In a recent interview with Reuters, former Democratic congressman Barney Frank argued that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have fueled negativity about government and politicians. “The effect is to tell people it doesn’t make any difference who they vote for,” Frank said. “You come away from Stewart and especially…Colbert, and say, ‘Oh, they’re all assholes.’”

On Monday, Salon’s Elias Isquith defended Colbert but asserted that “Frank’s got a point” about Stewart, who according to Isquith has a “weakness for the superficial” and a “tendency to fall prey to the trap of blaming 'both sides.'”

“If liberals want to see more of the kind of direct action that’s characterized the Occupy Wall Street and #blacklivesmatter movements,” wrote Isquith, “if they really want to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable…they’re going to have to embrace a political vision that has grown beyond the idiosyncratic limitations of Jon Stewart.”

From Isquith’s piece (emphasis added):