Posted 10/15/2004 05:26:00 PM by Douglas

I can't believe I keep missing Jon Stewart making the rounds on cable pitching his book, but apparently he got into it with Tucker Carlson on Crossfire this week, and let's just say, it got heated:

STEWART: So I wanted to come here today and say...

STEWART: Here's just what I wanted to tell you guys.

CARLSON: Yes.

STEWART: Stop.

STEWART: Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America.

BEGALA: OK. Now

STEWART: And come work for us, because we, as the people...

CARLSON: How do you pay?

STEWART: The people -- not well.

BEGALA: Better than CNN, I'm sure.

STEWART: But you can sleep at night.

STEWART: See, the thing is, we need your help. Right now, you're helping the politicians and the corporations. And we're left out there to mow our lawns.

BEGALA: By beating up on them? You just said we're too rough on them when they make mistakes.

STEWART: No, no, no, you're not too rough on them. You're part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks.

A stand-up comic with a fake-news show on Comedy Central going on CNN and calling them hacks is pretty damn impressive. And long overdue. But apparently, Mr. Carlson got ticked off that Kerry was on The Daily Show and Jon Stewart pitched him some easy question. But you gotta love his assessment:

CARLSON: Well, I'm just saying, there's no reason for you -- when 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.

Ouch. Butt-boy? That's the best he could do? A trained sycophant for the RNC like Tucker Carlson, and the best he could do was "butt-boy?" Geez.

But what does Jon really think of Tucker Carlson and his bow tie?

STEWART: You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.

CARLSON: Now, you're getting into it. I like that.

Double ouch. Jon, drive it home for us. Why are the "real" news whores (and I use that term as loose as the pun) so ticked off at Jon Stewart and his "fake" news?

STEWART: But my point is this. If your idea of confronting me is that I don't ask hard-hitting enough news questions, we're in bad shape, fellows.

For anyone that can't tell that the "news" is just sensationalistic crap designed to drive up ratings, may I suggest they rent Network, and shut the hell up. Also, keep in mind that it was made 28 years ago, and has since been adopted as FoxNew's business model.