Thursday, November 10, 2005
Mad Money
As I was saying, the news that Dan Rather is profiling James Cramer on 60 Minutes does not quite thrill me.
Hey, remember Cramer's flagrant disregard for conflicts of interest as he boosted his hedge fund in mid-'90s columns and tv appearances and denigrated stocks he intended to sell short? And hey, remember his New Republic cover piece from '96 when he cheered on AT&T for laying off 40,000 people, sending their share prices skyrocketing? He thanked the workers for creating such awesome wealth, and then recommended that the stock market take the place of Social Security and welfare and unemployment benefits. And then his own IPO made him filthy rich, then it tanked. And he still has his own goddam TV show. HOW CONSISTENTLY WRONG DO YOU HAVE TO BE?
Seriously, what do you have to do to be blackballed from cable news? How many times to you have to resign in disgrace or be proven disasterously wrong before you're not welcome on Hardball? Would Dick Morris, Newt Gingrich, G. Gordon Liddy, and Pat Robertson have to actually kill a man in cold blood and in Prime Time before the producers stop calling? Or would it have to be an attractive white woman? Will Peter Braunstein be hitting the speaking circuit with Judy Miller next year? Maybe he can give a talk at the Pajamas Media launch party! |
Hey, remember Cramer's flagrant disregard for conflicts of interest as he boosted his hedge fund in mid-'90s columns and tv appearances and denigrated stocks he intended to sell short? And hey, remember his New Republic cover piece from '96 when he cheered on AT&T for laying off 40,000 people, sending their share prices skyrocketing? He thanked the workers for creating such awesome wealth, and then recommended that the stock market take the place of Social Security and welfare and unemployment benefits. And then his own IPO made him filthy rich, then it tanked. And he still has his own goddam TV show. HOW CONSISTENTLY WRONG DO YOU HAVE TO BE?
Seriously, what do you have to do to be blackballed from cable news? How many times to you have to resign in disgrace or be proven disasterously wrong before you're not welcome on Hardball? Would Dick Morris, Newt Gingrich, G. Gordon Liddy, and Pat Robertson have to actually kill a man in cold blood and in Prime Time before the producers stop calling? Or would it have to be an attractive white woman? Will Peter Braunstein be hitting the speaking circuit with Judy Miller next year? Maybe he can give a talk at the Pajamas Media launch party! |
