Jon Stewart praises Bill Clinton for 'actually saying stuff'

By Meredith Blake

Sept. 7, 2012 12 AM PT

&lt;p&gt;Given the state of contemporary political discourse, &lt;runtime:topic id=”ENTTV000000244”&gt;”The Daily Show”&lt;/runtime:topic&gt; rarely has to look very hard to find someone (or something) worthy of ridicule.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Occasionally, though, a moment comes along that’s impervious to Jon Stewart’s satirical gaze, like &lt;runtime:topic id=”PEPLT007410”&gt;Bill Clinton&lt;/runtime:topic&gt;’s deeply wonky yet riveting speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On Thursday’s “Daily Show,” Stewart began with a few obligatory jokes about the length of Clinton’s remarks. A Giants fan, he grumbled that “this was not the event from last night I wanted to go into overtime,” but from there it was all praise for Bubba.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;”Along with sheer stamina, Bill Clinton Wednesday night brought something to this campaign season that had been missing: Math, numbers, facts,” Stewart said. “In an amazing display of actually saying stuff, Bill Clinton threw out more specific numbers in one speech last night than the Republican leadership did in an entire week in Tampa.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As evidence, Stewart cut to video of vice presidential candidate &lt;runtime:topic id=”PEPLT005726”&gt;Paul Ryan&lt;/runtime:topic&gt; speaking in fuzzy generalities (e.g. “we will not duck the tough issues”) about healing the nation’s economy during his address to the Republican National Convention last week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;”How numerically deficient was the entire RNC?” Stewart asked rhetorically. “Not only did Bill Clinton offer more specifics of the Democratic plan than the Republican plan, he offered more specifics of the &lt;em&gt;Republican&lt;/em&gt; plan than &lt;runtime:topic id=”ORGOV0000004”&gt;Republicans&lt;/runtime:topic&gt;.” (Cue video of Clinton explaining how middle-class families could see their tax bills increase by $2,000 under Mitt Romney.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stewart marveled at the novelty of hearing “a guy make sentient comments using numbers on stage.” “It’s like ‘A Beautiful Mind,’” he quipped.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The rest of the segment juxtaposed Romney’s and Ryan’s convention speeches with Clinton’s address. While Romney observed that “what America needs is jobs, lots of jobs” and Ryan promised “we will take responsibility,” Clinton argued -- using actual numbers -- that &lt;runtime:topic id=”ORGOV0000005”&gt;Democrats&lt;/runtime:topic&gt; have a stronger record on job creation than Republicans. &nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Of course, it’s worth discussing where Clinton got his statistics and how they ought to be interpreted, but the use of data in a convention speech was, for Stewart -- not to mention the American electorate viewers -- a small miracle.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;”[Bleeping] math,” he concluded.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ALSO: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-bill-clinton-viewers-nfl-football-20120906,0,1943510.story”&gt;Bill Clinton draws more viewers than NFL football&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-michelle-obama-top-10-list-20120906,0,7735064.story”&gt;Michelle Obama stops by “The Late Show” (again)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-clinton-review-20120906,0,5507356.story”&gt;Clinton’s convention speech reminds &lt;/a&gt;Democrats&lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-clinton-review-20120906,0,5507356.story”&gt; that he’s a star&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;twitter.com/&lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/MeredithBlake”&gt;@MeredithBlake&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;!-- BEGIN EDITING HERE --&gt; &lt;div class=”ent-tv-must-reads”&gt; &lt;h2&gt;PHOTOS, VIDEO AND MORE:&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;!-- First story --&gt; &lt;div class=”ent-pick”&gt; &lt;!-- Image and image link--&gt; &lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-dancing-with-the-stars-all-stars-season-15-pictures,0,5065967.photogallery”&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;!-- Headline and headline link --&gt; &lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-dancing-with-the-stars-all-stars-season-15-pictures,0,5065967.photogallery”&gt; &lt;h3&gt;PHOTOS: ‘Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars’: Meet the cast&lt;/h3&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;!-- Second story --&gt; &lt;div class=”ent-pick”&gt; &lt;!-- Image and image link--&gt; &lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-mg-celebrity-meltdowns-pictures,0,7592350.photogallery”&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;!-- Headline and headline link --&gt; &lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-mg-celebrity-meltdowns-pictures,0,7592350.photogallery”&gt; &lt;h3&gt;Celebrity meltdowns&lt;/h3&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;!-- Third story --&gt; &lt;div class=”ent-pick”&gt; &lt;!-- Image and image link--&gt; &lt;a href=’https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-ca-fall-tv-upfronts-2012-html,0,4464799.htmlstory”’&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;!-- Headline and headline link --&gt; &lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-ca-fall-tv-upfronts-2012-html,0,4464799.htmlstory”&gt; &lt;h3&gt;VIDEO: Watch the latest fall TV trailers here&lt;/h3&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;!--/.ent-tv-must-reads --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

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Jon Stewart praises Bill Clinton for ‘actually saying stuff’

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