Monday, March 16, 2009

Robert Gibbs and Jon Stewart Have It Wrong Again

This piece is a little off the political tract but not so much. By now some of you have heard about the thrashing Jon Stewart gave to Jim Cramer, well a pseudo thrashing as you about to see. The liberal media had a hay day with this piece. Even Robert Gibbs, the President's Press Secretary couldn't wait to chime in with his usual childish assessment of a media type.

Over at AOL News the headline read Robert Gibbs Relished Jon Stewart's Awesome Jim Cramer Takedown

On March 4th Cramer gave Gibbs a push back over his statements before the Jon Stewart show.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday pushed back against Cramer’s comments that President Obama has caused “the greatest wealth destruction I have seen by a president.”

“I’m not sure what he’s pointing to, to make some of the statements,” Gibbs told reporters, adding that Mad Money is geared toward a small audience while Obama has to help the entire country.

Cramer in response pointed to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, Nasdaq and the Russell Index, all of which are down huge since Inauguration Day. And the only small thing about the MadMo audience, he said, is its 401(k)s, pension plans and annuities after the damage Obama’s proposed spending plans have caused the markets.

The stock market right now is a better barometer of Americans’ wealth than the president and his press secretary seem to realize, Cramer said. And while Obama said he’s focused on Main Street rather than Wall Street, he needs to realize the two are merging. Everday people today have a tremendous amount of exposure to stocks and the declining markets.


Richard Cohen of the Washington Post wrote a great Op-Ed piece about the sensationalism of Stewart's piece that was really lacking any substance behind his attack.

What Jon Stewart needs is Jon Stewart. He could use a droll comedian to temper his ferocity and correct him when he's wrong, as he was about the financial media, particularly CNBC and its excitable analyst Jim Cramer. They didn't cover up the story of financial shenanigans. They didn't even know it existed.

The jist of his opinion relies on the facts that all of the chairmen of the financial giants held onto their stock during the tremendous fall in prices. If they didn't know what was happening on the inside how could Cramer know being on the outside. You can read the rest of his piece to understand how wrong Jon Stewart and Robert Gibbs were on this particular issue.

Robert Gibbs is going to learn in short order that his constant engagement of specific media people will not earn him points in the long run. I will be surprised if he lasts a year in the job.

One blogger over at AOL wrote: I don't like Jim Cramer, but he's right here. The people who are getting helped by Team Obama right now are folks who bought houses they couldn't afford. A home, like a stock portfolio, is an asset. People who bought their assets with cash in the stock market have no share of bailout loot while people who bought their assets with debt are being showered with help. Gibbs should be worried that ordinary people see right through this administration.

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