Writers for The Daily Show must have had a blast coming up with Florida-centric punchlines - from the guy who choked to death during a cockroach-eating contest to (who else?) George Zimmerman. The aim was to skewer the state's most bizarre residents ahead of host Jon Stewart's interview with U.S. Senator from Florida Marco Rubio last night. Rubio, of course, is a staunchly conservative likely 2016 presidential contender.
The show seized on several county clerks' refusal to perform any courthouse marriage ceremonies after gay marriage became legal in the state, and showed a close-up of a homophobic protester who called it a "perversion."
Stewart's retort: “A perversion is two giant rats living in sin for 80 years that never age. That is a perversion of science and all that is holy!”
Then came a litany of recent famously bizarre Florida Man/Florida Woman news stories, including the one about the man who tried to shoplift a chainsaw by shoving it down his pants.
“Florida, you don't get to judge others when your state motto is, 'if Darwin was right, we wouldn't be here,'” he said.
During the interview segment, Rubio seemed to take the mocking of his state in stride.
Ostensibly he was there to hawk a new book of his, which Stewart poked fun at.
Stewart - “You have a new book – American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity – but then there's a very interesting phrase at the end of it – For Everyone.
Rubio - “Yeah.”
...
Stewart - “Well, in this country we generally like to keep the economic opportunity separate for people that already have money.”
Rubio, of course, blamed economic disparities on regulations and taxes, rather than the whole rich-getting-richer thing.
Watch the rest of the interview here.
