Jon Stewart goes on CNN’s Crossfire, with hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson expecting him to promote his new book America: A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy In Action, and instead Stewart rips them and the other cable political pundits a new asshole. This is one show I wish I’d seen; if you are torrent-literate you can grab a copy or perhaps even through more mere mortal means here thanks to MeFi’s User #1. [via MeFi]
So, probably great fun to see a comedian more respected for reporting current events than just about any CNN employee get up and tell the clowns to their faces that the job is just not getting done, that their shows are hurting Americans and not helping, but Stewart does not really give a straight answer on what he expects would be better. That is always the big question but, as here, one rarely answered. Granted, the hosts didn’t really try to get to that point given that they were trying to work through the shock of Stewart’s confrontation and trying to move him back to the pet on display book promotion normalcy but would sure have been nice.
Later: Okay I just watched the download. Stewart comes across ever more harshly than in the transcript. Carlson, the right wing representative on Crossfire, simply cannot deal with what he hears. I really wish they left the cameras running when the program took a short break in the middle to let Wolf Blitzer plug his show, one can only imagine what was being said on the set.
The shame is that Stewart was trying to have a serious discussion with guys who are supposed to be serious, about a topic on which they should be experts, and the hosts could not get past their personal discomfort to join Jon and perhaps make something meaningful. I could see the frustration in Stewart’s eyes though the director never gave us matching closeups of the hosts for comparison. I felt like Carlson and Begala were seeing at their pretty machinery breaking and looking everywhere and anywhere for a tool to fix it. Fortunately for them the show ended but with any luck Stewart will not drop this–election season may be the only time enough energy can be summoned to make any changes.
BillSaysThis 