It's been a while since I've commented on the Jon Stewart vs. CNBC war on the airwaves. It's been pretty funny. Stewart, host of the Daily Show has spent the past two weeks airing clips of CNBC's crack business journalism... like asking the guy who became a billionaire from a ponsie scheme, "So what's it like to be a billionaire?"
Yep, business journalism at its best.
Jim Cramer of CNBC agreed (foolishly) to go on the Daily Show. If you have 25 minutes it is absolutely must-see-TV. The unedited version is here.
I like Cramer. On a network that has all commentators but one as die hard Republicans and even two supposedly unbiased anchors that constantly profess love for the right wing agenda, Cramer is refreshing. He actually says things like, "I voted for Obama. I want him to succeed." Wishing our president to succeed? I'm surprised CNBC hasn't yanked him off the air for that.
Nevertheless, Cramer became the face of CNBC's poor journalism by going on the Daily Show. It was ugly. I cringed so much I had to stop the video several times. By the time you reach the third segment Stewart shows an earlier interview where Cramer's admits to manipulating the market. Stewart responds: "I understand you want to make finance entertaining but it's not a fucking game. When I watch that I can't tell you how angry that makes me."
Please, if you have some time watch the unedited version above.
Wow. I watched the whole thing. It is just completely ironic that the person who is supposed to be the "real" news commentator is totally called on everything and put in his place by the person who is supposed to be a "spoof" commentator. Jon Stewart did an amazing job. I did feel sorry for Cramer - but Stewart did say that it wasn't fair that he was becoming the face of this.
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing makes me very angry as well. The whole country's future is at stake and some people on CNBC and some CEOs and some Wall Street traders made a game of it. Ugh - it just makes me sick!