Jon Stewart Shreds Paul Ryan’s Free School Lunch Fib (VIDEO)

There was a lot of “crazy” for comedian Jon Stewart to review after last weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference, or as he calls it, “Burning Man for people who don’t do drugs and are afraid of fire.”

One of the speeches he highlighted was Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) “moving” story about a boy who chose a brown-bag lunch over a free school meal — the moral being that food assistance programs are liberals’ ineffective patch for the problem of child poverty, or as Ryan called it, offering a “full stomach and an empty soul.”

“Full stomach empty soul? Actually I think that’s the slogan for Arby’s,” Stewart joked.

He then pointed out that not only did the woman Ryan took the story from never meet the boy mentioned in the anecdote, but the story’s original author and the boy she wrote about regularly make public appearances advocating for free school lunches.

“Point taken. People on food assistance have empty souls,” the comedian said. “As Jesus once said, if you give a man a fish, don’t. Period. End of bible.”

Aside from that parable, Sen. Ted Cruz (R) and National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre also get a drubbing from Stewart. Watch below, courtesy of Comedy Central:

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Catherine Thompson (@kt_thomps)  Catherine Thompson is a senior editor for Talking Points Memo in New York City. She came to the site in 2013 and reported on national affairs. Previously, she worked as a research assistant to investigative reporter Wayne Barrett. She can be reached at catherine@talkingpointsmemo.com.

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