Newsbusters caught this interesting item on Chris Matthews and his visit to The Daily Show earlier this week. It seems that Matthews thinks his visit went swimmingly:

On a side note: Matthews was overheard discussing his Tuesday appearance on “The Daily Show,” which featured a heated exchange with host Jon Stewart. According to one source, Matthews was steadfast in his belief that the debate left Stewart crestfallen, and Matthews victorious.

There aren’t many times when the likes of Democratic Underground, Newsbusters and Media Blog agree, but the consensus is pretty much that Chris Matthews did not come out as the victor.Which makes Stewart’s guest on Wednesday night, Ted Koppel, that much more interesting. Koppel was on The Daily Show to promote his Discovery Channel special on the US prison system. Koppel and Stewart, however, don’t have the best history. Slate has good article on a Stewart/Koppel confrontation after the DNC convention in 2004. An excerpt:

From the start, Koppel made no secret of his distaste for Stewart’s show: “A lot of television viewers—more, quite frankly, than I am comfortable with—get their news from […] The Daily Show.” His first challenge to Stewart: “You say that [the Democratic Convention] is like a product launch.” “Not like a product launch—it is a product launch,” Stewart replied, and proceeded to outline his take on Kerry’s nomination as the result of a year-long process of corporate branding: “John Kerry: now with lemon!” A pretty standard line of argument for those of Stewart’s generation, reconciled as we are to our postmodern condition as the constant targets of marketing and spin, but to Koppel, it must have sounded like the sheerest nihilism. As the interview proceeded, it became clear what a gulf lay between Stewart’s and Koppel’s views of the world, and it was heartbreaking to watch, like eavesdropping on your cool brother and your nice uncle as they pursue some hopeless ideological argument over Thanksgiving dinner.

The interview ended rather abruptly:

Wednesday night’s discussion came to an abrupt end when Stewart, who was clearly ready to go on talking, was told by a polite but brusque Koppel, “You’re finished.” To my mind, Stewart (who, crushed-out fans like myself will be keen to hear, was looking foxy-fine in a casual black sweater and jeans) won the day. But I was looking forward to Round Two on Thursday, when Koppel was scheduled to be Stewart’s guest on The Daily Show. Koppel never showed, and his absence went unmentioned.

I can’t find a video or a transcript of the Koppel/Stewart interview from Wednesday night, but I did watch it live. It was a pretty typical Stewart interview and absent was any sort of the disdain Stewart showed to Chris Matthews earlier in the week. At one point, to paraphrase, Koppel asked Stewart why he was looking at him in a weird way. Stewart replied with something like, “It’s a funny look because I am listening to you.”There seemed to be genuine respect for Ted Koppel on the part of Jon Stewart – something I didn’t see in Stewart’s interview of Matthews.