From my perspective, the show that day was a debacle. I was unprepared for the onslaught since Stewart had recently been on “Hannity & Colmes” (Fox News’ truly awful knockoff of “Crossfire”), and had not attacked that show at all. But he had a different agenda this day. I thought his charge that a 30-minute debate show was “hurting America” was fatuous. But I love direct confrontation (obviously). And I was not defensive because, as a former senior White House official, I know that being a cable TV host would never be the most important thing I do in my career. So I was actually interested in hearing Stewart’s full critique of “Crossfire.”
I heard that full critique eventually, but the audience never did. The show went off the rails and Stewart, who began by denouncing our hostile environment, was within minutes calling Tucker Carlson “a dick.” So he never got to deliver his thoughtful, insightful criticism of our show — until after the cameras were turned off.
When the show ended, Stewart and his executive producer, Ben Karlin, sat with me and “Crossfire’s” executive producer, Sam Feist, for 90 minutes. We had the kind of thoughtful, respectful dialogue that our audience deserved but never got. It has been 10 years, and I do not have contemporaneous notes. And, as we have been reminded recently, memory is a tricky and unreliable resource. Still, this is what I remember from our chat:
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