Jon Stewart used his opening monologue on Monday’s “Daily Show” to dissect the accusation from the right that President Obama refuses to refer to the ISIS terrorist group as “radical Islamists.”
Stewart then played a clip in which Obama laid out his reasoning. The President argues that referring to ISIS as Islamists would grant them “the religious legitimacy that they seek.” Stewart lamented that, six and half years into his presidency, that Obama “still thinks he can persuade us with reasoned argument.”
Added Stewart, “Have you met us?” The president’s critics, he said, are not going to say, “Oh, you have a rationale? I withdraw my freakout.”
Stewart said the President is suffering from “MSNBCitis, a condition in wherein one uses facts and research to refute opponents…Symptoms include cancellation.” Stewart went on to compare critics of Obama’s ISIS strategy to those who disparage a TV show without actually having seen it, “like ‘New Girl.’ It’s actually pretty good.”
Stewart ended the segment by super-imposing the President’s head onto the bodies of action movie characters like Rambo and Superman, so that his reasoned argument could still carry the air of military might that many want to use against ISIS.