# Jon Stewart on Crossfire **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457 "2004-10-15T21:03:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/41 "2004-10-16T04:50:25Z")
Oh my god. I read the transcript first, and I was hearing “Funny-Guy-Daily-Show” John Stewart not “Pissed-Off-and-Unamused” John Stewart, so a lot of the lines didn’t have the sting… And then I DLed it. And man oh man, there was more than just a little sting. I think, at this moment, that man is my hero. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/42 "2004-10-16T04:53:05Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Oh my god. I read the transcript first, and I was hearing “Funny-Guy-Daily-Show” John Stewart not “Pissed-Off-and-Unamused” John Stewart, so a lot of the lines didn’t have the sting… > > And then I DLed it. > > And man oh man, there was more than just a little sting. > > I think, at this moment, that man is my hero. Same here, word for word. That was _brutal_. And Jon does **not** like Tucker Carlson. Not at all. “I’d hate to have lunch with you!” “Oh, you won’t.” _ **Buuuuurn.** _ Fuck it. Kerry has California in his pocket already. I’m writing in Jon Stewart for President on my ballot. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/43 "2004-10-16T05:09:30Z")
Absolutely amazing. This man needs shows on multiple channels- can CNN just give him Crossfire and tell those guys to take a hike? ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/44 "2004-10-16T05:20:28Z")
I guess I’m the only one who thought Stewart was an absolute prick. Why accept an invite to a show you can’t stand just to be an asshole? I used to like Stewart, but crap like this make it a given that I won’t be watching the Daily Show with him on it ever again. ---
**Author:** ![JimSox5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@JimSox5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimSox5)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/45 "2004-10-16T05:37:01Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > I guess I’m the only one who thought Stewart was an absolute prick. Why accept an invite to a show you can’t stand just to be an asshole? I used to like Stewart, but crap like this make it a given that I won’t be watching the Daily Show with him on it ever again. He accepted it because in Stewart’s mind, he was going to make a great point about how _Crossfire_ was not what it was billed to be, and not really doing what it needed to be. The problem was that he was not given the chance to truly make his argument, and the hosts were greatly perturbed that they didn’t have Stewart stereotyped just right, apparently they though he was in _Daily Show_ mode 24/7. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/46 "2004-10-16T05:39:40Z")
> [@JimSox5](#): > > He accepted it because in Stewart’s mind, he was going to make a great point about how _Crossfire_ was not what it was billed to be, and not really doing what it needed to be. The problem was that he was not given the chance to truly make his argument, I think he managed to make his point anyway, maybe because of how they reacted. > [@](#): > > and the hosts were greatly perturbed that they didn’t have Stewart stereotyped just right, apparently they though he was in _Daily Show_ mode 24/7. Yeah. Begala introduced him by saying how smart he was, but obviously they weren’t expecting him to have the smarts to be critical of them. And the fault really is theirs, by the way. Stewart is consistently critical of the media on The Daily Show and in interviews. If they thought he wasn’t going to bring it, they weren’t paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/47 "2004-10-16T05:43:34Z")
Totally surreal for me. Wow…that was awesome. I loved him being a prick because the two of them are total asses and deserved it. Yeah, I’m not that mature. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/48 "2004-10-16T05:44:33Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > I guess I’m the only one who thought Stewart was an absolute prick. Why accept an invite to a show you can’t stand just to be an asshole? I used to like Stewart, but crap like this make it a given that I won’t be watching the Daily Show with him on it ever again. A huge part of Stewart’s show is skewering the network news shows, and recently he’s made Crossfire a particular target. Thus I don’t think the question is why accept an invite if your going to be a prick, as why offer an invite to a guy whose made an entire show out of being a prick by making fun of you and then get caught off guard when he’s, well…, a prick who makes fun of you. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/49 "2004-10-16T05:45:45Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > Here’s a link to the a bittorrent that is a recording of the show. Apparantly CNN doesn’t do repeats so this may be the only way to watch it for those who missed it. > > [http://bitflood.org:8080/?file=791b2f5d95a54d1381b85f271b51f71e73964185](http://bitflood.org:8080/?file=791b2f5d95a54d1381b85f271b51f71e73964185) > > My favourite bit (paraphrased): THANK YOU!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/50 "2004-10-16T05:49:38Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > I guess I’m the only one who thought Stewart was an absolute prick. Why accept an invite to a show you can’t stand just to be an asshole? I used to like Stewart, but crap like this make it a given that I won’t be watching the Daily Show with him on it ever again. Any show that invites a man that has repeatedly and on national television called one of their hosts a “Douchebag of Liberty” deserves exactly what they get. They knew what they were getting, anyway. Carlson had his softball Kerry quotes on hand. This wasn’t supposed to be a fluff piece. He was going to call Jon out. What they didn’t expect was that Jon would be equally as harsh to the left-wing guy, concede that he sucked up to Kerry, and go for the jugular from the very start. It’s a debate show. For once, someone came to debate, not just hype his candidate. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/51 "2004-10-16T05:50:54Z")
> [@Malodorous](#): > > A huge part of Stewart’s show is skewering the network news shows, and recently he’s made Crossfire a particular target. Thus I don’t think the question is why accept an invite if your going to be a prick, as why offer an invite to a guy whose made an entire show out of being a prick by making fun of you and then get caught off guard when he’s, well…, a prick who makes fun of you. Because on these shows it is expected that that part of it is an act. After all, Stewart did NOT come up with the show (sometimes I wonder if people realize it was Craig Kilborn’s baby first of all, and while not as popular, it was pretty decent back then as well). For instance look at Bill O’Reilly when he showed up on Letterman. Crossfire wanted Stewart on the show to talk about his book and be less of an ‘act’ than he is on the Daily Show. Stewart, unfortunetly, wanted to make a point. Sometimes I wonder if Stewart has read too much of his own good press and it’s gone to his head. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/52 "2004-10-16T05:54:07Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Because on these shows it is expected that that part of it is an act. After all, Stewart did NOT come up with the show (sometimes I wonder if people realize it was Craig Kilborn’s baby first of all, and while not as popular, it was pretty decent back then as well). For instance look at Bill O’Reilly when he showed up on Letterman. Crossfire wanted Stewart on the show to talk about his book and be less of an ‘act’ than he is on the Daily Show. Stewart, unfortunetly, wanted to make a point. > > Sometimes I wonder if Stewart has read too much of his own good press and it’s gone to his head. It was created by Lizz Winstead I believe and Kilborn was just the first host. Stewart is a MUCH better host than Kilborn ever was. I do miss Beth Littleford and bETh TV. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/53 "2004-10-16T05:58:34Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Because on these shows it is expected that that part of it is an act. Then they expected wrong. Like I said, read any interview with Stewart, like someone on the show should have done, and that becomes clear. It’s also often demonstrated in the interviews he does with guests. > [@](#): > > After all, Stewart did NOT come up with the show (sometimes I wonder if people realize it was Craig Kilborn’s baby first of all, and while not as popular, it was pretty decent back then as well). It was a very different show under Kilborn. I think that show parodied news shows and this one parodies the news itself. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/54 "2004-10-16T05:59:38Z")
I’m a big Stewart fan myself, and like that he’s out to change the media but… I think the Crossfire guys have a point. If Jon’s going to harrass other people for not using their opportunities to ask hard questions to candidates, than he had better use his own opportunities to ask hard questions, which he didn’t. The Daily Show may be a comedy show, but a lot of people turn to it for news, and it was an opportunity for Jon to ask the kind of questions he wishes others would ask. I also disagree that he was satirizing show’s like Crossfire by not asking Kerry any hard questions. Still, the video was very entertaining, and I maintain that Stewart rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/55 "2004-10-16T06:06:20Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > I guess I’m the only one who thought Stewart was an absolute prick. Why accept an invite to a show you can’t stand just to be an asshole? I used to like Stewart, but crap like this make it a given that I won’t be watching the Daily Show with him on it ever again. I disagree. Stewart has made his opinion about Crossfire perfectly clear. He’s blasted them repeatedly, in public. Crossfire was well aware of this. They decided to invite him on anyway. They may have thought the jokes he’d been making on the Daily Show were “in good fun.” Evidently, they were wrong. That’s not Stewart’s fault. And, really, there’s also the fact that everything he said is absolutely true. Jon Stewart was acting like a prick, and he was absolutely right to do so. He treated Carlson and Begala exactly the way they ought to treat the politicians that come on their show. Confrontational, demanding, and hostile. Jon Stewart believes that the role of the media is to keep the government and industrialists honest, and that they’re badly failing in their job. I think he also believes that his role is to the media what the media is to government. His behavior in this show was an object lesson to Carlson and Begala on how they _should_ behave. I hope they learned something from it. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/56 "2004-10-16T06:08:31Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > I think the Crossfire guys have a point. If Jon’s going to harrass other people for not using their opportunities to ask hard questions to candidates, than he had better use his own opportunities to ask hard questions, which he didn’t. The Daily Show may be a comedy show, but a lot of people turn to it for news, and it was an opportunity for Jon to ask the kind of questions he wishes others would ask. I also disagree that he was satirizing show’s like Crossfire by not asking Kerry any hard questions. I definetly have to agree with this statement. Also Crossfire is also an entertainment news debate show. That’s why it has a guy from the right and a guy from the left. For Stewart to come on there and lamblast them for not being a ‘true debate’ show is ludicrious. They didn’t hire non-partisan hosts for the show. They hired people deeply embedded in their party’s politics and then put them together. Why do you think they did that? Hell, the show is called _Crossfire_! ---
**Author:** ![seriousart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@seriousart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seriousart)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/57 "2004-10-16T06:10:52Z")
Sweet Mary and Joeseph… Every once in a while I think my admiration for Jon has peaked. And then- bang! He goes up a little bit more. Let me just say, in my straightest, heterosexual, happily married man way: I absolutely love this guy. I only wish Jon could find a way to do this to more people directly. (Like, say, Bob “Douchebag of Liberty” Novak) Or, hell… Any given Fox show. And thanks so much EsotericEnigma for the ifilm link! ---
**Author:** ![ender78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ender78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ender78)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/58 "2004-10-16T06:14:25Z")
WMV and MPEG videos of the Jon Stewart Crossfire appearance here: [http://www.contemporaryinsanity.org/video/](http://www.contemporaryinsanity.org/video/) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/59 "2004-10-16T06:15:50Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > They didn’t hire non-partisan hosts for the show. They hired people deeply embedded in their party’s politics and then put them together. Why do you think they did that? So they would yell at each other and be entertaining. The hosts have obliged. Are you saying if they tried to be more intelligent, someone would stop them? CNN purports to be a news channel, and as long as it does its programs should be held to a standard of informing the public and providing substance. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457/60 "2004-10-16T06:19:02Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > For Stewart to come on there and lamblast them for not being a ‘true debate’ show is ludicrious. They didn’t hire non-partisan hosts for the show. They hired people deeply embedded in their party’s politics and then put them together. Why do you think they did that? > > Hell, the show is called _Crossfire_! But the point is, the _Crossfire_ hosts described themselves as being a true debate show. If they didn’t describe themselves like that, then Stewart would have had no point. But they did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-on-crossfire/269457.md?page=4)