The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart went on Crossfire (big-ass file) to spank Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson. The audience was with him; the hacks were a bit taken aback. The best part may be this exchange (transcript here):

STEWART: But the thing is that this — you’re doing theater, when you should be doing debate, which would be great. BEGALA: We do, do… (CROSSTALK) STEWART: It’s not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it. CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you’re accusing us of partisan hackery? STEWART: Absolutely. CARLSON: You’ve got to be kidding me. He comes on and you… (CROSSTALK) STEWART: You’re on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls. (LAUGHTER) STEWART: What is wrong with you? (APPLAUSE) CARLSON: Well, I’m just saying, there’s no reason for you — when you have this marvelous opportunity not to be the guy’s butt boy, to go ahead and be his butt boy. Come on. It’s embarrassing. STEWART: I was absolutely his butt boy. I was so far — you would not believe what he ate two weeks ago. (LAUGHTER) (CROSSTALK) STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably. CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think. STEWART: You need to go to one.

As it happens, ol’ Tucker didn’t quite like getting called on the bullshit state of TV news, eh?