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Stewart: “Let’s go through this, because I think this is important: You have become, in some ways, the voice of sanity here, which, as I said, is like being the thinnest kid at fat camp.”(FOX News)
Daily Show host Jon Stewart's second appearance on The O'Reilly Factor has people talking—and not just about the politics.
We're looking at Stewart and O'Reilly's exchange with perspectives from The View, Salon.com, MSNBC and TIME.
The hosts of The View expressed a bit of concern over O'Reilly's choice to have him on the show--that's because Stewart is known for his "show stopping" appearances.
Behar: “You know, Jon Stewart is a dangerous guy. He got Crossfire off the air on CNN because he went after those two guys who were fighting with each other.”
McCain: “He can ruin careers. I mean he says he's a comedian, but he clearly is a cultural icon and he points things out.”
Stewart last appeared on O'Reilly's program in 2004. Since then, O'Reilly has appeared three times on Stewart's The Daily Show. One blogger at Salon.com says when the two meet meet, a psychodrama plays out. He writes that O'Reilly ...
"...tries almost obsessively to belittle the "Daily Show" host, under a painfully thin guise of attempts at good humor. More oddly, he seems to want Stewart's approval of his own work. Stewart, for his part, supplies all the actual good humor, but remains almost obsequiously game to go along with O'Reilly's weirdness."
MSNBC’s Morning Joe, on the other hand, sees the match as a fairly balanced face-off between two media powerhouses. One panelist gives O'Reilly a slight edge.
Scarborough: “Bill O’Reilly, when it comes to ratings is, my God, he's the Mohammad Ali of cable news; This guy gets so many more viewers than anybody else.”
Heilemann: “I think it’s, Jon Stewart enjoys the jousting, you know, he enjoys the moment, and enjoys the competition and Bill O’Reilly is a consummate pro. I also think that Bill O’Reilly got the better of that conversation in some respects.”
But a blogger for TIME magazine writes, regardless of which man emerges victorious, the most interesting part of the debate is its content.
"What was refreshing… was that the exchange was spirited but decent, with at least some honest effort to treat complex issues as, well, complex.”
How would you score the latest O'Reilly-Stewart face-off?
Writer: Tracy Pfeiffer
Producer: Newsy Staff
