Stewing Stewart creams Cramer, CNBC

* By Tim Surette
* 03/13/09 11:08 AM


No bailout for Mad Money's Jim Cramer and CNBC as Daily Show's Jon Stewart holds
them to claims.

If there's one thing great that's come out of this financial high-dive into an
empty pool it was last night's interview/confrontation of CNBC personality Jim
Cramer by The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. For the past week and a half, Stewart
has been calling out the finance network for contributing to the economic mess,
and it came to a head last night.

Cramer, host of the bizarre stock-swapping show Mad Money, answered the invite
to appear on The Daily Show after he and Stewart engaged in some back-and-forth
on both CNBC and Comedy Central, and Stewart didn't let him off the hook.



Stewart's main objection with the network has been the way it has handled the
financial implosion and stirred the pot of "fast money" by not exposing "the
game" that Wall Street and it's ticker-tape-waving masses perpetuate.

"I understand you want to make finance entertaining," Stewart told Cramer. "But
it's not a f***ing game. When I watch that, I can't tell you how angry that
makes me. Because what it says to me is… you all know."



To his credit, Cramer sat in the hot seat for the entire interview and seemed
apologetic--almost like a kid being caught with his hand in the cookie
jar--saying he's tried to do the right thing and has created a show meant to
entertain a certain demographic caught up in the light-speed money market. We
won't know if Stewart's words will leave a lasting impression on Cramer, CNBC,
or any of Wall Street's lecherous suits, but one thing's for sure: Stewart is
proving himself to be this generation's best journalist--no matter how reluctant
he may be--who isn't afraid of anyone or anything.

For the final two minutes of the interview, head over to ComedyCentral.com.

ComedyCentral.com has seen a major boom because of the squabble, with Stewart's
original (and both hilarious and informative) CNBC rant being streamed 1.3
million times as of Wednesday.