There was zero applause as James Carville welcomed Robert Novak back to Crossfire today after weeks of leave due to a hip injury. At the end of the show, however, Crossfire gave viewers what they really wanted to see: a reaction to Jon Stewart's extraordinary appearance on Friday's show. They picked one positive and one negative reaction from their mailbag, with one man going so far as to call Stewart "the most overrated, overhyped comedian in the world today," protesting that he could see through the talking points put forth on the show just fine. The viewer didn't explain, however, why he would then bother to watch the show. Not surprisingly, Novak had even stronger words for the comedian who has dubbed him a "douchebag of liberty." Novak said, "I don't think he's funny and I know he's uninformed." Carville did Novak one better, calling Stewart a "pompous ass" -- not for anything he said on the show, but for debating with Ted Koppel, who is apparently beyond reproach. (See item two of Tuesday's Lloyd Grove.) Simplistic name calling. Stewart clearly elevated the dialogue. Update: The transcript is up. |
Monday, October 18, 2004
