Through the Republican Looking Glass

Jon Stewart wonders how a former House Speaker can cast himself as a Washington outsider — and has some choice words of disagreement.

Gingrich isn't the only one for whom questions about his past philandering — and his past in Washington — have gotten pesky.

On "The Daily Show" Monday night, Jon Stewart balked at Gingrich's indignation at the first question he got at the final South Carolina debate last week.

Gingrich called that question, about claims his ex-wife had just made that he had asked her for an open marriage just after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, "about as despicable as I can imagine."

"As close to despicable as you can imagine?" Stewart fulminated. "You imagined your wife, while she was dealing with having M.S., would be open to you having sex with another lady you'd already been having sex with for six [expletive] years. I think you have a pretty good imagination despicability-wise!"

Stewart didn't just fight outrage with more outrage. He also torpedoed the former House Speaker's claim that he's "the outsider that scares the Republican establishment," saying Gingrich is actually the ultimate insider.

"You are the insider," he said of Gingrich. "When Washington gets its prostate checked, it tickles you."

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