Quote of the day: Senator Stevens wanted to know why it took so long for that "Internet" from his staff to reach him? Allow Jon Stewart to explain

Howie has already called attention to the instantly infamous Internet "orientation" lecture provided the other day by the pride of Alaska, Sen. Ted Stevens. "A series of tubes" is what it seems the darned thing is. This would be a little funnier if the guy wasn't chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has regulatory authority over the Internet.

On last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart tried to help.

The senator's little Internet, uh, overview included this surprising bit of news: "I . . . just the other day got Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock on Friday. I got it yesterday. Why?" If the thought were a tad more coherent, we might feel the need to know what day of the week it was when the senator was speaking. As it is, does it matter?

Our Jon took the senator's question seriously. After a bit of good-natured joshing ("I'll tell you why. 'Cause the crick ran dry. And there's Comanches in the pass . . . "), he got down to business:

"Actually, why didn't Senator Stevens get it until yesterday? Well, this is just a little bit of a guess here.

"Maybe it's because you don't seem to know jackshit about computers or the Internet. But hey, that's okay, you're just the guy in charge of regulating it. So, what difference does it make?"