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Feb 15 2008 5:39PM EST

Why Did Jon Stewart Let Lee Siegel Off Easy?

Is Jon Stewart losing his taste for blood? Last night's Daily Show guest was Lee Siegel, the writer and critic who was suspended from The New Republic for employing a sock puppet, or false virtual persona, to praise himself in online forums.

But Stewart failed entirely to ask Siegel about the "Sprezzatura" incident -- amazing, considering that one of the comments Siegel was busted for was a defense of an article he'd written knocking Stewart. "Siegel is brave, brilliant, and wittier than Stewart will ever be," he wrote in puppet guise.

So glaring was Stewart's failure to address the episode, I wondered if perhaps the host agreed in advance not to bring it up as a precondition of the interview. But a publicist for Random House, which published Siegel's book, assures me that wasn't the case: "I'm his publicist. I'd know for sure."

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