Jon Stewart: ‘Congratulations Mr. President, It’s a Gaffe’

On last night’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart extended his warmest congratulations to President Obama for the birth of his new gaffe. Stewart had to choke back tears because my, they really do grow up so fast.

“It seemed like only yesterday that it was just a gaffe,” Stewart said.  Except, of course, that it wasn’t even yesterday.  Within hours, Obama’s claim in a press conference that the private sector of the economy “is doing fine” had grown from just a baby gaffe into a full-fledged, all-grown-up “mature talking point.” Within two hours, in fact, Obama’s words appeared in a Republican National Committee attack ad.  But the gaffe’s life cycle is apparently only four hours long, the time it took for Obama to call another press conference to correct himself.

But in the circle of life, new life is born from death.  Like a phoenix from the ashes, another gaffe arose from Romney’s speech attacking Obama’s own gaffe: “He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers.  Did he not get the message from Wisconsin?” Watch: