The most insightful comments on any news network during the entire month leading up to the presidential elections were not made by a politician, political analyst, anchor, reporter, or pundit.  A comedian — the host of a parody news show on Comedy Central — made them.  How sad is that?

I’m referring, of course, to Jon Stewart’s refreshingly blunt appearance a few weeks ago on CNN’s Crossfire.  The host of The Daily Show was given the rare opportunity to be the only guest on a program that typically pits a conservative against a liberal against the show’s two attack-dog hosts, Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson.  Stewart had just published the hilarious satiric government textbook, America: The Book.  Carlson and Begala clearly thought that having Stewart on would be a good way to help them get a ratings boost; maybe they even thought some of Stewart’s hipness would rub off on them.  And it might have if Stewart had come to plug his book and do his shtick. 

But he didn’t.  Instead, from the very beginning of the interview, Stewart came out swinging—at Begala, at Carlson, and at the news media at large.  What followed was not particularly funny (or perhaps it was savagely funny), but what Stewart had to say was perhaps the only nugget of unvarnished truth about the media’s responsibility to the political process that came out of this election season.  He chastised the hosts for allowing their show to be used as a tool by the political parties instead of doing the job they are supposed to do—to hold politicians’ feet to the fire and to try at all times to get at the truth.  He accused them of willingly participating in the distortions that dominate political discourse, calling them “partisan hacks” in the process.  He took them to task for calling their show a “debate show,” when it much more closely resembles a professional wrestling match. 

It was instantly obvious that Begala and Carlson were completely unprepared for this onslaught.  It was equally obvious that they had no defense; they could not, with any credibility, refute Stewart’s many charges.  They tried to return fire, calling Stewart’s interview abilities into question.  Stewart replied that if they wanted to use a comedy show as the bar against which to measure themselves, then we are in deep trouble.  They sputtered incredulously that they thought Stewart was going to be funny, to which he replied, “No, I’m not going to be your monkey.”  They tried several times to get him to lighten up, but he just continued to implore them to stop “hurting America.”  It was beautiful.

The live audience applauded loudly; clearly Stewart was not only speaking for himself.  I suspect some viewers were turned off by what they saw.  Perhaps they would argue that Stewart should just do comedy, but I for one am grateful for what he had to say.  At least someone is saying it.  Because he’s right about Crossfire and about Hardball, O’Reilly, Hannity and Colmes, The McLaughlin Group, and all the other shows that pit pundits against each other without accomplishing a thing.  To quote James Brown, all these guys are “talking loud and saying nothing.”  And they have a responsibility to do better.  Viewers need their help to wade through the garbage, and instead the peddlers of garbage get talking heads willing to make their case for them.

And the results?  We get days of “debate” over non-issues like Teresa Heinz Kerry’s hairstyle and pseudo-events like the flap over who’s allowed to mention the fact that Cheney’s daughter is gay.  (Hope I didn’t let the cat out of the bag).  We get distortions of candidates’ actual positions and exaggerations by both sides of each other’s records.  We need help, and we get theatrics.  We need to be coming together as a country, and instead we are being driven further apart in the name of ratings.

My biggest disappointment during this election, as I said last month, was a lack of civility and substance in the discourse.  It looks like the only place I’ll be able to find it for the time being is on Comedy Central, right after Crank Yankers and before repeats of South Park.  Where’s the remote control?

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