“That’s Not What He Said!”

Like many Americans, I get most of my news from the Daily Show. (That and a complex series of web readers, which have inevitably become too cluttered.)

And once again last night, Jon Stewart nailed it. By this I mean after very clearly laying out the facts in the Administration’s NPR (Nuclear Posture Review) he then juxtaposed the usual suspect’s (guess who) predicable noise.

He does this often and well, but this clip stands out because of mix of the gravity of the subject matter set against the Fox/Gingrich brazen disregard for the truth, mixed wth the show’s inspiring insertion of the best of American comedy in all the right places.

The subject matter was the START treaty signed this week between the United States and Russia. To paraphrase our intrepid Veep, it’s a pretty big f*cking deal. The first START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was negotiated between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, and signed by Bush 41 in 1991. START II was never ratified, leaving global nuclear arms control institutions largely in limbo.

Nuclear arms control is good. And this used to be within the realm of partisanship that stopped at the water’s edge. Alas.

A recent post I read on Facebook that is indicative of the foaming-at-the-mouth crowd’s line of attack says that Obama and START have succeeded where our enemies have failed in weakening America. And as you can see from the Daily Show Clip, Gingrich and Hannity, et al, are all too eager to run with that ball, facts be damned.

What this clip does so brilliantly is cross-cut facts such as in the case of nuclear weapons and retaliation against biological weapons – “The US ‘reserves the right to make any adjustments to this policy in the case of biological weapons threats’ as well as ‘And the new policy does not apply to countries not in compliance with NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty)’” against the blatant blathering you’d expect…

But in the end, my sheer enjoyment of the truth unfolded through great comedy is severely tempered over concern for a country where it’s up to the comedians to set the record straight on Nuclear Posture policy….