Last week, Jon Stewart devoted his final "Daily Show" of 2010 to coverage of the 9/11 First Responders legislation — the so-called Zadroga Bill — which has passed the House but is being blocked by Republicans in the Senate.
The White House took notice. During his Tuesday briefing, press secretary Robert Gibbs praised Stewart's support of the bill, and urged Republicans to show their support, too.
Via Politico's 44 blog:
“If there's the ability for that to sort of break through in our political environment, there's a good chance that he can help do that. I think he has put the awareness around this legislation. He's put that awareness into what you guys cover each day, and I think that's good. I hope he can convince two Republicans to support taking care of those that took care of so many on that awful day in our history.”
During his rant Thursday, Stewart ripped news outlets for their lack of coverage of the bill, noting that the only network that picked up the story was Al-Jazeera.
"Our networks were scooped with a sympathetic Zadroga Bill story by the same network Osama bin Laden sends his mix-tapes to," Stewart said. "This is insane!"
Watch excerpts of Stewart's 9/11 Responders show here:
