Story highlights Paul Begala co-hosted show where Jon Stewart launched attack on "Crossfire"

He says Stewart shared a thoughtful critique of show after the cameras stopped

Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator, was a political consultant for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992 and was counselor to Clinton in the White House. He is a consultant to the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) I still remember sitting on the set of "Crossfire" that day in 2004 as the floor manager counted down to blastoff. I was thinking: "Jon Stewart, wow. I hope Diane is watching." My wife, truth be told, rarely watched "Crossfire," but she rarely missed "The Daily Show." By the time Stewart finished disemboweling my show, I was hoping she wasn't watching.

From my perspective, the show that day was a debacle. I was unprepared for the onslaught since Stewart had recently been on "Hannity & Colmes" (Fox News' truly awful knockoff of "Crossfire"), and had not attacked that show at all. But he had a different agenda this day. I thought his charge that a 30-minute debate show was "hurting America" was fatuous. But I love direct confrontation (obviously). And I was not defensive because, as a former senior White House official, I know that being a cable TV host would never be the most important thing I do in my career. So I was actually interested in hearing Stewart's full critique of "Crossfire."

Paul Begala

I heard that full critique eventually, but the audience never did. The show went off the rails and Stewart, who began by denouncing our hostile environment, was within minutes calling Tucker Carlson "a dick." So he never got to deliver his thoughtful, insightful criticism of our show -- until after the cameras were turned off.

When the show ended, Stewart and his executive producer, Ben Karlin, sat with me and "Crossfire's" executive producer, Sam Feist, for 90 minutes. We had the kind of thoughtful, respectful dialogue that our audience deserved but never got. It has been 10 years, and I do not have contemporaneous notes. And, as we have been reminded recently, memory is a tricky and unreliable resource. Still, this is what I remember from our chat:

Stewart thought it was absurd to pretend every issue could be reduced to a forced choice between the right and the left. I thought that was a good point. Some issues have seven sides, but better to air two than none.

Read More