3/13/09

News Roundup for 3/13/09

Meatgrinder spits out ground beef
CNBC host Jim Cramer appears on The Daily Show


-Headline of the day-
"Stewart to Cramer: 'It's not a f**king game'."

For the record, "f**king" doesn't mean "flaking."

If you missed The Daily Show last night, you didn't see CNBC's Jim Cramer take a rhetorical pants-down spanking from Jon Stewart. This is appropriate since, as anyone who's seen Cramer's show can tell you, he's a hyperactive 4 year-old.

The beauty of TDS is not in it's skewering of American politics -- although they're good at that -- but in its insightful media criticism. CNBC and Cramer were not spared. Cramer walked onto the set expecting to show up a TV clown and learned that Stewart's strength as a comedian is that he's usually much, much smarter than whomever's sitting in the guest chair. Cramer offered weak defense of his and his network's performance before and during the economic crisis, but found all the exits blocked.

At the end, Cramer was promising to change and apologizing for existing. It was at once hard-hitting and fair, horrible and beautiful to watch. If you missed it, it sucks to be you, since there's no way they'd put this online or anything.

The reason Stewart's media-crit is so dead on is because he knows how it should be done. If this had been a boxing match, they could've carried Cramer out in a sponge. (Raw Story/AP)


-How to be dumb-
The late columnist Molly Ivins used to refer to Texas Gov. Rick Perry as "Governor Goodhair." The reason for that was simple; Perry's Republican helmet-hair is the only remarkable thing about his head. He's not much of a deep thinker.

Proving Ivins right, Gov. Goodhair has announced that he'll turn down stimulus money targeted at expanding unemployment. In an op-ed, Perry wrote "[A]fter thoughtful and thorough review of the federal stimulus legislation, I stood up for Texas employers and the millions of Texans they employ to express my resistance toward further government intrusion into their lives by opposing the federal government's push to expand our state's unemployment insurance program."

In other words, Goodhair is protecting unemployed Texans from the evils of having money. Good for him. This is an especially brave stance in the face of rising unemployment for his state -- according to the Dallas Morning News, "Texas lost 75,800 payroll jobs in January, the Texas Workforce Commission said. That amounted to the highest one-month job loss since at least 1990, the first year in the commission's data series."

Way to stand up against creeping socialism, Goodhair. I'm sure struggling, unemployed Texans everywhere will curse you thank you for it. (San Angelo Standard-Times)


-Bonus HotD-
"After Being Eviscerated By Jon Stewart, Cramer Skips Morning Show Appearance."

Call it the "Tale of Two Twitters." Yesterday, MSNBC morning show host Joe Scarborough twittered that "Morning Joe has the exclusive Jim Cramer interview tomorrow morning to discuss tonight's war with Jon Stewart."

This morning, things had changed. "No Cramer," Scarborough twittlepated. "Perhaps another example of oversleeping. Guess he had a late night. That is too bad. Producers told he was only talking to us."

Yeah, he overslept. It wouldn't be that he was ashamed to show his face after failing to be able to defend himself or his way too Wall street friendly network on TDS. According to the report, everyone thinks Cramer did fine...


There has been almost universal acknowledgment that Stewart humiliated Cramer. Jim Fallows called it a “slaughter,” and the Huffington Post has a gigantic headline reading, “Jon Stewart eviscerates Jim Cramer and CNBC.” Even Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy said that Stewart “rightfully” attacked Cramer: “Jim Cramer, on his show, has made many — has said ‘buy this stock because it’s going to go up,’ and then it tanks. He told people to buy Bear Stearns and hold it, just before it completely went to zero.”


...that is, if by "did fine, " you mean "got his ass handed to him." (Think Progress)


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