Jon Stewart snaps at Fox News over its selective outrage on Benghazi
Daily Show
Every time the conservatives over at Fox News start thumping the table over Benghazi, up to and including demanding President Obama be impeached over the attack and its aftermath, some liberal inevitably brings up the 13 attacks on U.S. diplomatic outposts under George W. Bush, or the deadly Ronald Reagan–era attack on the U.S. embassy in Lebanon. Those previous assaults may seem — and may be — irrelevant to the Sept. 11, 2012, tragedy in eastern Libya, but the intended point is that previous overseas diplomatic attacks weren't transformed into domestic partisan attacks.
Jon Stewart didn't go that route on Monday night's Daily Show, or not exactly. He conceded that the White House probably had politics and the upcoming election on its mind when it sent Susan Rice on to the Sunday talk shows to discuss Benghazi, five days after the attacks. But the rest of the segment compares the Benghazi mess to the Iraq War mess, with an eye on how Fox News and GOP politicians reacted to similar, Stewart argued worse, muddles involving Team Bush and Iraq.
If Fox News wonders why more Americans (and other media outlets) aren't outraged by the tragic and ultimately preventable disaster in Benghazi, Stewart said, well, maybe it's because "everybody in this country has seen this movie before, only that movie was on an IMAX." --Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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