Watch The Daily Show slam Arizona for its (already vetoed) anti-gay bill

You can't blame Jon Stewart and his producers for not knowing that, between The Daily Show's taping Wednesday and its airing, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) would veto the "gay discrimination" bill that Stewart spent most of the show criticizing as "morally repugnant." He also slammed Arizona itself as a potential landfill for nuclear waste and used condoms, saved by its warm weather. And, of course, Stewart got in some good digs at Fox News, for scaring religious conservatives into overreacting with such bills by exposing them to a "constant barrage of apocalyptic paranoia and outrage."

Stewart's mockery would have been more cutting if Brewer hadn't beat him to the punch with her veto pen — she even used some of Stewart's same arguments. As they (don't really) say: Live by the fake news, die by the real news. But his mockery wasn't all in vain: These "religious freedom" bills are popping up in legislatures all over red America. --Peter Weber

The Week

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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.