Jon Stewart on Crossfire

As if we needed more proof that Jon Stewart is one of the only guys fighting the good fight for us, here’s a transcript of his appearance on Crossfire (CNN). I downloaded the full video via BitTorrent (download BitTorrent software). You can find a link to a video download by searching “Jon Stewart Crossfire” in Google. I found one at this blog pretty easily.

The two idiots who run the show were prepared for a standup routine; Stewart came to discuss a serious issue: the way mainstream media is “hurting America”. He especially indicted the show itelf as “theater”. He pointed out that a 35-year old wearing a bowtie — that would be the guy representing the right, of course — cannot claim to be doing anything but theater. That, instead of providing usable information in a debate-show format, they’re “helping the politicians and the corporations” instead of the people of the United States.

The guy, Tucker something or other, lit into him, accusing Stewart of being Kerry’s “butt-boy” (behold, the dizzying heights of discourse!) because he didn’t hit him with hard questions when he interviewed him on the Daily Show. Similar accusations have flown from all of the “mainstream” shows which Kerry will not visit. The jealousy is palpable. To these accusations, Jon simply responded:

“You’re on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.”

The Daily Show has acquired a following that relies on them for useful information simply because all of the “mainstream” (yeah, it’s gonna be in quotes every time) outlets are such crap. However, the Daily Show always takes care to denigrate itself as a comedy show only, distancing itself from a responsibility to complete truthfulness. The fact that most of their facts are correct is tangential: reality is just way funnier than anything you can make up these days.

The crime of the “mainstream” media is that they advertise themselves as legitimate news outlets and information streams, actively enticing viewers with the offer of keeping them informed, when their actual content turns out to be far more theatrical and information-poor than a comedy show about news shows.

The guy from the left (Begala) was at least willing to somewhat engage the guest on their show, whereas the right-winger (Tucker Carlson, the living embodiment of a preppie nightmare … if you went to a liberal arts school in the northeast, you’ll recognize him immediately) wrote off the show immediately and became hostile and petulant.

Stewart went on to describe pundits (including the two with whom he was speaking):

“I think they believe President Bush would do a better job. … And I believe the Kerry guys believe President Kerry would do a better job. But what I believe is, they’re not making honest arguments. So what they’re doing is, in their mind, the ends justify the means.”

On a side note, Jon did answer one of their prepared questions. When asked which candidate he thought was the best, he answered that he “thought Al Sharpton was very impressive. … I enjoyed his way of speaking.” That sounds like a joke to anyone who didn’t see Al in action during the primaries. His issues were top-notch and his speaking style was great. He was, hands down, the winner of all of the debates (only Kucinich came close to spewing less bullshit) on issues alone. Plus, he’s mentally super-fast on his feet and funny as hell.