Stewart: After Rove will Fox hire a felon next? David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Wednesday February 6, 2008



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Print This Email This After Fox News anchor Chris Wallace boasted of the cable network's latest coup -- securing paid political commentary from Karl Rove -- in a Super Tuesday interview on the Daily Show, host Jon Stewart, demonstrating his trademark wit, quickly jumped on the absurdity of such a hire. Before the fireworks began, Wallace noted that even though there have never before been so many primaries on the same day, they are still unlikely to determine the outcome. This is especially true on the Democratic side, where a system of proportional representation means that a candidate who wins a state with 55% of the vote is likely to gain only a few more delegates than the loser with 45%. "The Republicans are very orderly, things like winner take all," Wallace explained. "The Democrats like it to be kind of messy and free-flowing." But Wallace's real purpose for coming on the show was to boast about his network. "We have got Karl Rove in his debut as a Fox News contributor," Wallace stated proudly, offering to deliver a message to Rove from Stewart or his audience. Stewart did not immediately rise to the challenge, instead asking Wallace slyly, "Do you think that now that he's there Fox will, you know, get access to this administration?" But when asked again to send a message to Rove, Stewart offered, "Does lying feel bad?" Stewart further prompted Wallace, "When he's talking about stuff ... lean in every now and again and just go like, 'Lying. Does a little piece of you die inside when you do it?'" And he speculated that it might be difficult for Wallace to have Rove right there and not feel an urge to ask him about his role in the Plame outing or about the 935 lies that got us into war in Iraq. When Wallace insisted stoutly that he would have no problem limiting his interactions with Rove to requests for election commentary, Stewart upped the ante. "Let me ask you a question. Can you hire a felon? Or is that -- no, that's Libby. ... Could Libby get a job there too?" A visibly squirming Wallace responded by saying, "The idea of coming on here Super Tuesday to promote Fox News seemed like such a good idea about ten minutes ago." Stewart finally asked Wallace about the Democrats boycotting Fox News and Wallace perked up, announcing that Hillary Clinton has accepted an invitation to debate on Fox News next Monday and that "the dam has broken now that John Edwards is no longer in the contest." However, as of Wednesday morning, it had not yet become clear whether Barack Obama would join her.

This video is from Comedy Central's A Daily Show, broadcast Feb. 5, 2008.









