WATCH: Jon Stewart slams Obama over the IRS scandal

The Daily Show host pillories the IRS for targeting conservative groups, then bashes Obama for validating the "tinfoil behatted"

Jon Stewart slams Obama's IRS
(Image credit: Daily Show)

For all the grief Jon Stewart gives conservatives on The Daily Show, there are some nights he hands them a must-watch gift. Stewart isn't impressed with the Benghazi investigation, and said so on Thursday (and repeated Monday — watch below), but the IRS's targeted scrutiny of Tea Party and other conservative groups is a different matter.

On Monday, Stewart tore into the IRS, especially the apparent belief of Lois Lerner, the head of the division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, that an apology was enough for singling out Tea Party groups.

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After fileting the tax collectors, Stewart turned to Obama, saying his administration's lack of "managerial competence" has just handed a load of powerful ammunition to his conservative critics and especially the "tinfoil behatted" contingent. "Congratulations, President Barack Obama — conspiracy theorists who generally can survive in anaerobic environments have just had an algae bloom dropped on their f---ing heads, thus removing the last arrow in your pro-governance quiver: Skepticism about your opponents."

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Here's Stewart's setup to the IRS scandal segment, focused on Fox News' Bill O'Reilly:

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Peter Weber, The Week US

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.