The New York Times today published a nice commentary on Jon Stewart’s appearance on Crossfire.

Their point, which I have to admit I agree with, is that it is refreshing to see an incident of true debate and dissention on talk television - a bit of rebellion that can’t be confused with insanity. I never thought of it this way, and I think it’s a great point. Mostly I just thought that Stewart could have made his point more clearly, but I can see now that part of his strategy was pointedly not to engage in their style.

Also, the Times quoted what I thought was the funniest part of Stewart’s appearance:

When Mr. Carlson took the offense, charging that Mr. Stewart had no right to complain since he had asked Senator John Kerry softball questions on “The Daily Show,” Mr. Stewart looked genuinely appalled. “I didn’t realize - and maybe this explains quite a bit - that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity.” When Mr. Carlson continued to argue, Mr. Stewart shut him down hard. “You are on CNN,” he said. “The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.”