COLD COMFORT. Keeping their Sox on atop Mount Washington at 7:31 this morning.

MORE ON STEWART. CNET's got a good piece by Matt Hines on the Net's fastest-growing phenomenon - Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire. "The volume of downloads outpaced CNN's recent ratings numbers for the actual show," Hines writes, which isn't exactly a surprise.

Hines also describes Crossfire as a "hit" in its current 4:30 p.m. time slot, reporting that it drew an average audience of 615,000 during the month of September. I guess it all depends on your point of reference. The three network newscasts draw between 20 million and 30 million viewers depending on the news, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered has about 10 million listeners. Just trying to put into perspective Stewart's accusation that Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson are personally dragging down the level of political discourse.

Meanwhile, Media Log reader C.P. suggests a useful expansion of my comment yesterday that "I know Carlson a little, and he's not a dick, although I'll admit that he often plays one on television." So here's a reminder about how Carlson earlier this year dismissed John Edwards's representation of a little girl whose intestines were sucked out by faulty swimming pool motor as a "Jacuzzi" case - and of how he kept returning to that theme over and over even after the record had been set straight.

Disgusting and shameless, to say the least. C.P.'s point: If you play a dick long enough, you eventually become a dick.

THIS IS HILARIOUS. The only thing missing from this fantasy is Christopher Reeve rising from the dead and walking again. (Thanks, Bill.)