Jon Stewart takes the hot seat with Bill O'Reilly

Reporting from New York - Jon Stewart showed up alone for his showdown Wednesday afternoon with Bill O'Reilly.



"Stewart, S-T-E-W-A-R-T," he told the security guard in the lobby of Fox News' midtown Manhattan headquarters. "I'm here to get crushed by O'Reilly."

In fact, what unfolded over the next 40 minutes was a vigorous, policy-laden debate between two of television's most popular figures who hail from increasingly polarized political worlds. Their discussion careened between talk of tort reform, global warming and the trials of the 9/11 terrorists.

But most of all, Stewart used his second appearance ever on "The O'Reilly Factor" to levy a robust critique of Fox News and its coverage of President Obama.

"Here's what Fox has done, through their cyclonic perpetual emotional machine that is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: They have taken reasonable concerns about this president and this economy and turned it into full-fledged panic attack about the next coming of Chairman Mao," the comedian told his host.

"I think some people do that, but most people don't," O'Reilly responded, calling it "the narrative of a couple of guys."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-et-oreilly-stewart4-2010feb04,0,3697796.story

A video of the exchange can be found at link


FOX Executives said they were unfazed by Stewart's critiques.