I just watched the Jon Stewart/Crossfire thing. Wow. This was a

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

"at long last, have you left no sense of decency" moment.

Kind of painful to watch, really. Because what it boiled down to was a moment of painful honesty, from Stewart... a PLEA to the x-fire hacks, and Tucker and Begala being so used to their WWF/"debate" theatre were COMPLETELY unable to break out of that mode, especially Tucker.

Desperate. Having to interrupt Stewart at every turn in a DESPERATE attempt to break the "buzzkill" honesty mood. Failing. And in the end, still not getting it.

Tucker, I think is getting too rich and spoiled by fame and suckling at the Republican teat at too young an age to EVER have any doubts be raised by a moment like this... but he should go home after such a calling out and look himself in the mirror. Probably never happen though.

[endnote]

1. Tucker has always been a little spoiled selfish SOB

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. Yeah, the people on here who say "he's one of the better ones" (RWers) I

never get. I've watched the guy a little. I'm just not seeing it.

[Toronto Ron]

7. "He's one of the better ones" should be re-phrased:

"He's not QUITE a Joseph Goebbels" as SSean Hannazi, Manthrax KKKoulter, Rush Limpballs. That's all it means.

[Kierkegaard]

3. He's a smarmy, self-righteous asshole.

I have zero respect for people whom possess little more than fragmented sound bites of knowledge and then get paid to pass off their opinions as if they are well known facts. Stupid intellectual wannabes.

[merh]

9. I have zero respect for the swarmy little man that possesses

little more than fragmented sound bites of knowledge and gets paid to pass of his warped opinions as if they were fact and wears a bow tie as if the tie gives credibility to his pretense that he is an intellectual. No intellectual can honestly analysis the current status of our nation and its dangerous direction and opine that * is anything more than a fraud and a crook!

[Kierkegaard]

15. Yes to that.

I didn't even mention that ridiculous bow tie. How pathetic is it to pass yourself off as a fake geek? LOL!

[no name no slogan]

21. He's like George Will, without the vocabulary (n/t)

[IIgnoreNobody]

4. Yep, he didn't get it

[oldtime dfl_er]

18. it went over *ucker's head

he didn't understand what was going on. stupid manboy. "Be funny" he said, as if he had hired Ronald mcDonald for the day. It looked to me as if Stewart tried very hard to be nice, to get his message across with humor and grace, but the message sailed right over manboy's head, so Stewart had to be a little more pointed. Begala understood and kept out of it.

Kudos to Stewart for exposing the little idiot entertainer.

[Philostopher]

5. What I found most telling ...

was the fact that the audience seemed both amused and sympathetic with Stewart. It seemed like they really wanted him to hammer Carlson like he did.

And you could sort of tell Jon was trying to be humorous, but not funny -- and failing, because he meant it entirely too much. He genuinely felt what he was saying, however much he tried to make it seem calculated.

I feel for Jon. I started out twenty years as a journalism major, got far enough in school to realize -- as my ex-husband's father told him about the Air Force -- journalism as it was in 1984 was no longer journalism I wanted a career in. The guy who taught my 200-level newswriting class was a retired editor from (if I remember correctly) the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was quite honest about it, that journalism was becoming entertainment -- he saw it becoming a vanity profession already, back then -- and he wasn't happy about it, nor was he especially encouraging to those of us he taught.

Looking at journalism right now, and thinking about what the twenty intervening years might have been like if I hadn't listened, I realize I owe that guy an enormous debt of gratitude. I've done crappy clerical jobs for twenty years, had times I ate canned chicken and brown rice for a week or two at a time when I was living alone, and have held jobs that resulted in profound boredom. But, as Stewart said, at least I always was able to sleep at night. I never felt I was fooling myself about how much service my work did the world, and I never felt like a shill. I might have to be dealing with that right now, had I stuck with newswriting and selling myself in the compromised market that already existed when I dropped out.

There isn't room for everybody who wants to be a 'real journalist' to do it. I reocognize the most profoundly talented and ethical manage to find places, but I didn't think I was anywhere near so profoundly talented that I could have forged a place as somebody who could, in 2004, sleep at night. I felt for Jon Stewart when he repeated the phrase, 'you are hurting us -- please stop,' to no response. Less than no response, of course -- giggling denial.

For a moment, he did speak for many of us. I hope he never thinks nobody heard, even if those of us who did already agreed with him. At least he tried. I bet he slept that night.

[spooky3]

14. Thanks for your heartfelt words. Very interesting, but sad.

[searchingforlight]

6. Where did you get it? I have tried to download it several times and

get nothing but computer buzz that I don't have the skills for.

Is there a straightforward link?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. I used bit torrent from one of the threads here on DU, searched for

"Stewart crossfire video" on GD2004 over 2 days of posts and found a few threads.

There are some with non torrent posts too I think.

[blondeatlast]

10. Several links to choose from in this DU thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=109&topic_id=14508&mesg_id=14508

If the ones listed in the OP don't work (they didn't for me) scan down; there are several formats and sources in the thread.

[RafterMan]

11. Search google for

"jon stewart" crossfire wmv

There are a variety of places carrying it -- doubtless one will still be available.

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

12. Curious about

where you watched it? Did CNN have the gumption to actually re-air it???

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

13. Downloaded the .avi off a DU link.

[SoCalDemocrat]

16. Here is a link to the John Stewart exchange on CNN

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2652831

[NightOwwl]

17. Hey Mayberry - check out my sig.

I added it this morning before I read your post. Jon is my hero.

[TexasSissy]

19. Why was Stewart ticked at Crossfire?

What set him off?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

20. Because of the general crappiness of the show. (I agree.) When

the country is crying out for serious debate, we get show biz World Wrestling Federation theatre, even including a boxing ring "ding ding!" It's stupid farce.

That was his point, in summary.

[NightOwwl]

22. He's been pissed at the media for a long time.

He finally snapped. Thank God.

[Pepperbelly]

23. A watershed moment for damned sure.

And neither Carlson nor Begalia was able to transcend the roles assigned by their sugar daddies and rise to the occasion. THAT is the pity.