As I'm sure you've noticed, the blogosphere, including our own corner of it, has been abuzz with discussion of The Daily Show's "Evolution-Schmevolution" week. I've certainly been enjoying it, although I feel the interviews could have been done better. The segment that made me laugh the most though has got to be from a couple of nights ago when Jon Stewart laid into hypocritical, wackjob Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn. It's interesting and frightening to visit Coburn's website and to take a look at his right-wing positions on every subject under the sun. For example, take a look at his unbiased, scientific poll:
Do you support federal funding for destructive embryonic stem cell research or do you support ethical alternatives that have shown the same potential for treating disease? Poll Answers: Destroy embryos for research Ethical alternatives Both Neither
So much bias and scientific misinformation it's hard to know where to start. One might like to try to educate Coburn on some of the issues about which he's ill informed. But don't bother. As The Daily Show's segment demonstrated, he's just a phony. The segment shows his statement at the Roberts hearings, beginning with his heartfelt plea for unity
....my heart aches for less divisiveness [at this point he chokes up and is almost crying] less polarization, less finger pointing, less bitterness, [more choking up] less mindless partisanship which at times sounds almost hateful...
Stewart then showed a couple of quotes from this uniter (not a divider)
"The gay community is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today"
and
"Consider the death penalty for abortionists"
If "real" news shows cut through the nonsense and hypocrisy of people like Coburn in the same way, we might get some better politicians, some better laws, and things might actually get done. Can you imagine?
