LESS FAUX

"The United States of Audience has become divided in a way that would make the Civil War jealous," writes Steve Young, political editor of NationalLampoon.com and creator of MoveOnPlease.org, touting the late-night host Jon Stewart as 1974's Walter Cronkite in the Los Angeles Daily News.

It's fun (at least in a democracy) attacking the influential and their institutions. You get to expose the pomposity and faults normally hidden by lies and deceit. Jon Stewart is able to do just that while getting to the heart of a politician's real character. He may only get one honest piece of actual insight from an interview, but how many do we get in a real news show?

So, is Stewart's faux news more real than supposedly real news? For his commentary on the 2000 election, Stewart won a real Peabody Award. That's something real news guy Bill O'Reilly couldn't say, and he still has yet to make me laugh ... on purpose.

At this stage in the absurdity of Bush administration positions and policies, it's no wonder we find increasing credibility in "The Daily Show" and The Onion.