After his downright stately segment with President Obama, perhaps Jon Stewart felt the need to infuse a touch more sophomoric humor into Thursday night's episode. Whatever the motivation, the Daily Show host--using his trademark spliced-clip formula--tackled the negative ad season with relatively little sermonizing. Aside, of course, from putting the campaign in context: "It's not just about selecting the candidate who may or may not best represent your political values, it's about choosing between hard-line, Marxist state tyranny and autocratic Taliban religious crazies. Those are your only two choices."

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Erik Hayden