CNN’s Paul Begala Recalls Facing Jon Stewart’s Crossfire ‘Onslaught’

One of Jon Stewart‘s finest moments was his infamous Crossfire debate with CNN’s Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson. Stewart challenged both of them on the hollowness of their red versus blue show and cable news in general, even begging the two to “stop hurting America.”

Well, in light of Stewart’s impending departure from The Daily Show, Begala (still with CNN) reflected on how thoroughly Stewart went about “disemboweling my show.”

In a piece for CNN.com today, Begala admits the show was a “debacle” and Stewart led a pretty serious “onslaught.” But he also reveals that after they wrapped, he, Stewart, and both shows’ executive producers just talked for 90 minutes about the broader critique Stewart was making. And, Begala admits, Stewart was right that you can’t just take an issue, then go “the left says this, the right says this,” then fight over it.

However, that doesn’t mean he’s completely on board with Stewart’s view of the cable news landscape. Begala said Stewart has a “naive” outlook about politics. But he does admit Stewart was right about “excessive partisanship” getting in the way of progress.

You can watch the 2004 debate here, via CNN:

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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