Jon Stewart Goes 'GoT' on the 'GOP'

On any normal day, Jon Stewart revels in the opportunity to put the GOP in its place — to call out the hypocrisy and ignorance he recognizes in the Republican Party’s decorum. So on Midterm Election Day, a veritable Christmas for political comedians, Stewart dials up the bite in discussing his targets for satire.

Stewart’s live Election Night episode of The Daily Show kicked off without hesitation in its lampoonery of the varied Republican candidates, both the winners and losers of the 2014 election. As per his usual mission statement, Stewart aimed to strike any and all characters written into the day’s anthology of political high jinks. But it was the Red runners who really got burned.

Among Stewart’s finer jabs were his depiction of newly elected Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell as a slow-witted cartoon turtle, his animation of reelected South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham falling down, and — perhaps best of all — his geek-friendly comparison of Election Day on the whole to the no-longer-just-recognizable-to-Game of Thrones-fans phenomenon of “the Red Wedding” (with Republicans standing in for those poor, poor Starks).

Though Stewart prides himself on being an equal opportunity satirist (hell, he even makes fun of ebola), sometimes the scales just tip a little too generously in one direction, leaving him and his writers with no choice but to go for broke and just make fun of the guys they really want to mock. And who are we to complain when we get cartoon Mitch McConnell turtles as a result?

Image: Comedy Central