I was just cleaning off some of the Tivo backlog, when lo and behold, I watched The Daily Show episode, I think from last night, in which host Jon Stewart interviewed arch-conservative Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. It was actually one of the most engaging public affairs segments I have seen on television in some time -- the perfect blend of light and dark, with the conversation covering many bases before it reached the impasse. I felt as though I got to know both of these guys better.

The rap these days is that in some age brackets, more people get their news from late night talk show comics than from any other source. So what? In this case, that was not such a bad thing.