Posted on 10/18/2004 9:38:23 PM PDT by IDontLikeToPayTaxes
NEW YORK (AP) - How's this for a feud that straddles the line between politics and entertainment: CNN's bow-tied conservative Tucker Carlson vs. "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.
Carlson on Monday fanned embers still hot from their "Crossfire" confrontation, saying Stewart looked ridiculous during his CNN appearance and was a sellout for publicly backing Democrat John Kerry for president.
Stewart, appearing on the debate show Friday, angered Carlson by saying "Crossfire" is "partisan hackery" that does little to advance the cause of democracy.
And that was the mild stuff.
"You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably," Stewart said.
Responded Carlson: "You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think."
"You need to go to one," Stewart shot back.
Carlson complained that for a comedian, Stewart wasn't being very funny.
"Come on," he said. "Be funny."
"No," Stewart said. "I'm not going to be your monkey."
Carlson chided Stewart for lobbing softball questions when Kerry appeared on "The Daily Show" last month.
Later, Carlson told Stewart he was "more fun" on his Comedy Central show, and Stewart called him a jerk - although he used a more vulgar term.
"I thought that he looked ridiculous," Carlson said in an interview Monday, "and I think the tape makes that clear."
Carlson said Stewart continued lecturing the "Crossfire" crew after the show went off the air. "I wasn't offended as much as I was unimpressed," he said.
Stewart wasn't talking about the confrontation on Monday, a spokesman said. Comedy Central executive Tony Fox said there may be some regret over the vulgarity, but that Stewart has been a longtime critic of cable news networks and their political argument shows.
The comedian hasn't gone out of his way to endorse Kerry. In a public forum last week in New York, he was asked who he would vote for, and he said he'd back the Democrat.
Carlson noted that many of the great comedians kept their political opinions to themselves, not for fear of offending anyone, but because it could hurt their art.
"You're selling out," he said. "If you are a satirist or an acute social observer, and he is, and all of a sudden you suspend disbelief on someone or suck up rather than prod or poke someone, people will look at you and say, 'Even if I agree with you, I don't like it,'" he said.
Fox said "The Daily Show" poked fun at people in power, regardless of their party. Most people who watch Stewart are aware that he leans to the left politically.
"I don't think it really impacts the show at all," he said. "The show does what it does regardless of Jon's political persuasion."
However, I have noticed he and the Daily Show has been unusually brutal on Pres. Bush lately. It's really starting to annoy me.
The Daily Show has been "appointment viewing" for me for a long time. I've found myself starting to tune out here lately.
bump
Cat fight!
Stewart *was* funny.
Then he got full of himself.
Now he's just another leftwing hack.
It's annoyed others, too; his ratings are down.
What I don't like is that Stewart attempts to excuse his "partisan hackery" by wrapping himself in the cloak of satire.
He gets away with being the very expletive he used by making people laugh (occasionaly...)
Carlson called him correctly on the sheer hypocrisy of questioning his political motives in light of his marshmallow interview on the daily show.
John Stewart--Tain't funny McGee.
Let then keep hammering the president, people are going to get sick of it and turn it off eventually.
CNN is also putting forth the idea that the military is thinking they got disinformation about Iraq. Military men are saying - They know the truth now - but what are they going to do - they have to survive to get back home.
Well gosh, if those guys feel that way - the ones who spoke for the report - have they let their leaders know this is the way they are thinking - ? If so - What are the leaders doing about these men and how they see the war in Iraq - ?
America doesn't need these kind of reports and I'm wondering about the mentality of the men taking part -
just wondering -
For the first time I can remember, here in Taiwan it wasn't on CNN International Sunday night.
Great change since CNN International is viewed by hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.
Support the troops, but not the mission? There's no such thing.
But Jon Stewart has been getting a big head for some time now. As the MSM has been kissing his ass more and more as some brilliant satirist, he's gotten that disease so common to celebrities: He's started to believe his own press clippings.
Now that he has that new book out (which he didn't exactly write himself), his ego has expanded past the point of no return. I think he's actually started to believe that he's a legitimate purveyor of news and arbiter of journalistic ethics and objectivity.
Ironically, just as Stewart has started to believe he's some sort of god, The Daily Show's ratings are dropping, during the very period of time where, because of the presidential campaign, they ought to be going through the roof. After a certain point, Jon Stewart, you can no longer hide from the viewers just how full of yourself you are. And that's when they start to tune out.
By the way, is there anything more pathetic than picking a fight on-air with Tucker Carlson, a guy so spineless that he makes Alan Colmes look like Mohammad Ali?
John Kerry has been a GUEST on the Daily Show and was treated in a manner that a Republican never would be afforded.
I'll support with this exchange on same Crossfire:
JON STEWART 'DAILY SHOW' IN SURPRISE AUDIENCE -- DROPCARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery?
STEWART: Absolutely.
CARLSON: ...you have this marvelous opportunity not to be the guy's butt boy, to go ahead and be his butt boy. Come on. It's embarrassing.
STEWART: I was absolutely his butt boy. I was so far -- you would not believe what he ate two weeks ago.
STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.
CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.
Carlson vs. Stewart? May the best girlie-man win!!
Use a photo of nazis on the march and see how many liberals think they can still slide by saying they oppose the mission but support the troops.
F. Democrats. They are spineless.
I laughed when Carlson's lil bow-tie spun like a roulette wheel.
I wonder how many "Kick Me" signs were slapped to your back as you walked the halls of your high school.
IMHO.....Stewart thinks he smarter than the rest of us. He says his spiel and when people take him for what he says and how he acts, he calls it satire. Is it satire if people do not know it's satire? We all say things we think is funny when it's really not. Stewart runs his mouth and all of his butt kissers laugh and tell him how smart he is when the rest of us are thinking.."what in the hell are you doing?!?" My point is..I guess...if it's satire...why is it national news???
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