Jon Stewart disses, really disses CNBC
Posted
Mar 05 2009, 11:00 AM
by
Charley Blaine
Rating:
Hell hath no fury . . . like a comedian ignored.
David Letterman hit Sen. John McCain night after night during last fall's presidential campaign after McCain cancelled an appearance -- when he was in New York.
But that pales in comparison to The Daily Show's Jon Stewart.
Stewart, host of the hit Comedy Central show, makes no secret of his political and economic sympathies, but he likes bringing on guests with different perspectives than his own.
But when CNBC's Rick Santelli, he of the Santelli Rant, cancelled an appearance to explain his now-famous opposition to the Obama administration's mortgage rescue plan, Stewart replied and then some.
Why Santelli cancelled was a bit murky. The Washington Post suggested it was because Santelli has found himself embroiled in an Internet controversy over the origin of his rant, with some bloggers accusing him of being the frontman for a GOP-funded attack on Obama, which Santelli denied in this posting on CNBC.
Whatever. The result of the Daily Show's annoyance is an 8-minute, 29-second segment -- more than a third of the show.
Stewart starts with Santelli's rant. Then, he follows up with a greatest hits parade of clips of wrong predictions, bad conclusions and stupid interviews on CNBC.
There's the Jim Cramer assertion that "Bear Stearns is fine" on March 11, 2008. Bear Stearns failed six days later.
There was Cramer's assertion that one has to accept that stocks are "just going to go higher." That came on Oct. 31, 2007, the day the Nasdaq Composite peaked and the Dow finished at 13,930.
And the Larry Kudlow assertion on April 16, 2008 that the "worst of this subprime business" was over. The Dow finished at 12,743.
And Cramer's June 1, 2008 declaration that the market had bottomed and it was time to "buy, buy buy!" The Dow as at 12,307.
And Guy Adami, a regular on CNBC's Fast Money show, who said on Nov. 4 that the "fundamentals are coming back. People are starting to get confident." The Dow closed at 9,625.
The Dow was at 6,653 at 12:50 p.m. today
"If I'd only followed CNBC's advice," Stewart deadpanned, "I'd have a million dollars today. . . . Provided I'd started with a hundred million dollars."
The segment ended with Carl Quintanilla's interview with Allen Stanford of the Stanford Group, which the government says defauded investors of at least $8 billion. The interview ended with Quintanilla asking if "it's fun being a billionaire." Stanford says "Yes."
"Between the two of them," Stewart said, "I can't make up mind which one of those guys I'd rather see in jail."
The Stewart segment was moving very quickly around the blogosphere today.
"That sound you hear today is the popping of champagne corks at Fox Business headquarters," Portfolio.com's Jeff Bercovici opined.
But the Business and Media Institute wasn't impressed, saying "the goons at Comedy Central had sharpened their knives and cut into Santelli."
CNBC spokesman Brian Steel said the network would have no comment.
Years ago, Barry Ritholtz, who runs The Big Picture blog, reminded his readers, "the expression was 'Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel” (meaning newspapers). The modern, updated version is 'Never pick a fight with people who have ascerbic, award winning comedy writers, a broad TV reach, and a strong internet presence.'"
Ritholtz closed his item with, "I would love to be a fly on the wall in whatever PR meeting (at CNBC) takes place about this today."
Additional reading: Market batters Cramer -- no wonder he's mad
