Must-See Daily Show Replay 7pm ET

No real confrontation (Wolf was a very cordial and overwhelmed guest), but Jon Stewart got into another fit of incredulousness while interviewing CNN's Wolf "Happening Now" Blitzer last night, which will be replayed today at 7pm (4pm PT on DirecTV). In wake of the Senate report on intelligence failure, Stewart hammered Blitzer on why the fourth estate didn't question the run-up to war more than they did (which was close to zero).

Partial transcript follows...

STEWART: So what does the media do differently [now]?

BLITZER: I think we learned from our mistakes and try to do it better next time.

STEWART: Specifically.

BLITZER: Specifically, we learned from our mistakes and try to do it better next time. We look back and we say, "You know what, we should have been more skeptical."

STEWART: But...Wolf...Come on! It was a...

BLITZER: We're trained to be skeptical by our very nature, that's what journalists...

STEWART: Why weren't you? Because people...

BLITZER: I think we could have been more skeptical, I think we...

STEWART: Are they afraid of the Bush administration? Is the Bush administration so ham-handed that - ham-handed, and this is coming from a Jew who knows nothing of ham - but are they so forceful that they have intimidated the press corps into NOT asking those questions?

BLITZER: No. The answer's no.

STEWART: So...is the press corps, and again I'm gonna use the word, suffering from groupthink? OR...OR...or another word, retardation?

(Audience explodes in cheers as Stewart grabs Blitzer by the shoulder and rocks him)

STEWART: Come on! Tell me the truth! I want to know! I'm really curious. I'm baffled.

BLITZER: It's groupthink. Not retardation. You know, when you're told repeatedly - and I was told going into the [Kuwait] war...everybody said the same thing. There is no doubt, there are stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and it's only a matter of time before he has a nuclear bomb. Condoleezza Rice said on my show..."We can't wait for a smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." You remember that?

STEWART: And as it turns out, Pakistan had already sold mushroom cloud material to every country in the area BUT Iraq! It's crazy! The whole thing's crazy!

Stewart, exasperated, just whooped, threw his hands in the air and spun around in his chair at this point before closing out the segment. Nice to see someone - ANYONE - give Wolf and the news business in general a good public spanking over this issue.

•  It was a thrashing

  Definately one of Stewart's best...

  by crumblydonut on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 03:48:44 PM PST

•  oh that's rich

  if wolf had a shread of dignity he would have just cut jon off and admitted that they screwed up. they got lazy. they took everything the administration said as true. none of them checked their sources. none of them questioned the assumptions. they just acted like a bunch of stenographers.

  that's what wolf shoulda said. none of this "learn from our mistakes" crap. c'mon wolf. you're a journalist. you're paid to tell the truth. so tell it!

  by scottesposito on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 03:54:18 PM PST

  •  Eh?

    Since when is Wolf Blitzer paid to tell the truth?

    by dpk on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:13:27 PM PST

    •  i think you're right

      that's what journalists are paid to do, tell the truth. i guess the only remaining possibility is that wolf isn't a journalist.

      i guess we could call him an entertainer, but the problem with that is that the only time he's entertaining is when j. stewart is nailing his ass to the wall.

      so what to call him?

      by scottesposito on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:23:14 PM PST

      •  Soap

        The media exists to sell soap.  Not to provide a public service.  Not to inform.  Not to entertain.  Not to provide background noise at home.  The media exists to provide a return on investment to its investors.  Period.  

        Once in a while the individuals involved try to do a good job according to their own convictions and values.  But in the end the business model will prevail.  Don't ever fool yourself into believing anything else.

        Journalists may have their own standards and ethics.  They may all strive in their own way to get the truth out.  But the truth will be sacrificed on the alter of profit if that is what it takes.  If you've read this blog for more than three weeks you've already seen the examples cited.

        The best example of what I'm talking about is Clear Channel's recent deployment of some Liberal Talk Shows.  If that's what they think they can make money at, that's what they will do.

        Sure the Murdoch's of the world swing their own agendas when they can but even they will bow before the mighty dollar when push comes to shove.

        Many people will disagree with me but I firmly believe that if Fox News was convinced that they could make more money supporting the liberal viewpoint you'd here them breaking the sound barrier swinging to the left.

        It's all about the money.

        by kjfitz on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:42:21 PM PST

      •  "Leslie Shitzer"

        call him "Leslie Shitzer"

        www.nornsisland.com

        by n69n on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:46:38 PM PST

•  Propoganda Nazi Germany style

  That's where the parallels meet - in the media. The propoganda machine in Nazi Germany towed the party line or disappeared (along with the staff). While the media in the US isn't at the same risk yet, another 4 yrs of this administration and it'll probably come to that. Someone said the only thing Bush reads daily is the bible. I beleive his bible is The Rise and the Fall of the Third Reich.

  I'm sure there are hundreds of journalists that bite the bullet and print (or say) what they're TOLD to say. I'm not defending any of them, but when it comes to obeying orders or feeding your family the choice is clear. I saw Blitzer and Stewart last night and applauded Jon as well, but if you noticed Blitzer didn't say anything at all derogatory or accusatory about his employer. It's his bread and butter. That makes The Daily Show a more credible news source than CNN. :).

  by banjon on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:08:18 PM PST

•  It's funny

  I watched it after seeing the East Coast commentary and I must say, I disagree with the assessment that Jon "thrashed" Blitzer. Sure, for those of us more clued in to his utter disdain for the SCLM and their invertebrate ways, it was the subtext. But I suspect a less informed viewer would have thought Jon was more or less coaxing Wolf into indicting the Administration and the SCLM (and, certainly, by extension, himself -- but not so's it'd be painful to Wolfy).

  I really think Jon was incredibly evenhanded in this interview. It's obvious Wolf thinks well of him; it's also obvious Wolf isn't really clear as to the extent of Jon 's disgust for him.

  by Maryscott OConnor on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:26:30 PM PST

•  I need a cigarette

  after that one.  Wow!

  It just shows how Wolf and the rest of the media think their job is to be a mouthpiece for the administration while at the same time saying "We're skeptical.  We're trained to be skeptical."  

  To that I say, "Sure, except when that means you're supposed to be skeptical when the administration is obviously lying to your face."

  by Manhattan Dan on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:30:36 PM PST

•  aoeu

  That corespondent is horrible.

  by TealVeal on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:30:46 PM PST

•  No replay

  Funny, they didn't choose this section of the interview to exerpt when they did the lead-in to Bliter's show this morning on CNN.

  by darrelplant on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:32:03 PM PST

•  Thank you

  i just watched it.He should have every major anchor on and do the same thing.Blitzer was no worse or better than the rest and they should all be purged.
  

  by ctkeith on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 04:33:42 PM PST

•  I saw it last nite

  I was to tired to blog it. I'm surprised it took this long to make it to this blog ....

  But yes Blitzer and the Press again Indicted...

  Blitzer was Speechless ..,

  Chalk another one up for Jon Stewart

  by FLS on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 05:10:34 PM PST

  •  It didn't

    we blogged last night. But the diaries are flying by these days, hard to keep up.

    by annalivia on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 06:09:28 PM PST

•  Stewart was good, but the crowd was, too.

  Jon did do a good job; unlike his disemboweling of the author of the Saddam-bin Laden book (name escapes me), I thought he was a little more respectful of Wolf and gave him a lot more leeway.

  But I thought the crowd responded IMMEDIATELY to Wolf's sidestepping (esp. with the "specifically" answer, you could hear the crowd murmur) and Jon played off that very well.

  All in all, another good, and more importantly, HONEST interview on TDS...

  by sixthdoctor on Tue Jul 13, 2004 at 05:29:34 PM PST