Jon Stewart: Iraq Withdrawal Giving Republicans 'Empty Nest Syndrome' (VIDEO)

Last Friday President Obama announced the U.S. will be withdrawing from Iraq by the end of the year. So, you can imagine what Jon Stewart's biggest segment was about on his Monday night return to "The Daily Show."

Turning his "Mess O'Potamia" segment to the more appropriately named "End O'Potamia," Stewart rejoiced at the notion that we will be out of Iraq by 2012. What he didn't understand was how Republicans such as MItt Romney and Michele Bachmann could criticize the President's announcement. Not just because it's a good thing, but because it was former President George W. Bush who set the benchmark for withdrawal with the Iraqi people years ago. Why doesn't the GOP acknowledge this? Well, as Stewart points out, you probably don't remember that speech for that specific reason.

After showing some clips of Bachmann contradicting herself with her simultaneous opposition to an Iraq withdrawal and getting rid of Gaddafi, Stewart moved on to the biggest offenders in his eyes: Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Their complaints that Obama did not end the war "well" prompted Stewart to give them a new nickname: Statler and Waldorf.

So what's with all the GOPers complaining about troops actually coming home? Didn't the President just take us from three wars to one? Watch the full segment above (Or click here to watch on "The Daily Show" website) to hear Stewart wonder, "Are America's hawks having 'Empty nest' syndrome?"

Comments

[Red Russet]

07:31 PM on 11/06/2011

I'll never get over the aim on that shoe-throwing guy in the bush video. 2 throws and he never came close to hitting the other guy. He had a dead lock on bush as his primary target!

[gtt]

05:45 AM on 10/27/2011

Shame on Senators McCain and Graham. They should have to meet the troops when they return and explain that they were in favor of keeping them in Iraq. Politics. Politics. Politics.

These guys are shameless.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

03:09 AM on 10/27/2011

Asif Manvi was HILARIOUS tonight. He so owned that idiot woman reporter. omg it was great.

[kathy smelser]

02:08 PM on 10/26/2011

that is because of the money that they have made now if by some grand delusion they get in office they will have to create another war so they keep the money again it is a vicious circle

[Henry Torres]

01:35 PM on 10/26/2011

funny!!! Fact are facts. GOP thinks we are all ignorant people who just listen to FAUX news.

[newleaf]

01:02 PM on 10/26/2011

Spot on as usual, Jon! It really illustrates the sadness of the two parties working against each other. What a shame the right won't support this President, no matter what, even when it was their idea first and the safety of our troops is at stake.

[strafem2]

12:47 PM on 10/26/2011

They ( Iraqis) wont give our troops immunity . This is the reason were leaving, for now.

[WI Patriot]

12:42 PM on 10/26/2011

At least no camels were harmed in his punchline this time...

[Carl Caroli]

12:29 PM on 10/26/2011

McCain, Graham and the rest are the GOPs barking dogs. One starts, the rest follow suite, hoping the whole neighborhood will drown out any common sense.

[airforcevet43]

11:30 AM on 10/26/2011

Why didn't McCain, Graham and Liebermann attend Gaddafi's burial??....I thought they were friends?

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

03:05 AM on 10/27/2011

They sent a card.

[JTyroler]

06:41 AM on 10/26/2011

War! What is it good for? Campaign contributions? Pork barrel spending? Of course, any good thing that Obama does, the GOP can't give him credit for - after all it was Bush that killed bin Laden.

[lastpost]

06:12 AM on 10/26/2011

"Are America's hawks having 'Empty nest' syndrome?"
Or do they simply sense that their days of laying the Golden Goose, may be coming to an end.
Death Nest, Nest Death?

[crosseyedamerican]

06:02 AM on 10/26/2011

'Cording to Lindsay, it's utterly un-democratic to allow sovereignty in other countries. How dare they assume they can run their own country?

[Chris Morrison]

07:07 AM on 10/27/2011

t's a bit Imperialist, isn't it?

[WiltonDiary]

05:07 AM on 10/26/2011

I thought John and Lindsey were at the funeral of Gadaffi and unavailable for comment until their 90 days of mouning have passed.

[Acharn]

04:31 AM on 10/26/2011

well, no, the President didn't just take us from three wars to one. I don't count the Libya thing as done yet, but I'll knock it off just to give him an advantage. However we're still going to have 5,000 "contractors" in Iraq as combat troops, and just what are those 10,000 "State Department" folks? What in heaven's name do we need 10,000 people in Iraq for? To issue visas? Anyway, we've still got ongoing wars in (at least) Afghanista, Pakistan, Yemen, Central Africa and Somalia, so we're not going from three to one, we're going from (at least) seven to five. There may be more. We don't know, because "the most transparent administration in history" is even more overclassified than the Cheney/Addington administration.

[WiltonDiary]

05:05 AM on 10/26/2011

YOU are entitled to you opinion but you are making up facts. YOU are in a disco haze and drifting beyond the realm of reality.

Follow the news, no Administration in history is more overslassified than were Cheney/Bush and Addington.

At least Obama has accomplished in three years what Bush/Cheney/Adington couldn't do in 7 years. And, we are safe.

[thrashertm]

05:11 PM on 10/26/2011

Your naked shilling for the Obama regime is disgusting. Glenn Greenwald exposes the fact that if anything, over-classification and prosecution of whisteblowers is WORSE under Obama than under Bush. http://politics.salon.com/2011/04/12/obama_anti_secrecy_fail/
http://politics.salon.com/2011/07/30/whistleblowers_7/

[Byron1436]

12:41 PM on 10/26/2011

I'll just use a page from W's playbook to offer my own witty retort: "Obama's keeping us safe. We have to fight them over there so they won't fight us over here. If you don't agree, you wish harm on America. Why?"