Jon Stewart really doesn't want Rick Perry to go to jail

Jon Stewart really doesn&#039;t want Rick Perry to go to jail — (Image credit: The Daily Show)

While The Daily Show was on break, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) was indicted on two counts of felony abuse of power. On Thursday night's show, Jon Stewart ran through the charges against him, involving trying to coerce a Democratic district attorney to resign. But nothing about the case makes any sense, Stewart said, because Democrats and liberal editorial pages are calling the charges a political witch hunt, but the prosecutor bringing the charges is a Republican appointed by a Republican judge. (Stewart casually slid in a nice dig at The Huffington Post, for some reason.)

"Wait a minute, I get what's going on — it's the old switcheroo," Stewart said. "Democrats are defending Perry, because they really want him to run for president, because he will lose, in an albeit entertaining fashion. And Republicans are OK with this indictment, because that means he'll lose, albeit in an entertaining fashion..." But if this doesn't make it clear who really wants Perry to run, and lose, in "an entertaining fashion," you just have to watch the beginning of the clip, where Stewart begs God to keep Perry out of prison. --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.