Most Amazing Jim Cramer Clip Yet: He Calls Andrew Cuomo a 'Genuine Communist'

Somehow Jon Stewart missed perhaps the most damning Jim Cramer clip of all from the CNBC archives.

A truly embarrassing, and revealing, video has been posted on YouTube for well over a year, showing Cramer railing against New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for his early mortgage crackdowns, including going after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In fact, he calls "this guy" Cuomo a "genuine Communist."

He gestures wildly and practically screams throughout the clip (see below), posted by the Business and Media Institute at businessandmedia.org in November 2007. The New York Times' City Room blog has just linked to the video, meaning more exposure to come.

Cuomo had just delivered subpoenas to Fannie and Freddie calling on them to review their appraisals and mortgages with Washington Mutual. Fannie and Freddie later became insolvent -- and WaMu went under. So Cuomo looks pretty damn good today.

Yet the video finds Cramer starting by calling Cuomo the most powerful guy on The Street and "most important man in America" just then -- but he means this "negatively" and is "tired of it." He goes on to argue: "Cuomo's about confiscation -- genuine communist...The Chinese are capitalists, we got a communist." He hits him for holding up sales of more houses still on market.

"Can I give you the real headline? Cuomo says, let's make it harder to get a mortgage, let's make it harder to lend.....Is this really the intent of this Democrat who wants to be president of the universe?... Well thank you Mr. Cuomo....Who is this guy? Did you vote for him? ....Cuomo, huh? Wow.

"This guy is going to shut down the mortgage market." He calls him "General Cuomo." And : "Cuomo is about losing money." He ridicules him for allegedly wanting Fannie and Freddie to "stop lending."

The host, apparently Erin Burnett, at least pushes back a bit. And she says Cuomo has been invited on but has not yet accepted. Cramer says, "Come on, he would walk a mile for a camera." He even suggests that Cuomo, like "everyone else," wants his own show.

Greg Mitchell's latest book is "Why Obama Won." He is the editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. Twitter feed here.

Comments

[VivaZapata]

Dear GE/CNBC Employee,
a "genuine communist," eh?

cramer, you are so on the ropes that you don't know when to quit. first, you made a fool out of yourself on The Daily Show, now you are using the oldest propaganda trick in the book, labeling and name calling. Let's look at the facts though. You've misled people into losing huge chunks of their life savings through the vehicle of your carnival sideshow.

I'd rather be a genuine communist (which I don't think Cuomo qualifies as in any known universe), than a lying, cheating shill for a subversive* corporation like GE.

Not Yours,
Viva Zapata
* befouled the Hudson and Housatonic Rivers and tied up efforts, at clean-up, in the courts. GE is anti-America because America is not a corporate headquarter's room, it is a geographic location. Cramer doesn't seem to get that. booyah, jim.

[VivaZapata]

technically, literally, a corporate headquarters room is a geographic location as well. I was, however, speaking of it as a state of mind rather than place.

[djmarch]

I agree to all, but unfortunately as long as Cramer brings in audiences to his show and members to his company, (thestreet.com), he will always be around...

[Tommygun264]

Cramer lost all credibility when Jon Stewart showed him for what he is - a corporate shill who has tried to manipulate the market. As soon as his contract is up, he'll be sitting on a park bench next to Tucker Carlson, feeding the pigeons and mumbling to himself.

[VivaZapata]

very funny and hopefully (the last part of your statement) true.

[x004Ronin]

That's the real problem. CNBC does not have journalists, it has cheerleaders.
When the market is going up, they cry, "Leave firms alone, they're doing great without regulation."
When the market is going down, they cry, "Leave firms alone, investigating what's going on isn't going to help!"

Then they hold up their hands in disbelief as these firms collapse due to risky and fraudulent activities.

[VivaZapata]

on friday with the DOW down almost 150 points, that guy down on the floor was still using that dumb catch phrase about hitting bottom and climbing back up. these guys are addicts.

[AN2009]

I get the feeling Jim Cramer secretly enjoys public ridicule. At least, there will be a continual supply of entertaining segments done on him by Jon Stewart! By the way, he's wrong: the Chinese are fascists.

[HereComesTrouble]

that is how they create publicity and boost their market shares. dont u get it.

[VivaZapata]

i thought cramer's ratings were down since his Daily Show appearance. no?

[Mortimer2]

Isn't it childish that everytime he doesn't like someone they are either a Communist or a Socialist or a Lenin or a Stalin?

[VivaZapata]

yes, and also ignorant.

[bikerdude]

Wow, that clip is damning on a number of levels. I am shocked he could say those things and still be on the air. Erin looks even better now than she did then...

[AndThenOneDay]

For some reason this all makes me think of the free pass ESPN et al got on steroids in baseball. They could produce a photo essay or time-lapsed photography showing the changes in body (and even head) size year on year and it would be incontrovertible. But they're in the shill biz, and the money was good.

[Middleclassvotingbloc]

That was the final straw for Cramer, this guy needs to be shut down and investigated for fraud and any other type of financial misgiveings he has already admitted to. Cuomo need to really take a look at this guy and his conduct which has mislead millions of people out of millions if not billions of dollars.

[westcoastsc]

Keep doing the good work, Cuomo. You must be doing really good. Don't take any airtrips until all your work is done.

[billthinx]

In my opinion (as a marketing brand manager) Jim Cramer is dead meat. His show (and brand) has always been about his hyper-excitability and strong reactions. But now that he has misapplied those qualities in a political context, he looks exactly the opposite of what he needs to remain successful. He shows himself to be shallow, trigger-happy, knee-jerk, spasmodic, unreliable, nasty, without self-restraint, hyper-sensitive, self-focused and attack-minded. For anyone who can't think deeper than the width of a nose hair, he may still seem "entertaining" and "fun". But in this he can only be compared to Flush Limbaugh, whom some people also like for his "entertaining" faux-outrage. Cramer's new brand is just his style of being misunderstood and hurt and using outsized personal attacks against his "tormenters". If it ever did, the Cramer brand no longer has any focus on substance. He is no longer reliable, not to be trusted. Cramer now is just someone to watch misbehave while not understanding that he keeps hurting himself.

[mauibob]

"shallow, trigger-happy, knee-jerk, spasmodic, unreliable, nasty, without self-restraint, hyper-sensitive, self-focused and attack-minded. For anyone who can't think deeper than the width of a nose hair"

That actually describes democrats quite well. Remember, Cramer is a democrat. voted for and supported Obama

[AZ AF VET]

Who else could he support, good OLD "the economy is fundamentally strong" , "I've got to suspend my campaign so I can hurry back to Washington to deal with the financial problem" McCain? Yeah, Right.

Now for the "shallow, trigger-happy, knee-jerk, spasmodic, unreliable, nasty, without self-restraint, hyper-sensitive, self-focused and attack-minded. For anyone who can't think deeper than the width of a nose hair" A perfect description of Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, O'Reilly, Beck, Maulkin, and on and on. Republicans all!

[bikerdude]

We were talking about cramer as a tv/financial advisor person not about his political affiliation. I'm guessing he's a fiscal conservative and social liberal...
He shouldn't remain in that job.

[AndThenOneDay]

You're the brand guy, so I don't know. He seems like an affable schlub, but with an act that's wearing thin. The trademark rolled up sleeves met their Waterloo on the Daily Show. Where does he go from there?

What do you think if Santelli's future? He was the the kid that started the fight and then ran home and let Mr. rolled-up-sleeves take the pounding.

[bikerdude]

Santelli should have been gone by now. He has proven that he is unfit to serve.

[overcat]

A tendency to make wild overstatements belies an inability to think in nuanced terms. The way this guy and republicans in general label anything that isn't hypercapitalist as communist or socialist exemplifies this. It show s a rather limited mindset. It's sort of like likening any bad person to Hitler - repetition weakens the meaning.

And why are these conservatives so stuck on communism anyway? It's so dated.

[mauibob]

Cramer is a democrat and donated heavily to the democrat cause.

[AndThenOneDay]

It's becoming a dangerous game. You have a group of people who have no real path to a nationally viable candidate constantly speaking in apocalyptic terms about fascism, totalitarianism, etc.

The combination of a rudderless party, desperate, reckless talk, and faux patriotism ... and guns. Scary.

[mauibob]

Does that include Barney Frank and Dodd also?

[AndThenOneDay]

I haven't heard them mention the 'ism's. What are you referring to?

[BMissy]

Nothing will change on wall street or banking until those responsible for this mess are held fully accountable. It looks like that is not going to happen. To me, that is the most disappointing part of all of this.

[All in All]

I realized a while back that the majority of the Host & Other People whom talk on the Tv Financial shows are all trying to push the same thoughts & products onto the general public.Don't get Me wrong.. there are some People on those shows that "play" the skeptic (Erin Burnet & others).

[PatA]

And this guy still works for CNN? Whoa.............

[mauibob]

He works for CNBC