Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly Face-Off on Fox News (Video)

david-sessions

David Sessions

Washington Reporter
Posted:
02/4/10
On Wednesday night's edition of "The O'Reilly Factor," late-night comic Jon Stewart sat down for a rare interview on the network he makes a business out of criticizing: Fox News Channel. Stewart and O'Reilly debated Obama's first year in office and quarreled good-naturedly over Stewart's attacks on Fox.

"I'm torn," Stewart said of Obama's time in office. "For me I can't tell if he's a Jedi Master, playing chess on a three-leveled board way ahead of us, or this is kicking his ass."

In a more serious tone, Stewart said he believed Obama had made progress in some areas, such as restoring order to government and working to reinstate financial regulation. But he criticized the president for behaving as if "Congress is an equal branch of government," which he said keeps the public confused about Obama's agenda and turns his signature legislation into "lobbyist gruel."

The two hosts debated the fairness of both of their shows, and O'Reilly challenged Stewart's well-known routine of using Fox News clips without full context to illustrate the network's ideological slant. (More clips here.)