battle of the network stars: street.com ceo quits; MSNBC told to downplay Stewart - Cramer interview

Thomas Clarke, who has been CEO of financial news website The Street has announced his departure “effective immediately.”

Clarke’s abrupt departure comes less than a day after The Daily Show aired tape of The Street’s co-founder, Jim Cramer, explaining in a Street.com webcast how he, as a hedge fund manager, manipulated value to serve some publicly traded companies and investors at the expense of others.

If you have just crawled out from under a rock, Cramer was a guest on Jon Stewart’s show last night, and the general consensus is Stewart took Cramer, CNBC, and financial “journalism,” in general, to the cleaners.

Or, maybe you haven’t just crawled out from under a rock—maybe you have only been getting your news from MSNBC. The 24-hour news channel—and CNBC partner—was reportedly told by its corporate bosses that this was, you know, not of interest to its viewers:

A TVNewser tipster tells us MSNBC producers were asked not to incorporate the Jim Cramer/Jon Stewart interview into their shows today. In fact, the only time it came up on MSNBC was during the White House briefing, when a member of the press corps asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs if Pres. Obama watched. Gibbs wasn't sure if the president had, but Gibbs did. "I enjoyed it thoroughly," the Press Secretary said.

Cramer will apparently talk about his Daily Show performance on his Friday show (6pm Eastern); no word yet on what MSNBC shows like Hardball, Countdown, and The Rachel Maddow Show will do.

A search of CNBC’s website this afternoon showed only AP and Reuters wire copy on the Stewart-Cramer interview/battle-of-the-century—no original reporting. But, then, why should today be any different for CNBC?

UPDATE: Of the three primetime MSNBC news hosts, only Maddow made reference to the Stewart-Cramer dust-up on Friday night.

(a version of this post previously appeared on Firedoglake)

[Miss me? Don't forget, I am now Managing Editor at Firedoglake, and I occasionally post over there, as well as on my other blog, capitoilette.]

open mike night at the RNC: Murphy calls Palin pick cynical; Noonan declares race over for McCain

Earlier today, former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan and Republican strategist Mark Murphy finished a segment with MSNBC host Chuck Todd. . . and then kept talking:


What the live mikes catch is truly something to behold. Noonan says of the presidential race, “It’s over,” as in it’s over for McCain. Murphy calls McCain’s pick of Palin “Cynical.” (transcript below)

Earlier today, Noonan’s Wall Street Journal column declared:

Gut: The Sarah Palin choice is really going to work, or really not going to work. It's not going to be a little successful or a little not; it's not going to be a wash. She is either going to be magic or one of history's accidents. She is either going to be brilliant and groundbreaking, or will soon be the target of unattributed quotes by bitter staffers shifting blame in all the Making of the President 2008 books.

Peggy plays it coy for the sake of journalistic “balance.” If we are to believe Noonan’s gut AND mouth, then her verdict is already clear: the Palin pick is NOT going to work.

And, it seems, we won’t have to wait till after the election to hear those sniping quotes—and, it seems that they won’t be “unattributed,” either.


Transcript (taken from the YouTube audio):

Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing-state governor world. Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. And these guys, this is all about how you win a Texas race. You know, just run it up. And it's not gonna work.

Noonan: It's over.

Murphy: Still, McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

Todd: Don’t you think that the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson?

Noonan: I saw Kay this morning

Todd: Yeah, she's never looked comfortable about it.

Murphy: All bummed out.

Todd: I mean, is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

Noonan: The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives and (inaudible) the picture.

Murphy: Yeah, but what's the narrative?

Noonan: Every time the Republicans do that because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at and they blow it.

Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.

Todd: This is cynical, and, as you called it, “gimmicky.” Thanks guys.

UPDATE: Perhaps I was also being a little coy. C&L says what I feel:

Will the media start asking conservative scribes if they really feel like Murphy and Noonan do about McCain’s pick of Palin? Honesty is out in front right now as we just witnessed. Are they all just lying to our faces and not being called out about it by our talking heads sitting right next to them? We just witnessed the real deal and not the dog and pony show Republicans are so good at.

(cross-posted on The Seminal)

MSNBC gets the limo shot

Here in Denver, many of us heard the “rumor” that Sen. Obama would be making a surprise appearance with Joe Biden on the podium tonight after Biden’s acceptance speech. But, officially, that was just a rumor.

MSNBC just confirmed that rumor by running a live shot of the Obama motorcade entering the Pepsi Center perimeter. This shot was not on either CNN or FoxNews.

Did the DNC or the Obama campaign feed the motorcade timing to MSNBC for a reason?

Personal opinion: it sends a message for the next four years—“be fair with us, and we’ll be square with you.”

the fix is in

Professor Jonathan Turley appeared Tuesday on MSNBC's Countdown to bemoan the imminent capitulation by Democrats on new FISA legislation.



Please listen to what Turley has to say. . . then please click over and read my thoughts on capitoilette.