Chris Matthews, who as the host of Hardball is probably the only person on MSNBC capable of being spotted in a crowd, was on The Daily Show tonight, where he received a hero's welcome from the audience for grilling vitriolic fake Democrat Zell Miller on Monday's show.

From the transcript, it's clear that Senator Miller was a bit confused, and not necessarily as crazy as the Daily Show made him out to be in yesterday's hilarious "Zell on Earth" segment. But for trying to cast Miller's convention speech in more objective terms, and facing strong resistance in the process, Matthews deserved his applause.

And from a more Wishy-Washy perspective, Matthews deserves all the nonpartisan kudos we can spare for one glorious moment in his Daily Show interview, when he once again showed that he can ask the tough questions.

TiVo-Powered Transcript:

Stewart: I think it should be a nonpartisan — Democrat or Republican, everyone should be questioned on these stupid — and pardon my French — f____ing talking points and we should be able to have a normal conversation.

Matthews: Ah — did you ever ask Kerry where he stood on Iraq?

Stewart: No—

Matthews: [Uncontrollable laughter]

Stewart: —but here's the thing… I'm a comedian!

His "I'm a comedian" cop-out certainly doesn't convince me. Stewart has actually alluded to this poll — which claims that 21% of young people get their campaign information from TV comedy shows — on the air.

So I don't quite believe that the people at the Daily Show see themselves as apolitical actors. With the possible exception of Lewis Black (which might explain why he is, unlike much of the show, consistently funny), everyone on the show seems pretty concerned with attacking Republicans and defending Democrats.

If Kerry wins, I guess we'll see if Stewart's "we're just attacking them because they're in control" argument holds up. For now, Matthews is right to poke fun at Stewart's comedic one-sidedness.

And I promise that this is the last time this summer that I'll blog about the Daily Show. Unless something amazing happens.