let's begin tonight with the big news from the weekend. on saturday pizza mogul and alleged lady fondler herman cain told the press he'd be making a big announcement about the fate of his campaign. cain is a man who believes it's appropriate to refer to a former satellite as uzbekistan- stan and has never met a question he couldn't answer with 9-9-9. i host a comedy program and don't like working hard. so we belong together. when i look at him i don't see a presidential candidate, i see... (laughing) all right. let's get to it. >> i would ask that you give a very enthusiastic welcome to my good friend and professional do-er, mr. herman cain. ( applause ) ♪ >> jon: who does that? there's a herman cain you don't know if they planned this or if he was late. (beep) they just said my name! gas it. seriously who plans something like that. like, hey, i've got an idea. you introduce me. i won't be there. i'll be on my (beep) bus. i'm sure the crowd is like, they said his name and then in the great distance we heard him roar. then we saw it. his bus. >> as of today with a lot of prayer and soul searching, i am suspending my presidential campaign. (crowd booing) (daily show crowd cheering). >> jon: did you hear his crowd? his supporters are like, oh, boo. oh, no. i mean the guy just wowed you with that whole bus stage thing and all you can muster is like, no, don't. quit. how about a little emotion? these are my writers when they first found out. >> it's not supposed to happen this way. >> oh, god. oh, man. >> (beep) (beep) (beep) (beep). >> jon: that's not actually how it was. none of my writers are strong enough to lift a television. herman cain seemed to sense that his supporters needed something to lift their spirits which is what led to herman cain saying the greatest nine words ever spoken by an american politician. >> i believe these words came from the pokemon movie. ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: go on. >> life can be a challenge. life can seem impossible. it's never easy when there's so much on the line. >> jon: i'm going to miss him so. of course, mr. cain performed that almost as well as its original performer donna summer. ♪ life can be a challenge ♪ life can seem impossible ♪ it's never easy when so much is on the line ♪ ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: that's right. herman cain's farewell address, words of wisdom to his followers and supporters, the final moments of his campaign are from the closing credits of the pokemon movie. the thing they play to get you the (beep) out of the theater. if i may quote from titanic: near. far. wherever you are. my heart will go on. ( cheers and applause ) you know, this guy... first of all ( cheers and applause ) ... i can't even. first of all it's not even the most inspirational quote from the pokemon movie. mewtwo:. >> i see that the the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are. >> jon: well said magic japanese cat monster who was created as the result of a genetic experiment and therefore has psychic powers. well said. of course, considering what led cain to drop out of the race, this is the pokemon 2000 line he really should have quoted. >> i could use pants. ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: to be fair to herman cain, we can't all be as wise as slowking when he's wearing the shellder of knowledge. look it up. shellder of knowledge. where is does that leave the republican party? you won't believe it. >> i'm going to be the nominee. i mean it's very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high i'm going to be the nominee. >> jon: what? what is so crazy? republicanes are up newt creek without a paddle. why will newt be the nominee? >> those guys were the new kid on the block and isn't this wonderful and boy it would be great if it worked out and we don't know anything about them. i'm the guy who has been around forever. >> jon: that's newt gingrich's pitch. i'm the thing that has been in your pantry forever. you could try your new fangled pop tarts and your eggo waffles but if you look way back in there, there's a can of lachoy baby corn, a product that may or may not still be offered by the lachoy company. you don't remember buying it yet you don't remember ever being without it. and now, you have no choice but to elect it president. i'm newt gingrich and i approve this message. we'll be right back. i was having trouble getting out of bed in the morning because my back hurt so bad. the sleep number bed conforms to you. i wake up in the morning with no back pain. i can adjust it if i need to...if my back's a little more sore. and by the time i get up in the morning, i feel great! if you have back pain, toss and turn at night or wake up tired with no energy, the sleep number bed could be your solution. the sleep number bed's secret is it's air chambers which provide ideal support and put you in control of the firmness. and the bed is perfect for couples because each side adjusts independently to their unique sleep number. here's what clinical research has found: 93% of participants experienced back-pain relief. 90% reported reduced aches and pains. 87% fell asleep faster and enjoyed more deep sleep. for study summaries, call this number now. we'll include a free dvd and brochure about the sleep number bed including prices, and models plus a free $50 savings card. and how about this? steel springs can cause uncomfortable pressure points. but the sleep number bed contours to your body. imagine how good you'll feel when your muscles relax and you fall into a deep sleep! i'm not just a back surgeon, i'm also a back patient. i sleep on the sleep number bed myself and i highly recommend it to all of my patients. need another reason to call? the sleep number bed costs about the same as an innerspring but lasts twice as long. so if you want to sleep better or find relief for your bad back, call now. call the number on your screen for your free information kit with dvd, brochure and price list. call right now and you'll also receive a $50 savings card just for inquiring about the sleep number bed. ask about our risk-free 30-night in-home trial. call now for your free information kit and a free $50 savings card. call now! ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: welcome back. oh, the holiday season, 'tis the season. the holidays are upon us which means we hear at the daily show turn our attention to the neediest among us: giant on-line retailers. they're suffering and nowhere is the situation more heart breaking than in california. john oliver has more. >> reporter: california is in trouble. they're facing a financial armageddon. and it's largely because of one thing. direct democracy. >> they throw issues on the ballots and people vote for them without actually knowing what the ramifications are. >> we hear that direct democracy is on wonderful but what if it's not. >> reporter: with just 500,000 signatures californians can put anything on the ballot right past the legislature and make it law. it's a difficult system to understand until you talk to state democratic chairman john burden. >> it's totally (beep) up. it was put in place to protect people from the special interests. it's now become a tool of the special interests to screw the people. >> reporter: i'm not sure it's not as bad as you're saying. >> it's give you a real (beep) example. the team (beep) because there's not enough money for the school, not enough money for state services. >> reporter: he's talking about proposition 13 which mandates the property taxes cannot be raised meaning that there's not enough money to pay for things like proposition 98 which mandates that californians dramatically increase spending on education. so the state passed a law saying they don't have to pay for things that fe passed a law requiring themselves to pay for. >> people say how could this have happened? well, it happened because they bought a bag of bull (beep) and voted for it. >> reporter: you cuss more than a west coast rapper. >> who? >> reporter: but california has a solution to reduce its $26 billion deficit, a new law requiring all e-commerce companies like amazon.com to pay state sales tax. what did amazon do? >> amazon launched an expensive campaign to overturn the law through a ballot measure. >> reporter: that's right amazon.com is using-- what else? -- but direct democracy paying firms to collect names at $3 per signature. its democracy at its finest. according to republican state assemblyman tim donnelly. >> this is freedom. freedom takes on many forms. >> reporter: what are you say to go the criticisms that this is being hijacked as a process by major companies? >> in this case the little guys are standing on amazon's shoulders. they're saying you know what? we just want to breathe some free air. >> reporter: that's not overstating it? >> no. i never overstate it. the people don't want to pay illegal taxes. they certainly don't want to pay illegal taxes that will be used to subsidize illegals. i don't think there's anything wrong with that. >> reporter: how can you get an amazon sales tax back to illegal immigrants. >> in i can tie anything to illegal immigration. >> reporter: what if i were to suggest an initiative that may 31 should forever be referred to as tim donnelly is an (beep) day? i mean, i would need 500,000 signatures. >> i don't think that would be that hard in this state. >> reporter: i think that's probably true. it seems a virtual certainty that amazon will be paying no sales tax in california next year. why can't people be happy with this victory for the big little man? >> the (beep) should amazon escape what we're shutting down schools, shutting down hospitals, firing teachers and cops and firemen, screwing mental health people because they don't want to have a god- damned sales tack like everybody else. >> reporter: it's the american dream. you work hard. you make billions and then you can have a voice. >> you've got to be kidding. >> reporter: it's what this country is built on. >> my daughter gave me a kindle for my birthday present. and i will not use it because of these god-damned people at amazon. i go to my bookstore and buy a god-damned book and read it. it's that simple. i can read it taking a crap as opposed to looking at a kindle or a computer taking a crap. >> reporter: okay. clearly the direct democracy system is slightly flawed but how do you fix it? >> you could fix it several ways. to qualify an initiative the statutory initiative is 5% of those who voted at the last gubernatorial election. >> reporter: hold on, hold on. let me get this straight. the only way to stop 500,000 signatures forcing legislation through is to get 500,000 signatures to stop it? >> exactly. (beep). >> reporter: it seems only california voters can save themselves from themselves. would you be interested in signing an initiative to ask people to stop being asked for signatures? >> yes. >> reporter: you're against doing exactly what you're doing now, right? >> right. >> reporter: there's no nice way of saying this. california is... what's the word? >> (beep). >> reporter: exactly. ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: my guest tonight is a photographer. his photos from his many trips to iraq are displayed in his new book, iraq perspectives. please welcome to the program ben lowy. ( applause ) so this is a selection of or a collection of photographs from iraq from the years.... >> 2003 to 2008. >> jon: how many times did you go to iraq to collect these photographs through those years? >> way too many. more than my wife would have liked. >> jon: that many times. let me tell you how this happened. so we did this rolling stone piece. they said, oh, we're going to send over this photographer. he's just going to hang out with you guys for a day and take some pictures. we thought, okay, we'll rough him up a little bit. this guy shows up. where were you before this? where was it? >> libya. >> jon: yeah, that's right. >> i get around. >> jon: you get around. so we go, who are you? it turns out you have been traveling to these... you're a photographer that travels to the most dangerous places in the world. >> those and other places. i mean i've done my share. i've done the sports illustrated swim suit shoot. >> jon: did you take any shrapnel there? >> it wasn't necessarily shrapnel. >> jon: they tell me it's very difficult for them to stand sometimes in the pools of water are not as warm as you would think. >> it can be tough with the light and the suntan lotion, yeah. >> jon: i understand. tell me what... i just want to show some of these. the selection of pictures... these are all through humvee windows. can you cut to that? do we have one? it's through a humvee window. the orange post-it is not actually part of the book. >> i was wondering about that. >> jon: is that central park in baghdad? what is that? >> that is actually a residency building for like the basically the ministry of prisons and interior where lawyers and investigators live but it was one of the first images i made when i thought of this idea of photographing iraq through humvee windows. but it's amazing that when you look around iraq at the time it's all wire. all this freedom we say we brought to the iraqi people. at the same time the people passed a law in their country to hide behind these glass walls. >> jon: that's interesting. were the iraqis resentful of the blast walls and those that were around them? >> not the guy who has the contract to make the blast walls. actually directly behind that... i did have the opportunity to get out of the car and go to the other side. right on the other side of the blast walls was like a swing set. where like, you know, kids were playing because people live there. >> jon: it's interesting because you were telling me... when i went to afghanistan, i went surrounded by military personnel with guns. i was wearing a flak jacket. i asked you, you know, you said you were going to ghanistan. how are you getting there? it was like i'm walking. like it was some crazy.... >> afghanistan is a different, sort of a different ballgame. after so many years in iraq embedding with u.s. soldiers the last five years that i've worked in afghanistan i've never been with u.s. soldiers. i just kind of go on my own. it's a different experience to see it from the other side. i would say in afghanistan it's a lot easier to work on the street or with afghans without the protection of nato. >> jon: really? >> i grew up in new york in the '80s. >> jon: that's not the same thing. i lived here in the '0s. having a guy try to sell you something by the park is not the same as being in afghanistan. look at this. this is another picture from iraq that i wanted to show. i don't know if you can get that. it's a woman... the thing i thought was interesting here is not the eggs but right now to her. that white block. what is that? >> that is ice. it was sort of amazing. i ended up researching it. there isn't a lot of electricity in iraq. some in baghdad. maybe four hours a day. people don't have freezers. you have to go buy your ice. from a store. there are actually factories for making ice that people go get a slice of. it's something that we are not used to in the west that we don't understand. it was really revealing. >> jon: i push a cup into my refrigerator. when that doesn't work, i curse the heavens. did you see improvement during your time there? did you see things change? >> definitely things changed. i mean, the 2004 to 2007 was hellish. but then in 2008 things, you know, were starting to get better. >> jon: you kept going. >> yeah. >> jon: because you're nuts. we talked about this earlier. >> that i'm nuts? >> jon: yeah. >> my wife thinks so. >> jon: look at this one. this is through the night vision. that's a gentleman who i believe is just saying, oh, my gosh, i didn't know you were going to take my picture. i would have showered. >> well, i was with a unit going out basically when the sunni awakening began as the organization like, they basically used informants. at some point these guys would go out with u.s. soldiers and say we know who the bad guys are. they would pick out people in different neighborhoods. this is south of baghdad. they went out to a raid to different villages. they would be just like, oh, that guy, he likes al qaeda. i think they were just trying to sell themselves. this is a guy who is just basically sleeping in a mechanic's shop outside. it was 120 degrees during the day. most people sleep outside at night because there's no electricity for air conditioning. they just woke him up and just arrested him. he's just totally sleeping. >> jon: you're just behind them with a camera like (snapping) do you have a flash? >> no. that's the whole point of the night vision. >> jon: now to be fair to your wife who you keep saying, what does your wife do for a live something. >> same thing. >> jon: iraq perspective. what you do is unbelievable. you know that. you know how angry we were with you that whole day. he was just hanging out with us and the whole time he was just taking pictures going, "these guys are such pussies." >> i did it for the schwag. i really like the barbecue cologne. >> jon: (laughing) there's more where that came from. iraq perspectives on the book shelves now. what is the next place you're travel to go. >> to haiti in a couple of days. >> jon: a vacation. tropical. you'll have a good time. it's nice. taking the wife? ben lowy. vo: look! the old navy funnovations inc. tree is exploding with $5 gifts. thermals and performance fleece are just $5. graphic tees too! how do you like that? our big $5 finale ends saturday. at old navy >> jon: that's our show. join us tomorrow night at 11:00. here it is your moment of zen. >> they had the hungry muppet, the starving muppet. you look out there. we have medicaid, a record number of people on food stamp. we have s-chip. we have w.i.c.c. there's all these programs out there to take care of hungry kids.