After getting a comedic slaughtering on The Daily Show a few nights ago, Eric Bolling answered back – by pretending he and Jon Stewart agree on the need to fight “waste and abuse in addition to food stamp fraud.” Which may be true as far as it goes but completely missed the point of Stewart’s epic smackdown.
Bolling said on today’s Cashin’ In show:
Last week we schooled (said with air quotes) Jon Stewart for bashing Fox for exposing waste, fraud and abuse in entitlement programs like food stamps. And Stewart shot back Thursday night.
But here’s the thing. The funny man agrees America has a problem. So, Jon, we have a Kumbaya moment here. We should be fighting all waste and abuse in addition to food stamp fraud, right?
Let’s take it a step further, like the nearly $20 billion in Medicaid waste and fraud. $60 billion in Medicare. And $7 billion in Social Security. Bottom line? Waste, fraud and abuse is rampant in a bloated government set on handing out other people’s money.
…By the way, Jonny Boy? We’re gonna give you an E for effort.
Well, Bolling can pretend he didn't come out looking completely foolish and discredited but I think anyone who saw Stewart’s riff would say differently. For one thing, Stewart’s point was not about the problem of “rampant” “waste, fraud and abuse” but Fox's mean-spirited, disingenuous and hypocritical distortion of the problem.
Stewart neatly explained how Fox and Bolling “exaggerate the scope of public assistance abuse through random and often unproveable anecdotes.” And how they also demonize the poor by painting them as undeserving moochers.
Stewart pegged that food stamp fraud Bolling is supposedly so upset about at $3 billion. Stewart continued by rhetorically addressing Bolling: “Hating waste and fraud as you do, when Democrats were looking to raise a trillion dollars in revenue, in part by ending the very wasteful $4 billion - $4 billion – in taxpayer subsidies that go to already-profitable oil companies, you said what?”
What Bolling said? “They’re a pittance.”
But Stewart didn’t stop there. He went on to point out how Fox actually cheerleads tax loopholes for billionaires. “Exploiting government largesse – while reprehensive and morally corrupting for an individual, is A-OK for corporations,” Stewart concluded.
But really, the entire monologue needs to be seen to get its full effect. I’m including it underneath Bolling’s comments. Oh, and did I mention that it's quite funny?
Bolling’s claim to be anywhere near the same page as Stewart just makes it all the more funny.
By the way, no word from Bolling about his stance on penis pumps.
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