Jon Stewart nails GOP 'warfare queens' over blank checks for foreign wars, closed wallet at home

Jon Stewart nails GOP &#039;warfare queens&#039; over blank checks for foreign wars, closed wallet at home

(Image credit: Daily Show)

Republican hawks are clamoring for President Obama to use more U.S. military might in Iraq, but that's not the only place they want to extend America's military presence, Jon Stewart said on Thursday night's Daily Show. "There is apparently no country Republicans will not put under the protection of the United States," he said, "except one." At this point the video montage of GOP hawks calling for military intervention is replaced by clips of those same hawks blocking bill after bill aimed at fixing problems in the U.S.

The stated reasons? Money, the federal deficit, and not wanting to encourage dependence on the government. But those objections only seem to apply in the U.S., Stewart noted, not in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the world where Republicans are eager to break out "the unlimited checkbook we have for foreign military adventures." Stewart's pièce de résistance is Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) arguing against funding veterans' health care out of concern about creating a culture of dependence — and this final zinger: Republicans "have a culture of defendency, if you will, and I believe it has turned them all into warfare queens." --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.