Tucker Carlson: "[W]here was Jon Stewart when the bubble was swelling? How many shows did he do on the coming financial collapse? Why didn't he warn us?"
March 16, 2009 3:55 pm ET by Media Matters staff
From a March 16 Washington Post online discussion:
Falls Church: Tucker: saw you on Reliable Sources talking about Cramer v. Stewart. You know, the whole world is not divided up into the vast left-wing conspiracy and the brave moral right that fights against it.
There are legitimate journalistic questions about the role of a financial channel and how much cheerleading it should do or if the interviewers sometimes treat business leaders like Access Hollywood treats celebrities or if they should be in the business of investigating corrupt businesses and business practices.
But to dismiss those questions as an Obama surrogate hit job... No wonder the majority of the country thinks the right is out of touch with reality.
Tucker Carlson: It's completely legitimate - necessary - to ask those questions, and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I'm not defending Cramer, CNBC, greedheads on Wall Street, criminally overpaid CEOs or anyone else. I was trying to make two points:
Cramer humiliated himself the other night (and on many previous nights on his own show) but that doesn't mean he and his network are responsible for the meltdown. That's way too simple. In fact it's demagoguery. And by the way, where was Jon Stewart when the bubble was swelling? How many shows did he do on the coming financial collapse? Why didn't he warn us?
Stewart's answer invariably is: I'm a comedian. That's not my job. But that's a dodge, and increasingly unsustainable. In fact, Stewart is a player in the national conversation. He seeks to influence politics and policy, and he succeeds. It's time for him to admit that, and be held to the same standards everyone else at his level (including Jim Cramer) lives by.
It's what they should be doing. It's a sad commentary on the state of journalism that Stewart, a person who does parody, is one of our top journalists these days.
Tucker, maybe if you weren't such a hack, you might have a chance to do something like this. But I doubt it.
Back before Jon Stewart was on Crossfire, Tucker was in love with him. He never told anyone about the poetry in his journal, the late night dreamy desires, or the emotions thet swelled when he first learned that Jon would actually be in his studio.
He spent the morning singing quietly to himself, picking out his bow-tie and matching socks. Today would be the day that Jon would recognize him as the worthy journalist Jon so desperately needed in his life.
But after the initial greetings, Jon's hand warm in his own, Tucker's well-practiced introduction to the first topic, so professional in the mirror that morning, was interrupted by Jon talking about responsibility, something about partisanship, did he say "hack"...Tucker was about to swoon, he couldn't focus on Jon's lovely hair, his eyes, his mouth, it just kept moving, interrupting, every word, an arrow shot straight into Tucker's chest.
Tucker tried to snap out of it, tried to regain his composure...what? go to journalism school. my god, what?? Then it was over. The last commercial break and Jon left quickly. No goodbye hug/slap, no let's do lunch sometime, not at all as he had imagined it...
Tucker watched the tape over and over in the passing months, then years. Crossfire had been cancelled, not just because of its nonsensical treatment of important issues and its self-congratulatory hosts, but because Jon Stewart denuded the bone that was all it ever really was, Tucker's bone. How could he ever recover.
But, now, Jon has dismantled yet another program, ruined more aspirations, this menace has to be stopped. Tucker is no moron, no dupe, he can see the conspiracy now. Jon never loved him, it was all a ruse to use him to get at the others. Tucker wiill show him. This injustice cannot stand!
He is a comedian and it's not his job. He points out the misleading statements and tactics that get us into this mess but he's not required to be an expert in every subject.
This makes sense to Tucker because he spent that last 8 years defending the Comedian-in-Chief.
Free financial advice is worth just that: nothing
& Jon Stewart's audience is stoned college kids who don't have a dime to invest anyway.
Not much to see here.
You are so out of touch. I'm a lawyer and a banker and have watched the Daily Show since the beginning. The ratings indicate that its audience trend toward college students, college graduates, etc. Mostly liberals, but then, we have a more sophisticated sense of humor than conservatives in general. They either have a sense of humor similar to Dick Cheney, who finds shooting people in the face entertaining, or Joe the Plumber, who thinks "you know your a redneck" routines are high comedy.
Maybe you're just too stupid to get Jon's humor. You have to have a sense of irony and appreciate sharp analogy wrapped up in goofiness.