"He ... used an epithet for the male reproductive organ to describe Mr. Carlson."

The NYT takes on the "Daily Show"/"Crossfire" controversy. Because how could the NYT ever miss an opportunity to fawn over Jon Stewart? The angle here--by TV critic Alessandra Staley--is that "real anger" is a wondrous rarity in television. So even though "there is nothing more painful than watching a comedian turn self-righteous"--as the piece begins--Jon Stewart was just "lashing out at great smug and self-serving television-news personalities."



If Stewart was great because he displayed real anger at "smug and self-serving television-news personalities," then surely you'll also love the way Zell Miller told Chris Matthews to "get out of my face"?



Uh, no, let's see, I'll go with: "Mr. Stewart's frankness was a cool, startling, rational version of Senator Zell Miller's loony excoriation ("Get out of my face") to Chris Matthews of MSNBC during the Republican convention." Yes, that's the ticket! Stewart is really angry but he's still cool, he's rational! And Miller's crazy!



Hah! Miller isn't crazy. Miller was just damn mad at the exasperating and rude Matthews. And Miller was way more entertaining in his display of real anger than Stewart was. I'm sorry. I'm going to have to call political bias on the NYT. I mean, look at this:

[T]he Comedy Central star mocks the entire political process, boring in tightly on the lockstep thinking and complacency of the parties and the media as well as the candidates. More than other television analysts and commentators, he and his writers put a spotlight on the inanities and bland hypocrisies that go mostly unnoticed in the average news cycle.



Mr. Stewart is very funny, but it is the vein of "a plague on both your houses" indignation that has made his show a cult favorite: many younger voters are turning to the "The Daily Show" for their news analysis, and are better served there than on much of what purports to be real news on cable.

Do you even watch this show you love so much, or are you so blinded by partisanship that you don't see that the show has become practically an arm of the Kerry campaign?