. He ended it by joining Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal Massachusetts senator, in a fight for an immigration bill opposed by many conservatives. McCain has long sought to present himself as a singular sort of American politician - straight-talking, iconoclastic and hard to quantify. But as he began a campaign-style trip here that will take him through Florida, Ohio and Iowa, he faced an extraordinarily complex political challenge as he sought to appeal to an unusually diverse audience and cement his early standing in the emerging Republican presidential field.