Jon Stewart: Clearly the Man
Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 12:59PM 
I've been off the grid for a few days due to a) laziness and b) my computer blowing up (thank god I have my lappy!), but had to get back on track with a little rant about a television show that everyone should be watching - The Daily Show. For those not in the know, it's a nightly satirical news show hosted by John Stewart that takes the absurd political and corporate news of the day and gives it one hell of a funny dressing down. Usually, it's a smart and entertaining recap of just how silly things can get, but every once in a while Stewart nails an interview or topic so completely that people are buzzing about it for days. Last night was one of those shows.
Over the past week, CNBC financial-guru-guy Jim Cramer, known for his over-the-top delivery of financial advice, has been under fire by Stewart (along with the entire network) for not warning people earlier about the impending financial meltdown because they were busy playing short-term profit games with people's hard-earned savings (and losing badly).
Jon Stewart. Kind of like Michael Moore, but better groomed, more handsome, less obnoxious, smarter and funnier. But they both have that same tenacious drive for accountability that we need more of.Well, to his credit, Jim Cramer came on the show on Friday and it was a bloodbath. I think he got about 100 words in for the whole show as Stewart used his potent and oft-overlooked intellectual and linguistic skills skillz to destroy the guy. John Stewart is not someone you want to mess with. As Cramer said on Martha Stewart's show earlier in the day: "I'm a little nervous. How bad is it gonna be? Is he gonna kill me?" No... but close.
The excellent site Crooks and Liars has a page with an embed/download link of the interview here, but below are a few of my favorite Stewart quotes from the show in question:
I understand that you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a fucking game. I can't reconcile the brilliance and knowledge you have of the intricacies of the market with the crazy bullshit I see you do every night.
Now to pretend that this was some sort of crazy once-in-a-lifetime tsunami that no one could see coming is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst.
Whose side are they on? These guys at these companies were on a Sherman's march, financed by our 401(k)s — and all the incentives of their companies were for short-term profits and they burned the house down with our money and walked away rich as hell. And you guys knew that that was going on."
Now why, when you talk about the regulators, why not the financial news network? Isn't that the whole point of this? CNBC could be an incredibly powerful tool of illumination... but [not doing that] is dangerous, it's ethically dubious and it hurts that long term market. So what it feels like to us - and I'm talking purely as a layman - it feels like we are capitalizing your adventure by our pension and our hard earned money. And that it is a game that you know is going on. But you go on television as a financial network and pretend isn't happening.
All the while, Cramer sat there looking largely defeated and at a loss for words. Granted, he's just a cog in a bigger machine and has somewhat unfairly become the face of the poor journalism going on at CNBC, but still...
We need more shows like The Daily Show and guys like Stewart who are unafraid to call the big guys out, like he did on his now-legendary appearance on CNN's Crossfire a few years ago, where he utterly destroyed hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala and, some say, led to the show getting canceled shortly thereafter (below).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE[/youtube]
Now, if only we had someone like this in Thailand, oh, what a glorious day that'd be!
Reader Comments (2)
The uncut interview is on ComedyCentral.com in three parts: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=221516&title=jim-cramer-unedited-interview" rel="nofollow">part 1 (5:47), http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=221517&title=jim-cramer-unedited-interview" rel="nofollow">part 2 (8:24), http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=221518&title=jim-cramer-unedited-interview" rel="nofollow">part 3 (8:31).
In all, it's more than 22 minutes, or as long as a full half-hour of TV minus commercials. Very interesting stuff. The full interview makes him look less like a punching bag, because he actually does say quite a bit.
I'm not a daily watcher of TDS anymore, though I regularly catch clips. I first heard this interview in a recap on BBC World News (I wonder if CNBC reported it). Great television. Important television. I think without Stewart and Colbert a big chunk of America would never have made it through the Bush administration.
Good call Rikker, shows like TDS both placate and infuriate, and do it with a wink and a smile - no easy task.