John Stewart on Crossfire
The clip of John Stewart on Crossfire the other day has been making the rounds. There are three things I found sad about this:
- John Stewart wasn’t allowed to say more than a few words without interruption. But that’s typical for Crossfire I suppose. It’s sad because he didn’t get to come right out and make his point: your guests come here to do nothing more than exchange vitriol and spin, and you (the hosts of the show) can’t tell the difference between that and an honest, informative debate. That point was implicit in his comments, but for those who aren’t media junkies, it needed to be said loud and clear.
- Tucker Carlson is a nasty man with a thin skin. He couldn’t handle Stewart’s comment about his bow tie, so he responded by precipitously lowering the tone of the conversation, calling Stewart Kerry’s “butt boy.”
- Paul Begala is lost. I think he genuinely didn’t understand the point Stewart was trying to make. That is, I think he seriously believes that their guests sincerely believe all the things they say, and that the show really is an informative debate program.
