“The Daily Show” is the best news show on TV today

Last night’s shw was yet another example of the deeply disturbing state of the media today – namely that a comedy show host is a much more insightful, probing journalist than any of the posers in the mainstream media could ever hope to be.
Last night’s guest was William Bennett, former Secretary of Education under Reagan and Drug Czar under Bush I. He’s also, along with any number of right-wing theocrats, a self-appointed guardian of American “virtues.” This is also the man that on his radio talk show, stated that if you aborted every black baby, crime rates would go down. He went on to {state} that it was “an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down.” This from the Associated Press: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1173100. Qualifying that aborting all black babies would be evil still doesn’t negate the racist assumption that black folks are criminals.
Anyway, The Daily Show interview last night should be required watching for all
journalism students. Jon Stewart was tough; he asked the questions that needed to be asked, and when Bennett spouted some ridiculous piece of nonsense, Stewart called him on it. But not once was Stewart rude or strident. The tone, despite the contentiousness of the topic (the topic of the entire interview was whether gays should be allowed to marry), was kept friendly, and Bennett was actually allowed to respond to Stewart’s questions (the same cannot be said for guests on, say, the O’Reilly Factor). It was a masterful piece of journalistic integrity, right up there with Stephen Colbert’s interview with former head of FEMA, Michael Brown (which actually put Brown up a notch in my esteem – not only for having the guts to appear on the show in the first place, but for the good humor he showed on air).