"It was an obviously symbolic thing to do..."

I have to admit that I think Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's The Daily Show is actually one of the more thoughtful of the lefties. Not that I agree with him much, but just that he's better at making his points than the DU/Mother Sheehan crowd.

And I further have to admit that I think Christopher Hitchens is often full of himself, and can't help but express himself in a hoity-toity manner.

However, I ran across this video of Hitchens' appearance on Stewart's show, and can't help but think that while Hitchens seems to have been holding back, he still sliced Stewart's positions to shreds without Stewart appearing to know it was happening.

As an example, Hitchens asks Stewart why, back in '98, Congress passed, by a near unanimous margin, a resolution making Iraqi regime change the policy of the US, Stewart responds...

It was an obviously symbolic thing to do...

Question for Mr. Stewart: Please expand on how we are supposed to know when the actions of our government are just symbolic or when they really, really mean something.

Enquiring minds and all that.