Jon Stewart Wins

Wow, good news from the "there really must be a God" department (via The Moderate Voice); CNN fired Tucker Carlson¹ and in all likelihood will cancel Crossfire as well. Check out the juicy quote from Jonathan Klein, the new chief executive of CNN's U.S. network:

The bow-tied wearing conservative pundit got into a public tussle last fall with comic Jon Stewart, who has been critical of cable political programs that devolve into shoutfests.

"I guess I come down more firmly in the Jon Stewart camp," Klein told The Associated Press.

He said all of the cable networks, including CNN, have overdosed on programming devoted to arguing over issues. Klein said he wants more substantive programming that is still compelling.

"I doubt that when the president sits down with his advisers they scream at him to bring him up to date on all of the issues," he said. "I don't know why we don't treat the audience with the same respect."

If you've never seen the famous Jon Stewart appearance check out one or more of the following (from ImJohnGalt's Daily Kos diary):

The Crossfire Chronicles
BitTorrent CrossFire Link (thanks to ptibiger) - Use this first if at all possible
BFA hosts the video (thanks to genf)
Contemporary Insanity has WMV (35MB), MPEG (19MB), and MOV (35MB).
Crossfire smackdown video in three parts (thanks to Free Speech Zone)
Crossfire cleaned-up and smallified in Quicktime (thanks to Hyperbolic Pants Explosion - Great Handle!)
Yet another source (thanks to eyeswideopen)
Quicktime version (thanks onegoodmove and RNinNC) - ~15 MB
Crossfire clip on iFilm (thanks to Cinematt)
MediaMatters Crossfire video(thanks to drdave91)
Crossfire smackdown transcript
WaPo Reports on the smackdown
Salon on Stewart's Crossfire Appearance (thanks to Minnesotan)

The Extras
The Daily Show Videos Page at Comedy Central
Charlie Rose Streaming Audio
Larry King Interview Transcript - Aug 2004 (Thanks bgod)
William & Mary Commencement Address Transcript
Bill Moyers Interview Transcript
Stewart at the 2000 Republican Convention - Transcript
RealAudio of Stewart on Fresh Air - Sep 30, 2004
Jon Stewart Rolling Stone Excerpt
O'Reilly Factor Interview Transcript
Amazon.com's tiny Stewart Interview Transcript
AP Article from March 2004
New York Time Book Review of America: The Book
Jon Stewart on Al Franken - Audio - link from here to BitTorrent feed
Jon Stewart w/Howard Kurtz on Reliable Sources, 2004 - Transcript
Salon Article - Subscription Required (or watch an ad for a free day pass)

I love Jon Stewart and greatly appreciated his Crossfire smackdown in all its honest awkwardness, but I never thought in a million years Jon would actually win that fight. Amazing.

¹Ok, "CNN would not be offering him a new contract." Whatever.