Stewart To McCain: "Bush Has Said That He "Has Made The World Safer...How Much Safer Can The World Afford To Have Him Make Us?"...

Huffington Post Rachel Sklar Posted Tuesday July 25, 2006 at 02:30 PM

Yesterday on the "Daily Show" Jon Stewart interviewed Senator John McCain and immediately had him squirming with his first question: "President Bush has been very clear that, through his leadership, he has made the world safer. My question to you is simly this: how much safer can the world afford to have him make us?" McCain dodged the question repeatedly — prompting Stewart to actually say , "Don't dodge the question!" — before returning to the party line on Iraq, emphasizing the importance of the mission rather than addressing the specifics of the administration's handling of the war. In a (perhaps unwitting) show of candor, though, McCain said that he thought the administration knew that they had made mistakes (Jon: "They just won't publicly say [so]"), and that the President had said as much in "some pretty good speeches." But throughout he failed to address Jon's initial question or any other issue other than whether the country should stay in Iraq. Interestingly, though McCain failed to comment on whether Cheney was an "idiot" for not recanting his original "the insurgency is in its last throes" comment, but later in the interview said that "It's an insurgency now, insurgencies are very tough."

After the initial grilling, Stewart and McCain had a more lighthearted interview in which McCain made what seemed like a deliberate reference to "tubes" a la brilliant Internet pioneer Senator Ted Stevens, and Stewart pounced: "When you listen to your colleagues, your esteemed colleagues...do you ever think to yourse, 'Where are these people from?' Privately, can you pull Senator Stevens aside and go, 'It's not literally tubes." (Laughter and applause as McCain tries not to laug.) Said McCain: "I wouldn't want to disillusion him," which cracked Stewart up: "That may be the greatest answer I've heard on this."

McCain claimed to still be optimistic about what could be achieved in Washington, citing immigration as an example, and expressing hope that the two parties could work together: "We need to raise the level of debate, we've got to stop accusing each other of being disloyal...I'm serious about this! We've got to have a respectful debate and dialogue on these issues." Said Jon: "I appreciate that! believe we will see that happen... when there's peace in the Middle East."

Transcript of the Stewart and McCain discussing President Bush and Iraq after the jump.

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