Last night, Jon Stewart focused on Walmart, from the Black Friday protests to the factory fire in Bangladesh that killed over 100 workers, and the sheer heartless idiocy spewed forth by Fox Business's Charles Payne. He then looked at what happened to Hostess.
But that's not enough for you, greedy, hourly, slightly-over-the-federal-poverty-line employees. Now you want to unionize! Besides, everyone knows, comparatively speaking, in the Walmart world, you've got it pretty good.
NORAH O'DONNELL (11/26/2012): Violent protests in Bangladesh this morning, after a deadly garment factory fire. Saturday's fire killed at least 112 factory workers. The factory is owned by an exporter whose clients include Walmart.
See? "Wah, wah, wah. I work at Walmart in the United States. I can't afford to take my kids to the doctor." Well, at least where you work, there are exits! (audience applause)
And the worst part of that fire is the devastating impact that it's going to have... on Walmart.
CHARLES PAYNE (11/26/2012): This is a big giant prize for unions, this is a big giant prize for those who are anti-capitalism. ... If it's not this, it will be something else. ... I think it's a stretch, an amazing stretch, to sort of try to pin this on Walmart. ... I can't think of a worse target.
Oh! I believe that's Walmart's slogan.
(wild audience cheering and applause)
Yeah, that was Joe. Joe came up with that in a meeting, and we're all like, "we're using that".
But I'm sorry, you were being callously dismissive about the working conditions in Bangladesh to score points against American unions. Continue.
CHARLES PAYNE (11/26/2012): Don't think that the people in Bangladesh who perished didn't want or need those jobs, as well. You know, I know we like to victimize everyone in this country, particularly when it comes to the for-profit motivation, which is being assaulted. ... Again, it is tragic, and you know, listen, it's one of these things I don't think something like this will happen again.
OK, that's a relief. So... your first argument appears to be, "Yes, OK, they died in a fire. But, they had jobs!" You know, I think it's reasonable to assume your job won't entail some kind of inferno, unless it's mentioned in the ad, which it's....
Oh, OK. Well, I didn't realize. (audience applause)
Now, your second argument is this. Your second argument appears to be... your second argument is, "Hey man, this is just a one-off." Which could be a powerful hypothetical argument that I might buy into, if moments earlier, the giant graphic next to your head had not mentioned the 500 people over the past two decades killed in garment fires.
Although perhaps you're just saying this type of fire won't happen again in this particular now-burned down factory, to which I would say, touché.
Video below the fold.
Meanwhile, Stephen talked about the
fiscal cliff with
Reihan Salam.
On Monday night, after briefly mentioning
Black Friday, Jon covered the
latest round of violence in the Middle East, and
asked God just what His priorities are.
Stephen talked about
Black Friday and looked at a potential Supreme Court case over
copyright law, before showing another
war on Christmas segment, this one involving the Pope himself.
Last night, Jon had on
Warren Buffett and
Carol Loomis together in two segments. On Monday night, he talked with Joseph P. Kennedy biographer
David Nasaw, which went long. Here's the whole interview in two parts.
Part 1
Part 2
Stephen had on Dolly Parton last night, who sang "Love Is Like a Butterfly" in a duet with Stephen. He talked with ABC News's Jake Tapper on Monday night.
Oh yeah, it's also Jon Stewart's 50th birthday, along with a few certain Kossacks and other awesome people. ;-)