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."
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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.