Bravo Jon Stewart from Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico
Jon Stewart from Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico
Every night at 10:00 pm (or until April 5 9:00 pm) my husband and I go to bed with Jon Stewart and then Stephen Colbert. We thoroughly enjoy their humorous take on current events and it was, in fact, from Jon Stewart’s lips that we first learned that Barack Obama had been elected President. That evening of November 4th, 2008, Jon and Stephen had come together to do an election special.
Jon Stewart has had his own show, The Daily Show, on the Comedy Network for approx. 10 years. He also is the author of American (The Book) A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction with a Forward by Thomas Jefferson. I think in this title one begins to understand the gifts of Jon Stewart.
In recent days the media has in part manufactured a feud between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer of CNBC’s Mad Money who used to be a hedge fund manager.
Jon Stewart, never one to back down from a fight (unless the other person is bigger than he is) boldly invited Jim Cramer on to his show last night for an episode he aptly named Brawl Street. The object of this meeting was to get to the bottom of some of the very incendiary things Jim Cramer had been predicting on his, admittedly, entertainment money show Mad Money.
When Jon said to Jim this is not a f—ing game I realized this was not to be your usual Daily Show.
Jon had a series of clips of Jim stating how the markets and financial situations are manipulated and had the facts and figures to call him out on each of the charges. Further citing that is was the banks and Wall Street to blame for the global economic crisis and the not the homeowners. Also that these so called Fat Cats had cheated Americans out of their 401K’s and other investments made in good faith and so far have walked away with all this money with no indictments in sight.
He systematically dissected Jim Cramer until Jim admitted that he and his station could have done better and agreed to become a better guardian of the veracity of the information he presented on Mad Money.
At the end of the Daily Show Jon Stewart said “I hope that was not as uncomfortable to watch as it was to do”. This, for me , was a total departure for Jon Stewart and I now look at him with great new respect not only as a gifted comedian but also as an intellectual man who cares deeply about his country and clearly does not care for the banks and Wall Street among others lying to its citizens and stealing their money.
Judy Wallis