Jon Stewart Mocks Media's “Fair Game” Fixation

The late-night host is pretty annoyed by one of the cable news commentariat's rhetorical tics.

On Thursday's edition of "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart opened the program with a wide-ranging assault on the media's obsession with the question of what's "fair game" in political discourse.

Stewart started the segment with a clip from Thursday's episode of MSNBC's early-bird political talk show "Morning Joe," in which host Joe Scarborough slammed a New York Times story on Mitt Romney's opulent La Jolla, Calif. home and argued that the newspaper would never take a close look at the opulent home of, say, former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. (Alas, according to Scarborough's co-host Willie Geist, the Times ran many stories on Kerry's tremendous wealth and lavish digs).

Many media figures and political pundits have asked: is it "fair game" to go after Romney's wealth? What exactly does "fair game" mean, anyway?

"Fair game is an issue the media seems to be talking about," Stewart said. He jokingly asked if it's "fair to judge job applicants by prior work experience." 

But ultimately, Stewart concluded, asking what's "fair game" in modern political culture is nothing but a "time-killing circle jerk."

But then again, Stewart said, "even circle-jerks end with some kind of tangible conclusion."

Check out the full clip below via Comedy Central: 

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