The Daily Show turned its attention on Tuesday to those who have been most devastated by Hurricane Gustav -- the delegates to the Republican National Convention. "This week isn't a party for everyone," Jon Stewart explained somberly. "There's a sizable group of people who've been left out and left behind."
Senior correspondent John Oliver took up the melancholy tale. "While the Republican leadership raced to the Gulf Coast to demonstrate their empathy this week, their delegates were left abandoned in the Xcel Center -- tired, hungry, and desperate."
"When you look upon the sea of white faces down there," continued Wyatt Cenac, "you realize it's a whole different country, invisible to most Americans, who are unaware of the grinding prosperity just miles away from where they live."
One Republican delegate lamented to Jason Jones, "I was real excited until we decided to cancel the convention to placate the liberal media. ... I don't understand why it is that all of a sudden you can't tell the truth about Barack Obama because some people are getting rained on."
"Outside, National Guard troops and helicopters kept order," Oliver noted. "But inside, panic began to set in. The merlot, gone. Cabernet sauvignon down to the last few cases. The situation is bad and getting worse."
"We're making grilled salmon today," a convention chef told Oliver. "We're topping that with a lemon-basil pesto."
"Everybody's asking, 'Where's the president at a time like this?'" Cenac stated. He posed the question directly to one delegate, "Do you think the president will arrive here?"
"I don't know," she replied. But when Cenac followed up with, "Would you like to see him here?" she could only open and close her mouth speechlessly.
"Clearly George Bush doesn't care about George Bush's people!" a despairing Jason Jones cried out to a passing Karl Rove, who simply turned his back and continued along the corridor.
This video is from Comedy Central's The Daily Show, broadcast September 2, 2008:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Daily_Show_mocks_RNC_as_Superdome_0903.html