The Daily Show downplays ISIS's threat to America by mocking Lindsey Graham

The Daily Show downplays ISIS&#039;s threat to America by mocking Lindsey Graham

(Image credit: Daily Show)

last updated 8 January 2015

U.S. intelligence officials say that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) doesn't pose a threat to the U.S., at least in the short term, but on Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned that in the fight against ISIS, President Obama "needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed back here at home." Jon Stewart isn't buying it. And on Monday night's Daily Show, he diagnosed the real threat as Lindsey Graham. Watch for his non-spit-take.

Stewart played clip after clip of Graham issuing dire warnings about threats both kind of real and less so. "The poor man lives his entire life trapped in The Blair Witch Project," Stewart said. "For God's sake, I've seen Chihuahuas in handbags who are less fretful and shaking." Even more impressive, he added, is that "Lindsey Graham has sustained this level of panic for 13 years." Correspondent Samantha Bee twists the knife as an inadvertent eavesdropper to Graham's terror — voiced by Stewart, doing the full Blanche DuBois. --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.