20 talking points from O'Reilly vs. Stewart that have us talking too

Saturday evening marked one of the most anticipated debates of the year, a meeting of two great political minds — no, not THOSE guys. It’s Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly’s showdown, "The Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium," and these two came out swinging. Between O’Reilly’s array of pithy signs and Stewart’s usual sarcastic wit, it was an entertaining evening for everyone. But in between the zingers, there were plenty of thoughtful points made by both men, which (most of the time) were refreshingly free of political rhetoric. We hope Obama and Romney were taking notes, but in case they weren't, here are some of our favorite thought-provoking moments from #Rumble2012.

On Sandra Fluke and birth control:

1. "I left two tickets for Sandra [Fluke], plus a month's supply of birth control pills." (Bill O’Reilly)

2. "A good portion of this country has created an alternate universe in which the issues we face revolve around a woman from Georgetown." (Jon Stewart)

On funding for PBS:

3. "$16 trillion debt, and we gotta pay for Bill Moyers?" (O'Reilly)

4. "Give me back the $800 billion for the Iraq war, and PBS is on the house!" (Stewart)

On business and social welfare:

5. "The first sentence of the Constitution mentions unions and welfare, not corporations." (Stewart)

6. "What [Bush] created was a society of entitlement that we could have two wars that cost $800 billion and cut taxes at the same time." (Stewart)

7. "Nobody begrudges people who need a safety net," but the "mindset" now is too much entitlement. (O’Reilly)

8. "Why is it that if you take advantage of a corporate tax break you're a smart businessman, but if you take advantage of something so you don't go hungry, you're a moocher?" (Stewart)

9. "We're an entitlement country, we were born this way... have you ever seen Oprah's 'favorite things' episode?" (Stewart)

On the military and foreign policy:

10. "Drones, YES! Waterboards, NO!" (O’Reilly sign, used to illustrate O'Reilly's point about the inconsistency of hating waterboarding but being OK with dropping missiles.)

11. "Obama isn't buddy-buddy enough with Bibi Netanyahu. They should go on a double-date to scare Iran." (O’Reilly)

12. "The same people who won't pay for jobs for veterans had no problem paying to make them veterans." (Stewart)

13. "I'm against a draft, and we have to do everything we can for military people when they come home." (O’Reilly)

14. “We don't like new democracies when we don't control who takes power.” (Stewart)

15. "We shouldn't have gone into Iraq." (O'Reilly)

On the media:

16. "Capitalism is a problem in media, because you can get paid so much for being character assassins." (O’Reilly)

17. "Fox News is an overreaction, an auto-immune disease of media representation, the lupus of media." (Stewart)

On health care:

18. "The whole health industry should be run by insurance companies — not the government, but regulated." (O’Reilly)

19. "I would decouple health care from work, freeing people up to have more mobility, not worrying illness will bankrupt them." (Stewart)

Parting advice for America's youth:

20. "Work hard, be honest, get off the 'net, go outside, travel as much as you can, find your passion, find what you're good at, and make money doing it." (O'Reilly)

Source: The Huffington Post, Twitter #Rumble2012

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