Joe Scarborough Doesn't Seem To Understand What the Daily Show Does (VIDEO)

In case you were wondering, CNBC's Jim Cramer -- in addition to his appearance on The Today Show -- brought his damage-control act to the General Electric Morning Joe Infotainment Show Tuesday morning, in accordance with the ancient prophesies of Six Sigma. You can thrill to the exquisite sadness of Jim Cramer in the video below, if you like. I'm more intrigued by the rather powerful assertion made by Joe Scarborough at the top of this clip:

[WATCH.]

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SCARBOROUGH: [REFERRING TO CRAMER] As a former supporter of Barack Obama, a lifelong Democrat, one of the biggest Democratic supporters in the national media, and now a man being attacked by the White House, and also Jon Stewart.

CRAMER: Yeah. Wow. he has it in for me, I gotta tell ya.

SCARBOROUGH: The thing is, it used to be that when George Bush was President, Jon Stewart attacked the president every night. But now that George Bush isn't President, instead of speaking truth to power, he's attacking people like you.

In other words, The Daily Show is your source for partisan hackery.

Here's a suggestion for Joe Scarborough. No disrespect, but, uhm...he should maybe watch The Daily Show. Here's Jon Stewart, "attacking the president," LAST NIGHT, for his tone-deaf DVD box set gift to Gordon Brown:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Brown in the USA

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And for turning the White House into a personal wish-fulfillment camp:

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The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Obama's First 100 Days - Privileged Executive

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And here's John Oliver's rather cutting segment on the White House Press operation ("Which of the questions that your staff insisted be pre-approved would you like to answer first?"):

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

White House Press Corps

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But beyond this recent proof that The Daily Show has been merrily critical of the new administration, I'd also have to recommend that Scarborough develop an understanding of what The Daily Show is. First and foremost, the show is a critique of the media. It is not "fake news." It is not "funny riffs on the headlines," a la "Weekend Update." It is a lampoon of media excess. As any veteran watcher can tell you, it has ALWAYS been "attacking people like [Cramer]." George W. Bush was just value-added content.

Can I get a witness, Howie Kurtz?

If you think Jon Stewart is merely funny, you're missing the point.

The Comedy Central guy is one of the sharpest media critics around.

I know he feels strongly about the shortcomings of the news business -- and who doesn't? -- because I've interviewed him about it, and the one time I was on the "Daily Show," he carried on at some length, long past the allotted time for our discussion. Only the studio audience got to see that part.

Thanks to his young army of TiVo sleuths, Stewart comes up with tape that either a) makes journalists look slightly ridiculous, or b) shows that they don't know what the hell they're talking about.

He does this to politicians as well, of course. And the show is shaped by his opinions. Jon was no fan of Bush or the war in what he calls Mess O' Potamia.

I argue in my book "Reality Show" that even though Stewart (and Stephen Colbert) do fake news, they are having an undeniable impact on real news.

Anyway, Scarborough then yammers about how it's not fair that Jon Stewart has a team of people scouring the internet looking for mistakes, as if these news bureaus were scrappy, underdog operations that deserve a pass. Oh, but I guess they are! As we learned from this morning's Today Show, wealthy infotainers like Jim Cramer are "the little guy."

So, BOOOO, fatcat researchers of basic cable satire!

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to [e-mail] -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Comments

[rebrarenee]

I was and still am in full agreement with Mica Brezinki's father, when he told Joe he continually makes statements and expresees opinons based on the most shallow and superficial assumptions. I don't like him, though I like the show . Both him and Mica come off like paper dolls . The guest they have on are always very interesting; and it matters not whether I agree with them. I am a card carrying liberal, however, I am open to listening and considering conservatives viewpoints as long as they have some basis in fact. Joe Scarborogh reminds me of people who read the headlines and expounds, never bothering to read the rest of the story. It's sad, but it's okay, most people know better and the people who don't ...well they probably wouldn't get the story anyway.

[w8aminute]

I almost lost my coffee when Mr Superficial said Stewart attacked the President every night when Bush was in the White House. While Joe may not 'attack the President', he certainly doesn't let an hour go by where he doesn't attack some member of the President's staff. His latest whipping boy is Geitner - must be the GOP target of the month. I seriously doubt Joe even knows what he means everytime he repeats "and then they let Lehman fail", but it certainly doesn't keep him from repeating it.

I'd like to suggest that Joe start looking at (his fellow Floridian) John Mica's record if he wants something to complain about. Mica voted NO on the stimulus and appropriation bill, then spits out press releases on how great it will be for Florida. The two hypocrites should get along extremely well.

[vesaversa1]

Jon Steward to Morning Joe , YOUR NEXT!

[gratonite]

For the love of god they're embarrassing.

I've been told that when you're in a hole, you should stop digging. Yet they keep talking, and talking, and talking...

And it's weirdest of all how Cramer complains that he wants his political donations back from the democratic party because they criticize him. Does he think he was buying political influence when he gave those contributions? And is he saying it out loud? We can do that? Heavens to Betsy.

[maggienash65]

I wonder what Scarborough will do when he reads the post here in regards to Cramer? The only thing JS does is say how he single handedly took charge in 1993 and 1994. And now he brings all his friends in, like Cramer, "you were a "former supporter of the President", to help the campaign to bring the President down. Not going to work, Joe. People can't forget it was the Bush Administration and the Republicans who got us in this mess.

[ashter]

So does this mean Joe would take HIS money & invest it based on Cramers' advice? Good luck to him. Although I doubt he & his family will ever end up living in one of the" lovely" tent cities popping up around the country.

[Wigelah]

See Joe, here's the thing......that stuff all really happened. Pretty much exactly the way Jon Stewart portrays it. He didn't make it up....he just displayed the flagrant hypocricy for all to see. Did Cramer say that stuff? Yes. Is it taken out of context? No. The truth really is stranger than fiction. You really should stay out of the kitchen if you can't take the heat.

[Bingolong]

"Blasted by the White House "

Huh ?

When did that happen ?

These agenda drivers will say anything.

[roch20]

AMEN!

[demomntgirl]

Joe makes it up as he goes...
he's a card carrying member of the GOP....
he can't help himself.
He certainly is NOT a journalist!

[HazerX]

Its strange that Joe would have such things to say about the Jon Stewart show, when just last month he wrote an article for MSNBC telling the world how great it was to be doing a skit for them.

"It was good fun. After the taping stopped, my 19-year-old son Joey and I went into the studio to watch Jon Stewart work his magic.

My teenage boy was most impressed."

Whodda thought?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17152150/

[Hawaii5-0]

New online poll, tell Cramer and Stewart what you think of their spat.

http://www.pollpub.com/is-jon-stewart-overhyping-the-war-with-jim-cramer-and-cnbc.aspx

[storeyy]

Jon Stewart reports the news...after it occurs. Joe S and Mika want to create the news flow. They are already judging the Obama Administration after only 50 freakin days while we didn't hear a peep our of him during the entire 2920 days of the Bush Administration....

[Klimb]

JS needs to let go that show of his...Imus made more sense than what Joe does!

[yoli647]

Agree

[Jaloysiusm]

Scarborough sure doesn't understand what Stewart does: in addition to providing incredibly trenchant media analysis, he gives more astute news coverage in 22 minutes than Scarborough does in his two (or is it three?) hours. Or frankly than his network does all day. And Stewart, as he's happy to point out, holds the ultimate trump card: he claims only to be a comedian, not an expert, as these imbeciles do.
Secondly, Stewart's main point in bringing this up is the colossal nerve of Cramer, Santelli, et al, to be making on-air demands about how the ponzi schemes for whom they aggressively advocated should now be treated (basically, throw them trillions and don't ask questions. And oh yeah, screw the homeowners they entrapped).
Scarborough, Limbaugh, and company can bray on ad naseum about Obama being a socialist, but here' s the thing: capitalism, the free market, whatever you want to call it, put a gun to its own head and pulled the trigger. It's GONE. What's left is being kept on life support purely at the sufferance of government. So if we nationalize, if we don't nationalize, if we worry about what the Dow does or if we don't, they can shut up and take whatever terms the government, and the taxpayers, choose to give them. Why it doesn't include seizure of the personal assets of the CEO and boards of directors of these companies is beyond me.

[Rover]

LOL...the whole show has a "stunningly superficial" knowledge of reality. I can't understand why CNBC and especially Cramer dont just let this go and let it die.

They also say that Santelli was attacking the bailout, that is not true. Santelli was attacking the mortgage assistance program.

[HeartT]

The program that was proven to have nothing to do with America's financial breakdown. No MSM story on that. Jon Stewart deserves an award for this one. Eyes were opened. Not just to Cramer's bull, but to how the MSM manipulates the facts to create conflict so that people like Joe can have something to yell about. I really do hope Jon takes on Joe next.

[MarsAmbassador]

Santelli was attacking home-owners and average Americans, trying to call them losers for making bad decisions and being bailed out. Last time I checked, Santelli and his friends were far bigger losers, made far worse decisions and got a far bigger bailout. Hypocrite much?

[noaxe397]

CNBC realizes they will lose viewers in a bad economy, no one wants to hear how much they are losing in their portfolios and 401ks. So, they are trying to become more political but since they are shills for Wall Street and their livelihoods directly and indirectly rely on the financial community they must be biased towards it. They are just so bad at it that they look like another Fox News; lots of angry white people mad at everything and everyone on the planet, quick to point the finger, quick to condemn but, like all Republicans, devoid of solutions and ideas.

[realitychecks]

Joe doesn't understand most things.