Jon Stewart is surprisingly glum about black Democrats saving Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran

(Image credit: Daily Show)

On Tuesday, African-American voters bailed out two long-term incumbents, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and, more surprisingly, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Jon Stewart said on Wednesday night's Daily Show. How long-term? There are "160 years of life between them, 86 of those years in elected office," Stewart said, adding: "Aaaaaaaaaugh!"

Then he got out his calculator and actuarial tables: If Rangel and Cochran "were one man, they would have been born in 1854, elected to Congress in 1928, they would have died in 1944, and still held office for 70 more years." Stewart shook his head over Rangel's 22-term incumbency, then trotted out a more-than-serviceable Charlie Rangel impersonation.

But he also cast a jaundiced eye at Cochran's defeat of Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel. The black Democrats don't like Cochran much, but they fear/despise McDaniel, he said. But there's a larger reason for Stewart's discontent over this unorthodox win for relative moderation: "And so it is that the nation's African-Americans have returned Tharley Cochangel to Congress — for years 87 through 94." Hey, it's a living. --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.