In case you missed it, this clip from an old episode of “Crossfire” featuring Jon Stewart and Tucker Carlson has been making the rounds, courtesy of Jon Ossoff campaign senior digital adviser — and former Lincoln Project comms director — Keith Edwards:
This is incredible.pic.twitter.com/WUbQGacpQT
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) May 4, 2021
Yes, just incredible, Keith.
If u hate Tucker Carlson follow me because I do too and we already have one thing in common
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) May 4, 2021
You can take the Keith Edwards out of the Lincoln Project, but you can never take the Lincoln Project out of Keith Edwards.
You knew about John Weaver. https://t.co/W9qFTn9aRI
— Stop scolding me, I'm vaccinated (@jtLOL) May 5, 2021
Of course he did.
Anyway, conservative writer Luke Thompson also finds the clip remarkable and significant, but not for the same reasons as Edwards:
People are sharing the John Stewart Crossfire clip from that Lincoln Project goon who knew about Weaver and helped cover it up and also almost certainly broke campaign finance law. So I’m not gonna retweet it and give him any more attention. But I have some thoughts.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
BLUF: the post-Stewart cancellation of Crossfire was a tragedy for cable news and, given its outsized influence on our politics, a bad day for American democracy. Stewart’s preening self-righteousness doubtlessly spoke to many people sick of partisanship but it had toxic effects.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
We forget that in the early days of cable news, channels weren’t ideologically homogeneous. They were liberal, but they tried to present a reasonable facsimile of the conservative side. That they failed, much like the networks, doesn’t make the attempt irrelevant.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
But Crossfire was more or less unique. It was a news of the day program with smart advocates doing their best to make each side’s case as persuasively as possible. Hosts changed – A LOT – but the format generally worked throughout the 90s.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
It was a lot livelier than, say, the McLaughlin Group. It had more theatricality, especially when they added the live studio audience. But it was one of the few places in tv news where you would see the best versions of conservative and liberal arguments going head to head.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
That, in my opinion, helped clarify the stakes of the news for viewers. The fact that the hosts generally liked each other and were cordial despite intense disagreement was also a lesson in democratic civility. And in its half hour format it was highly successful.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
Stewart attacked Crossfire for stoking disagreement. This was of course nonsense. But it also presumed that deep disagreements in American politics are somehow artificial. They are not. The lesson of Crossfire was that disagreements are real and we can talk about them.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
Stewart, selling a book, deployed all the emotional blackmail of the post-9/11 longing for unity to attack the show’s correct premise that Americans disagree with each other. He browbeat Carlson, but also Begala for…having an honest, spirited, but ultimately friendly debate.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
The show had struggled in an hour-long format, had been moved back to a half hour, but was ultimately successful. It was canceled in order to conform to an oppressive culture of conformity at a bad moment in post-9/11 and post-Iraq American political life.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
It was also the last time conservatism got a fair shake on CNN in an open-ended format. If you want to trace the origins of the Zucker-run, hackishly partisan, reality-tv and pro wrestling-inspired disgrace that CNN is today, look no further than the 2004 canceling of Crossfire.
— Luke Thompson (@ltthompso) May 5, 2021
Food for thought.
Smart thread on Crossfire, and the revisionist history on the viral Jon Stewart moment (h/t @PhilipWegmann)… https://t.co/AQeCnHx7GR
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) May 5, 2021
This is correct. Stewart was a goon in that case. https://t.co/Hyu4CS9d6C
— Tim Carney (@TPCarney) May 5, 2021
I find myself nodding along to this thread, even though, like every other college lib, I cheered Stewart at the time. https://t.co/mxVeyfe69T
— Ben Yelin (@byelin) May 5, 2021
They filmed at GW. The idea that *Stewart* was condemning Crossfire for stoking disagreement was absurd even to this undergrad. It was the beginning and highest form of clown nose on / off. The only solace is Stewart lived long enough to regret what his own show did to politics. https://t.co/4O0k77KzLi
— Foster (@foster_type) May 5, 2021
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