Jon Stewart Calls Bullsh*t on Republicans' Commitment to 'Save American Lives'

Impact

Republican lawmakers have your mortal interests at heart — as long as it lines up with their policy agenda.

That's the latest from Jon Stewart on Thursday night's Daily Show, which featured a cavalcade of Republicans talking up the threats from the Islamic State and Ebola, including the need for an impenetrable fence to keep both from crossing the border somehow. When it comes to even bigger threats like heart disease, gun violence and climate change, though, they seem a lot less committed.

Take a look:

IS and Ebola, Stewart points out, have killed enough Americans "to be counted on two Simpsons hands," causing Republicans like Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) to say, "We're going to do whatever it takes to make sure that our citizens and our homeland are protected."

But bring up policies to combat heart disease, which causes 600,000 deaths a year (1 in 4) in the U.S. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it turns out big government is starving children through school lunch overreach.

In the same vein, a Harvard study found that expanding Medicaid would save 2,840 lives for every 500,000 Americans gaining coverage. Obamacare, though, falls well outside the "whatever it takes" declaration.

There are more than 32,000 firearm deaths a year in the U.S., according to the CDC, but gun-control laws are off the table. And don't get Stewart started on climate change. Why protect the lives of everyone on the planet when it might mean higher taxes?

Instead, these politicians and analysts know we've got to focus on real solutions — like building a gigantic, triple-layer fence on the U.S.-Mexico border and hiring a crack mercenary team to dispose of IS.