There’s something for everyone out there in terms of media coverage. Bob can tune into Fox & Friends while Alice listens to Stephen Colbert, and odds are — especially if Bob bleeds red and Alice bleeds blue — each will go to bed feeling just as content as the other. But there’s also Eve, who likes to spice things up a bit — Eve likes a sprinkle of dialogue, a dash of debate before she slips under the covers. Unfortunately, Eve often goes to bed feeling unsatisfied.
But recently, Eve’s been in luck. A couple shout-outs to some valid pundit-on-pundit action of late:
Jon Stewart on the Factor, February 5. Both O’Reilly and Stewart claim to (and probably actually do) have great respect for each other, but it doesn’t stop them from trying to score points. O’Reilly wins them with unanswerable questions; Stewart wins them with jokes. But underneath the grand-standing there was an interesting and far-reaching dialogue taking place, covering health care to Obama’s performance in office to Sarah Palin. The unedited interview gives the most interesting insight to the interaction between the two and who really won which points.
Marc Thiessen on The Daily Show, March 9. Though Thiessen (who has been slammed by both The Washington Post’s blog and The Daily Beast for faulty logic and general ridiculosity) got a little upset in the portion of Tuesday’s conversation with Stewart that was aired, the complete online interview produced some truly interesting discussions. The differences of opinion between (a member of) the left and (a member of) the right on torture, national security, and the limits of government in exercising protection were drawn clearly and consensually. It was an intriguing conversation, challenging both participants and giving each something to chew on.
Both moderately rewarding interviews stand in contrast to yesterday’s charade — Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) on Glenn Beck. In a theatre of the bizarre, Beck found in Massa not a fellow soldier but the man in the mirror — a man equipped with the same penchant for over-the-top showboating but the opposite political agenda. It was a revealing, if not a substantive, encounter; a clash of political ideologies but an eerie mimicry of social constructions.
A few chocolates for your pillow, Eve — and to all a good night.