While they initially agreed on taking down the Patriot Act, Jon Stewart and Sen. Rand Paul (R) tangled over issues such as gay marriage and discrimination in a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday night.
Eventually, the host of “The Daily Show” pressed Paul on the logic of so-called religious liberty laws allowing Christian business owners to turn away gay customers.
“We’re asking them to do the thing that they do for their business,” Stewart said of the religious businesspeople.
Paul argued that he believed, under his libertarian credo, that Christians should be allowed to “live life” the way they see fit.
Soon Stewart brought up the free market doctrine that corporations are people — and Paul pounced.
“Here’s the thing Jon,” Paul said, “you’ve brought us full circle because now we’re talking about whether corporations are people.”
“Yeah?” Stewart said, flailing his arms in mock surprise.
“And that’s exactly the question in the Patriot Act,” Paul continued, “because what I’ve bene filibustering is whether or not a warrant that has a corporation’s name on it — Verizon — can collect people’s records.”
“That’s my point!” Stewart said.
“So we’re right back to the Patriot Act and I think we agree now,” Paul said, clinking his coffee mug against Stewart’s.
The host did a double take: “This is gonna keep me awake tonight, isn’t it?”
Watch the clip:
