Jon Stewart vs Chris Wallace, uncut - 2011.06.19

it was last November when Jon Stewart promised on his show he would come here and answer my questions after months of evasion disconnected phone numbers and press agents saying who are you again it appears he finally ran out of excuses and so Jon Stewart welcome to Fox News Sunday thank you so much because I really appreciate it I just want to say as a viewer I can't tell you how disappointed I am that you would Sully a program of this integrity of this quality with a presence such as Jon Stewart sort of a Groucho Marx saying you don't want to be a member of a club believing you you will be reading on air my angry email about the fact that you had me on how does it feel to be in the belly of the beast is this the belly yeah oh I didn't realize you were in the belly I thought there was a slightly different appendage that was down here but this is nice this is a I told you as I first came it beautifully climate-controlled and ease of parking for a New Yorker this is uh have you gotten validated yet I got my parking let me see if I still have it I got my parking validated I will ask you this and I don't know if this is a metaphor for Washington bureaucracy but if somebody here could explain to me why New York Avenue becomes Massachusetts Avenue for no apparent reason without making a turn I would really appreciate we're not allowed to tell you right now have you checked out the mugs yeah they're very nice there see what it says on the inside of the mugs can I read it out loud it's somewhat anti-semitic I don't do you want me to read it Farren fair and balanced yes yeah I like come on how about we toast and we both take a big drink out of our mugs I'd be you know it's interesting that the mug itself no drinking no talking just drink it drink the water why do you want me to drink just please it's just interesting that you want me to drink it why don't you have a taste of this first I'm drinking it myself yeah but we could have different works because there's no I've seen this with spotty out of this all right now set there you go well and while you're drinking you love to take shots Drive type wait now what did you do then I don't make all right you might want a little more but we love to take shots at Fox News yes I did over the years you have called us we're going to put this on the screen places please have you stopped a biased organization relentlessly promoting an ideological agenda under the rubric of being a news organization rubric and yeah I actually think was slightly the wrong use of the word rubric was it a relentless agenda-driven 24-hour news opinion propaganda delivery system how do you come up with this stuff uh it's actually quite easy when you feel it you got to feel it in your soul you know you got to really just lay it out there as it were there so is that are you suggesting you're impressed with how well I describe things or I'm not sure what you you you like the explicit and specific nature of it well here's the deal are you willing to say the same thing about the mainstream media about ABC CBS NBC Washington Post New York Times would you now say the same thing about them that they are in your words a propaganda delivery system relentlessly pushing a liberal agenda now it's a why not because I don't think they are I think I think you are Fox News is much more reactive in the sense that even like somewhat like my show you know the idea I guess I would say this you are MSNBC is attempting that I think they're attempting they've looked at your business model and they've seen the success of it and I think they're attempting to be a more activist organization you don't think the New York Times is a liberal organization now pushing a liberal agenda uh the New York Times now I think that they are to a certain extent do I think they're relentlessly activist now in a purely liberal partisan way no I don't well I think this is Fox is a very special but the shutters to go from your eyes because I am going to prove it to you in a few minutes oh okay than that I don't I'm excited about that here we go can I tell you that I love to learn but do you really so you you believe that Fox News is exactly the ideological equivalent I think we're in DC I think we're the counter way you believe that I think that they have a liberal agenda and I think we tell the other side of the story but since this is my show I'm asking the question you're absolutely right I apologize Sarah Palin yeah I don't I don't get my I won't get my parking on valid I don't know you can you're going to preferably such a derrick uh good man you made even you made fun of the fact that the New York Times in the Washington Post when this document dump of 24,000 emails and Sarah Palin was released and they got so excited about it they asked their readers can help us go through these twenty four thousand documents right how do you explain the fact that they would do that they would ask their readers to help them go through the the Palin emails inconsequential as they turned out to be but they never said help us go through the two thousand pages of the Obama health care bill because I think their bias is towards sensationalism and laziness I wouldn't say it's towards a liberal agenda and I think you don't think maybe they went a little easier on the Obama health care bill oh I think they went easier on the Obama health care beer in the same way they went easier on the Levin Coburn a financial disaster study I think that the emails a they're in a you know Twitter type so it's a lot easier to go through B it's a light fluff so it's absolutely within the wheelhouse I mean if your suggestion is that they are relentlessly partisan then why haven't they gone and backed away from Weiner now they've jumped into the weiner pool so with such a delight and such relish because the bias of the may are indefensible the bias of the mainstream oh I'm not saying it's defensible but the bias of the mainstream media is towards sensationalism conflict and laziness well so if your suggestion is it's purely about you've proved very little by suggesting that Sarah Palin emails were I'm just getting praised no no I previewed it you take your own shot recently at Sarah Palin you compared her video of her one bus one nation bus tour to a certain commercial let's take a look I'll track as the tour rolls on hopping in historic places I Gettysburg and then to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell you know is cool man the way they had reporters finishing each other's sentences what have I seen that technique before I very good three years Sarah Palin and her herpes drug really yeah as a technique for the commercial you know so you're saying that by comparing the technique that she used in her video to a technique immerse Arabic you were not making a political comment you really think that's a political comment yes you're insane really yeah here's the difference between you and I I'm a comedian first my comedy is informed by an ideological background there's no question about that but the thing that you will never understand and the thing that in some respects conservative activists will never understand is that Hollywood yeah they're liberal but that's not their primary motivating force I'm not an activist I'm a comedian alright and my comedy is informed by ideology there's no question about that fun but I'm not an ideal I want to thank you for saying that because yeah Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurich mm-hmm put it up on the screen says that is your dodj Stewart has never held accountable and his media criticism is he when he is wrong he goes into the tap-dance of saying okay he's only a comedian oh they shouldn't be taken serious let's talk about that when did I say to you I'm only a comedian I said I'm a comedian first that's not only being a comedian is harder than what you do what I do is much harder I put material through a process a comedic process I don't just you where I marry commentate the comedy it has a little some of it well let me but it is comedy first but let me let me give you another example no no no I wanna do example let's deal with it let's no but let's talk about it I'm gonna do I want to find out why you here's your take on GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain beautiful where's that's why only allow small bills if I am president treaties will have to fit on the back of a cereal box so now on the State of the Union address will be delivered in the form of a fortune cookie I am Herman Cain and I do not like to read you were planning a remake of Amos and Andy why don't you show do you want to show me doing all the voices for all the other people that we do do you want to see my New York voice my Chinese guy voice are you suggesting that you and I are the same are you suggesting that cut what am i at my highest aspiration and what are you at your highest aspiration I think on me honestly on I think you want to be a political player you are wrong you're dead wrong we I appreciate I appreciate what you're saying do I want my voice heard do I want my voice heard absolutely so I got in the comedy I mean that's why I'm not very Seinfeld no I do comedy have what am i at my highest aspiration Who am I I think am i Edward or Moreau or in my Mark Twain at my highest aspiration of that of those two Mark Twain right but but so has that way that a lot of political impact but it was that his main thrust am i an activist in your mind an ideological partisan activist yeah okay then I disagree with you okay I absolutely disagree with you that that's the case I think here and I don't think and I think I think you take shots at IDI at although I think it's mostly to maintain credibility and you're not as comfortable with it let me take shots at Obama and their level here's what I realize going on of conservative you can't understand because of the world you live in that there is not a designed ideological agenda on my part to affect partisan change because that's the soup you swimming and I appreciate that and I understand it reminds me of you know uh you know in ideological regimes they can't understand that there is free media other places because they receive marching orders and if you want me to go through bill Salmons emails and how do you explain me oh I think you do a nice job and I've told you that on the show I think you're one of the most interesting I get my four daughters I think you are here in some respects to bring a credibility and an integrity to an organization that might not otherwise have it without your presence so you know well you are here as a counterweight to Hannity let's say or you are here as a counterweight to Glenn Beck because otherwise it's just pure talk radio and it doesn't establish the type of weather litical debater but that's of the part but I understand why were you this part there are snow and I guess this is important no this is no but you're suggesting like talking words during the CNN debate my knowledge in you that am i dodging you by your syllabi during here is the question here is is the question and I think there plenty of example let me just give you an another example or of this isn't you this is the mainstream media okay because we look for examples of liberal bias of no partisan agenda I guess I'm not suggesting there's no liberal bias in the media but you're suggesting that there is an equivalence of Fox News and ABC and I think that's absolutely silly here's Diane Sawyer Diane Sawyer leading her program last year announcing the new immigration law take a look if a stranger walking down the street or riding the bus does not seem to be a US citizen is it alright for the police to stop and question him well today the governor of Arizona signed a law that requires police to do just that but that isn't what the law requires them to do in fact the law says the only way that you can stop somebody is part of a lawful enforcement stop you can't just say hey you're walking down the street exactly she suggested it has to be because there's a broken taillight or they're loitering or they're doing something else don't you think she should have mentioned that sure yeah no I I think you're right I think we should have more full context and more of the types of things that you're talking about but I don't understand how that's purely a liberal or conservative bias that's like I said sensationalist and somewhat lazy but I don't understand how that's partisan and I don't think you know here's my - the Arizona law and to mischaracterize what it did first of all if that's a bash then that is the mildest form of Bosch it's a form of subtle misinformation let me tell you exactly another example let know let me do that quick oh I was just dumping our shop you can you can give me another example when I give you a my feeling about the context of what that is yesterday there was the Wiener press conference every single one of the twenty four hundred entries 24-hour news networks are built for one thing and that's 9/11 and the type of you know gigantic news event that the type of apparatus that exists in this building and existed the other 24 news hours is perfectly suited to cover in the absence of that they're not just going to say there's not that much that's urgent or important or conflicted happening today so we are going to gin up we are going to bring forth more conflict and more sensationalism because we want you to continue watching us 24 hours a day seven days a week even when the news doesn't necessarily warrant that type of behavior so here's my example of what news biases in my mind three networks Fox CNN MSNBC are going live to the Nancy Pelosi news conference because they are sure coming on the heels of Anthony Weiner resigning that she is going to make some sort of incredible statement about you know I've disappointed anthing wean about so they're all locked on it and the whole time there's hand wringing I can't believe we got to go and do this you know the American people don't care about this they care about jobs they care about the economy that's what the American people care about we're about to go live to speaker Pelosi she's about to do that she steps up to the podium and says what I'm not going to comment about Anthony Weiner I'm gonna talk about jobs and I'm going to talk about the economy and what did everybody do left so what's your proof again about the partisan agenda and what I do that's the embarrassment the embarrassment is that I'm given credibility in this world because of the disappointment that the public has in what the news media does I don't not because I have an ideological I think our viewers are the least bit disappointed with us I think our viewers think finally getting somebody who tells the other side right right and no no one more one for example assistant Lee misinformed media viewers the most consistently misinformed Fox Fox viewers consistently can every poll can we talk about your network yeah can we talk about Comedy Central because he's delighted to case in point all right how did you physically have sex with Tommy Lee he has a huge if he put that thing in front of my face I wouldn't know whether I should get four feet at a peanut it's not exactly masterpiece theater you're working for you're damn right and I think I am perfectly placed I think that is my that is where the counterbalance to that no I know that I have I go through I did to prepare for this I had to prepare I had to go through episodes of South Park I had to see Cartman's mom is a parts 1 and 2 look we know 9 1 1 I take 7 though about those guys they are brilliant guys the South Park guys are brilliant guys and their abilities that are ok but the next time you're sitting there hanging Fox just remember that's where you work no I I complete wait I completely agree with I don't even know what you're talking about if are you suggesting you and I are the same that's what I'm trying to get my head around no I got suggested by the side so why should I am suggesting Mike there's good stuff and bad stuff I'm suggesting that there is bias and that you only tell part of the story oh there's no question that I don't tell the full story I mean I don't I don't disagree with that but I don't not tell the full story based on a purely ideological partisan agenda that's my point my point isn't I think you myself if your agenda is more out there and you're pushing more of an agenda than you pretend to I disagree with you I think that I'm pushing comedy and my ideological agenda informs it at all times now that agenda or my ideology is at times liberal at times can lean more conservative but it's about absurdity it's about absurdity and it's about corruption and that is the agenda that we push it is an anti corruption anti lack of authenticity it's anti contrivance and if I see that more in one area than I do in another well then but I will defend every single thing that we put on that show and I'm not dodging you in any way by suggesting that our main thrust I will get a meeting and that will defend everything that we put on this show oh and by the way how often do you see your show on my show I don't I'm my beef isn't with you okay but I believe I exist as I think that mr. Ellis has very brilliantly put you on and I think you're a tough interviewer I think you're a fair interviewer I think some of the things that uh a couple of I want to help you a couple of final quadrants by the way though did you really have to watch all those South parks because they are funny well um cows guys are brilliant I just agree with you again oh really are you disappointed in Barack Obama's president uh yes I think I am do you think he's lived up to his promise to fix the economy no I don't know the kind of sway that a president can have on the economy but do I believe that he's lived up to the promises no I think the fundamental disagreement I probably have with this administration is simple and that is that he came in and said you can't expect to have a different result with the same people that was in many ways his seminal campaign focus and all I see as far as economic stewardship are the guys that got us into this mess in the first place Geithner and summers and those guys and the types of policies that got us in this mess honestly yeah did you did you watch any of the CNN debate with the Republicans hmm did you see anybody on that stage who you could envision voting for against Obama that debate to me focused you know is very hard to say because right now they're still in red meat mode and so when I see a debate that still focuses so much on you know gay marriage and Don't Ask Don't Tell and the types of things where you know I tend to glaze over and I thought that in general you know their responses to things in terms of tax cuts being the magic bullet as to what it is so far I haven't heard anything that appeals to my sense of that that intrigues me politically or in any way that is different what intrigued me about Obama was a statement that I thought he understood the corrosiveness of the system that existed and I thought he was going to do more to blow that system up when's the last time you voted for a Republican for president for president HW against Bill Clinton uh no against Michael Dukakis that's right really hmm how come uh he seemed like a different there was an integrity about him that I respected greatly and there's something about tiny people in helmets but it would have been a great four or eight years as president for you not Hill House yeah happens I mean that wasn't I wasn't a comedian per se at that time but you know if that's the barometer of whether or not I'm an ideological warrior and I think that's what you're suggesting is that an ideological warrior is someone that will not vote against party I mean again I'm not exactly sure I assume that part of this is to D legitimize criticism against Fox by suggesting that it's coming from a place of contrived I'm just a little engine is that is that really true because here's the thing that surprises me about that I've existed in this country forever there have been people like me who satirize the political process and who satirize what was it the Will Rogers said you know how crazy is it when politicians are a joke and comedians are taking seriously I've existed forever the box that I exist in has always been around the change is the box that you guys you've moved closer to me but I'd like to know what I'm doing that's really different than what you've seen previously from satirical comedians that work in the political milieu what what is different about it that makes you so perplexed I'm not I know I'm not saying I'm perplexed you're trying to figure out well that what am i what I'm trying to say is that all I wanted to do you make it sound like I'm trying to deal egde it amaze you to defend Fox that that is what is what is the difference of how you what is the purpose of trying to that assumes it kind of and this is where I think you're wrong and you don't get it that maybe is that there's not a a single marching order there's not some kind of command there's not there's nothing that memo I'm so that I disagree I am here talking to John Stewart and I'm trying to get it trying to understand you trying to see whether or not you recognize that what I believe is true this is much bias on the other side as you subscribe to Fox and why you seem I believe there go easy on that I believe that the counterweight to Fox is attempting to be a mess here's what I think that the mainstream media that you soda ride I also do ride but we divide it for very different reasons I derived the mainstream media because of their focus on sensationalism and conflict and you derived them because you think they're relentlessly partisan and I just disagree with that I think that there is a probably a liberal bias that exists within the media that is because of the medium in which it exists I think that the majority of people working in it probably hold liberal viewpoints but I don't think that they are as relentlessly activists as the conservative movement that has risen up over the last 40 years and that movement has decided that they have been victims of a witch hunt and to some extent they're right people on the right are called racists and they're called things within ease that I am uncomfortable with and homophobic and all those other things and I think that that is absolutely something that they have a real right to be angry about and to feel that they've been vilified for those things and I've been guilty of doing some of those things myself right that's when a site because we got to go oh I'm sorry I accept oh really you just have to talk to the Secretary of Defense Kate I is that really or your priority did I forgot I mean it's I accept your apology I want to thank you for coming on do you get me well you know what will you come back we can explore this some more all right and we we validate still you're good man

Channel: Michael Glass

Views: 1,025,901

Rating: 4.7855983 out of 5

Keywords: jon stewart, fox news, fox news sunday, chris wallace, interview, daily show

Id: UYbtUztVctI

Length: 24min 11sec (1451 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 09 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/bubba-natep]

Yeah, I know it's old, but like good books, it needs to be revisited.

It makes so much sense. The reason Conservatives see an ideological agenda in Hollywood, in media, in everything they don't agree with, is because that is how they themselves think. That's what Fox News is, and all the Breitbart's of the world.

Stewart mentions that yes, Hollywood is liberal, but activism is not their main focus. Yes they have a voice and want it heard, that's why they got into it, but they are not political activists. You view others in the world through your own lens.

[u/SevTheNiceGuy]

the part where John covers sensationalism is so apt for today...

[u/Reverse_Skydiving]

Stewart for president

[u/stophamertime]

Old but still an amazing interview