Jay Leno picked the wrong guy to complain about how Barack Obama is being treated by his opponents.
After doing so to Newt Gingrich on NBC’s Tonight Show Wednesday, the host got a lesson in how conservatives are attacked by the media (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JAY LENO: To me, my main problem is the level of disrespect. And I didn’t like it when the left did it to George Bush. I didn’t like the “General Betray Us” and all that nonsense at the left. And I don’t like it when they go. To me, it’s the President of the United States, if you don’t like him, you wait four years and you vote for somebody else. [Applause]
NEWT GINGRICH: Look, let’s talk double standards. I get elected, the first Republican Speaker in 40 years.
LENO: Right.
GINGRICH: Two weeks after the election, I’m not even sworn in yet, TIME magazine has a cover in which I am Scrooge holding Tiny Tim’s broken crutch – not enough that I stole his crutch, it’s broken.
LENO: Yeah, we did a lot of jokes about that. Yeah.
GINGRICH: That’s right. You loved that.
LENO: Oh, it was great.
GINGRICH: And the cover was “How mean will Gingrich’s America be to the poor?”
LENO: Yeah.
GINGRICH: The following week, Newsweek caught up. I was a Dr. Seuss figure, and the title was “The Grinch That Stole Christmas.” Now, you think that was a particularly positive enlightened approach from the media?
LENO: No, no, and I agree with you. I mean, I watch President Obama do the exact same things with the war that George Bush did. If George Bush was sending drones in and killing people, he’d be vilified. I get that. Nobody said it’s fair.
Fair? Why shouldn't it be fair? Why should any newly-elected political leader be treated like this?
Speaking of double standards, Leno earlier in the program held up a sign that read "F U Politicians."
So which politicians in Leno's view are entitled to respect and which aren't?
