TVSquad

No time for lengthy news! Let's get down to business. Terry McAuliffe, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, recently appeared on Meet the Press and made the embarrassing mistake of referring to Tim Russert's father being in Heaven. The problem was that Russert's dad is still alive. Oops. Without realizing it, I had mirrored Jon's nervous, flailing hands during the cringeworthy clip. Man, it's almost as bad as accidentally blurting out "your mom" jokes to people whose mothers are dead.

In happier news, President Bush's daughter Jenna had a wedding at the ranch. Senior Wedding Correspondent John Oliver tearfully reported on the ceremony. John hinted at some parallels between the wedding and the war, but repeated accused Jon of trying to bring down the mood with his politics and desperation for a good jab at Bush. Stop fighting, Jon and John! Please don't break up over a wedding.



The night's guest was Douglas Feith, author of War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism and former Undersecretary of Defense for the Bush administration. I knew we were in for a ride when the interview started so early in the episode and, oh yeah, the fact that it's Douglas Feith. He was challenged to bridge the gap of disagreement between he and Jon, attempting to offer a counterargument to Jon's belief that the pitch for the war was extremely misleading. First of all, I must commend Feith for coming to a show like this and being willing to take on questions like this. I mean, it's not easy walking into a room with Jon Stewart, a couple hundred people that more than likely agree with Jon Stewart and multiple cameras to document any moment you screw up in front of Jon Stewart. Secondly, Jon did spectacularly and made me forget that he's on a fake news program on Comedy Central. That part where he backed up his point with semi-quotes from the likes of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney... Beautiful.

The discussion was consistently interesting and both sides made a fair effort to hear each other out. However, I am extra-annoyed with the audience. The studio should post a clapping ban during the interviews with anyone currently or formerly associated with the Bush administration. There was quite a bit of applause for Jon's points and one moment for the guest. Of course, it only occurred when he said something that agreed with Jon. I think Jon even quickly apologized after one blast of applause.





TDS' website also has video of the full, un-cut interview. Here is Part One, Part Two. It's cutting close to 20 minutes! It must have been excruciating for the audience members that only came for the dick jokes and John Oliver.

Moment of Zen: Awkwardly cheesy "Mission Accomplished" reference regarding Jenna Bush's wedding. Well done, sir.