Ken Blackwell, author of the new book, "Blueprint: Obama's Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency," was on "The Daily Show" last night where Jon Stewart tore to shreds his argument that the Obama administration is tyrannical and unconstitutional. (Blackwell has responded here.)
Stewart pointed out that the level of rhetoric in the book does not match what is actually happening in government, adding that the "tyranny" that Blackwell discusses is actually the constitutional use of executive power to do things that Blackwell and other conservatives don't like.
Jon called Blackwell out by differentiating between the rhetoric used in the book and what he is actually arguing:
If the debate is "I don't like your programs," or "I don't like the philosophy of the judges you have the right to appoint," that's a very different conversation than "You are becoming a tyrant and subverting the constitution," because that's a very emotional, loaded statement that's not seemingly backed up by a tremendous amount of, I guess you'd call them facts.
Blackwell didn't seem to have a lot of his facts straight, as Stewart corrected him on a number of issues, such as the fact that Bush appointed more judges than Obama has in the same amount of time. Later, Stewart got Blackwell to admit that George Bush had in fact made a similar "power grab" to the one Blackwell accuses Obama of making, though he said it was "not as comprehensive."
Stewart summed it up when he uncovered the real nature of Blackwell's argument: "They can't use executive power to do things you don't like," he said, "but that's not tyranny."
WATCH:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three