Take it away, Jon ...Jon Stewart’s appearance on Crossfire is something wonderful. Watch the video or read the transcript.
Paul Begala’s apparent inability to understand Stewart’s criticism was vexing. He (and to a lesser extent, Tucker Carlson) seemed to think that Stewart thought that they were too “tough” on their guests. Stewart’s criticism is precisely the opposite.
The “tough questions” aren’t meant to be answered; the entire premise is a charade. The point of a show like Crossfire is to watch the shouting, not to resolve issues. Begala and Carlson spoke of “debate,” but shouting “Yes” and “No” isn’t a debate. Begala defended “spin” as an attempt by sincere people to convince people of their views, but Stewart promptly called bullshit on that also. Sincere belief is “We need to bring democracy to Iraq to stabilize the Middle East and protect America.” Spin is “We have organized an international coalition to do so.” Begala has spent so much time as a spin coordinator that he doesn’t know the difference.
Tucker Carlson is even worse. I happen to be in the middle of reading his autobiography, which is intermittently amusing, and it almost predisposes me to liking him. Not anymore. His version of “tough questions” is to ask the host of a parody talk show why he didn’t grill Kerry.
Jon Stewart didn’t grill Ralph Reed, Bill O’Reilly, some official high in the Bush campaign food chain who’s name I don’t know, Pat Buchanan or Vin Diesel. Grilling guests just isn’t what the Daily Show is about. Maybe it should be when political guests are on, but it isn’t. The Daily Show is simply a place for guests to speak to a specific audience. Maybe Martha Stewart should have given up her Today show spot when she was indicted for securities fraud, but the only thing more ridiculous than Martha “focusing on her salad” was the idea that Matt Lauer or Katie Couric would do a hard hitting interview. Expecting hard hitting journalism from a Daily Show interview is a similar offense.
Carlson’s frustration boiled over when he criticised Stewart for not being “funny” enough. Stewart said “I’m not going to be your monkey,” which was an almost perfect answer. He could have perfectly summed up his point if he had said “When you come on my show, we can be funny. This is a news show on CNN. Treat your audience with respect and apologize to them for wasting their time and rotting their minds.”
It warmed my heart when Stewart called Carlson a dick.
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