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Gibbs: I Thoroughly Enjoyed Watching Stewart Skewer Cramer (VIDEO)

Yeah, I'll bet he enjoyed it!

Robert Gibbs, who has thrown his share of punches at the CNBC brass, said he took thorough enjoyment in watching Jon Stewart's skewering of CNBC's Jim Cramer during Thursday night's much discussed 'Daily Show' interview.

Read more at HuffPo.

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Jim Cramer on The Daily Show

I almost feel sorry for him, but there is no such thing as bad publicity. Cynically I can't help feeling like, as cathartic as it's been for us, the guy got massive exposure out of this.

But I'm still glad Jon nailed him...

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Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

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Jim Cramer Pt. 2

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Jim Cramer Pt. 3

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Jim Cramer

More video at The Daily Show on Comedy Central.

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Cramer-isms

Cramer is going to be on Jon Stewart's Daily Show Thursday -- let's hope Jon asks him about this...

-On falsely creating the impression a stock is down (what he calls "fomenting"): "You can't foment. That's a violation... But you do it anyway because the SEC doesn't understand it." He adds, "When you have six days and your company may be in doubt because you are down, I think it is really important to foment."

-On the truth: "What's important when you are in that hedge fund mode is to not be doing anything that is remotely truthful, because the truth is so against your view - it is important to create a new truth to develop a fiction," Cramer advises. "You can't take any chances."

-On manipulating the market: 'A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund, and I was positioned short, meaning I needed it down, I would create a level of activity before hand that could drive the futures,'

-On falsely creating the impression a stock is down (what he calls "fomenting"): "You can't foment. That's a violation... But you do it anyway because the SEC doesn't understand it." He adds, "When you have six days and your company may be in doubt because you are down, I think it is really important to foment."

-On the truth: "What's important when you are in that hedge fund mode is to not be doing anything that is remotely truthful, because the truth is so against your view - it is important to create a new truth to develop a fiction," Cramer advises. "You can't take any chances."

Read more at HuffPo.

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Cramer vs. Stewart

JIM CRAMER: A comedian's attacking me! Wow! He runs a variety show!
MEREDITH VIEIRA: Okay, but you know what he's saying about you, that you advised investors to buy Bear Stearns. You said you were taken out of context.
CRAMER: On October 6th, 2008, I came on this show and did something you're never supposed to do if you have a stock show. I said people should sell everything. That was thirty-five percent ago. Whatever he says about Bear Stearns, this or that, that was a call that should have wrecked my career, and it would have if the market had gone up.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

So Jon Stewart of course, has a reply... Nobody told him that you shouldn't get into a pissing match with Jon Stewart?

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In Cramer We Trust

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Jon Stewart once again nails exactly how we feel.\

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CNBC Gives Financial Advice

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Daily Show's take on Jindal's rebuttal

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Bobby Jindal's Republican Response

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Daily Show's John Oliver at White House Press briefing

A White House with a sense of humor?

"The White House briefing room is getting a visit from the Daily Show Wednesday. Correspondent John Oliver is speaking with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and several members of the press corps at the White House for an upcoming segment for the Comedy Central show."

Daily Show's John Oliver Goes To The White House.

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Jon Stewart rips Bill O'Reilly's Hypocrisy

Jon Stewart ripped Bill O'Reilly on Monday night's "Daily Show" over his hypocritical stance on privacy.

O'Reilly, whose producers proudly ambush anyone who disagrees with him, has taken up as one of his pet causes the privacy of celebrities stalked by paparazzi.

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Bill O'Reilly's Right to Privacy

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Via HuffPo.

Rest of post here.

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Arianna and Jon Stewart backstage at the Daily Show

Jon reinforces that yep, he's quick. Behind the scenes at the Daily Show:

"Before Wednesday night's Daily Show taping, Jon Stewart dropped by the green room to check in with Arianna and debate the relative merits of blogging versus television. Check out this exclusive behind-the-scenes video and find out why Stewart refuses to become a blogger."

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Jon Stewart mixes the best Sarah Palin moments

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The Daily Show's Best Sarah Palin Moments

Barack Obama Interview
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Funny Election Video

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Papa Bear and Jon Stewart go head to head

Part 2 after the jump...

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Alaska "finds" one third of missing votes...

Seriously, Alaska...WTF?

Remember how I was asking what happened in Alaska? How was it that the most watched, most high-octane presidential election, one in which Alaska's OWN GOVERNOR was running, elicited the lowest turnout for a presidential election ever?

As Jon Stewart would say, "Funny story..."

The Anchorage Daily, our new favorite northern newspaper reports that a bunch-a votes were found. Could it possibly change the state of Ted Stevens race? You betcha!

Sen. Ted Stevens leads Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by about 3,000 votes with roughly 30 percent of the ballots remaining to be counted, including:

• 61,000 absentee votes.
• More than 20,000 questioned ballots.
• 9,500 early votes.

For now, more than 90,000 votes remain uncounted. More than 224,000 votes were cast on Election Day.

See, 90,000 votes out of 224,000, that's like what those scientific types call a "non-negligible percentage."

Seriously, Alaska. WTF.

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Yes, GO VOTE NOW!!! Edition

The highest measure of democracy is neither the 'extent of freedom' nor the 'extent of equality', but rather the highest measure of participation."

--A. d. Benoist

IT'S TODAY!!!

A Special Edition 49th today, with a look back at the 48 editions of ME's Political Rant...In a funny numerical coincidence, when I publish tomorrow's 50th edition, we will know who our president is-- and that will seem like a good time to end my ranting...

So...I want a landslide, I want Obama to have 375 electoral votes. But it's not just because it would be great for Obama to have that mandate. It's because I'm one of those Democrats who feels that I've always been fated never to get what I want. THIS way, if Obama doesn't get 375 votes--if, say, he only gets 364-- I can still say I didn't get what I wanted and yet also be really, really happy.

This election has really messed with my brain.

A few last items

Obama's speech last night , at his last rally before the campaign draws to a close, he talked about his grandmother, who passed away yesterday. New York Mag's Daily Intel:

When Obama finally arrives in the field, the rain has stopped, the crowd is drenched, and they are ready for him. He steps to the podium and begins his speech with a remembrance of his grandma. He says, "She died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side and so, there's great joy as well as tears." He says, "She has gone home." He says, haltingly, "I'm not going to talk about it too long because it's hard to talk about." Even so, he says, he wants everyone to know a little about her, and tells her story briefly. He calls her a "quiet hero" — like a lot of quiet heroes in the crowd, in the country. "They're not famous. Their names aren't in the newspaper. But each and every day, they work hard. They watch out for their families. They sacrifice for their families... That's what America's about. That's what we're fighting for."

As Obama says all this, his voice is mostly steady, but tears are streaming down his right cheek — the first public tears he has shed, as far as I know, in his time on the national stage. When he finishes, he reaches inside his pocket, pulls out a white handkerchief, wipes his eyes, then carries on with his speech, returning a few times to the woman who shaped his character as much as anyone in the world.

.

In another one of those odd numerical coincidences, Editor and Publisher shows Obama's endorsements at 273 as of Monday. (to McCain's 142).

And just so you can't say she didn't do it, Palin released her medical records ...late last night... when she figured no one cares anymore...

Jon Stewart had a roundup of last minute tactics last night on the Daily Show.

Also one of my favorite Obamacons, Andrew Sullivan was on Colbert Report last night. He's as impassioned in real life as he is on the blog. Watch here.

And for a full Comedy Central roundup, here's David Alan Grier's plea to black folks.on Chocolate News.

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Endorsement roundup

I've always had a soft spot for Ron Reagan, Jr. ever since he danced with the Joffrey Ballet. Now he lends the Reagan name to his endorsement for Barack Obama.

On the other side, John McCain picked up the ALL important endorsement of Dick Cheney. Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou THANK YOU..... At a rally in Pueblo, Obama said, "I'd like to congratulate Sen. McCain on this endorsement, because he really earned it. That endorsement didn't come easy," he said. "George Bush may be in an undisclosed location now, but Dick Cheney's out there on the campaign trail because he'd be delighted to pass the baton to John McCain." Obama's ad people are ASTONISHING. They had an ad out in hour.

McCain did his own version of the "infomercial" with Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live, making his pitch to America from the QVC channel. McCain starred in the opening segment (with a surprise cameo from Cindy) and also popped into the Weekend Update. Once again, if THIS had been the John McCain Obama was running against, we'd have a much tighter race. So sad.

Also, if you actually stayed up to watch the very not-funny rest of the show, you might have noticed that McCain was still there at the end of the show, hanging out with the cast. Dude. It's 54 hours until polls start opening. You got your media exposure. Hahahah, you were funny. Now, don't you have SOMETHING BETTER TO DO THAN HANG OUT AT SNL?
<== To the left, a photo of the McCain headquarters in Florida's Walton County -- precisely 72 hours before the poll close. To quote Jon Stewart, "You don't even want this, do you?"

By the way, in a brief historical note, Fontaine Maverick, the descendent of the REAL Maverick (for whom the term is named) has done this fab interview explaining why McCain is no maverick. And she wants her name back.

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Obamapallooza continues

The Obamapallooza continues well into the week. All the buzz is about Obama, and McCain? Well, he might as well go back to chasing applesauce jars in a grocery store for all the interest there is in hearing him speak. Just as a little needle, Obama has actually bought ad time in Arizona. Hey, the race is close there... why not....?

Obama talks about the way to bi-partisanship with Rachel Maddows. "What I'm interested in, is how do we build a working majority for change? And if I start off with the premise that it's only self-identified Democrats who I'm speaking to, then I'm not going to get to where we need to go. If I can describe it as not a blanket indictment of the Republican Party, but instead describe it as the Republican Party having been kidnapped by a incompetent, highly ideological subset of the Republican Party, then that means I can still reach out to a whole bunch of Republican moderates who I think are hungry for change, as well." Could it really be that we'll have the first president who says he'll be bipartisan and then ACTUALLY DOES IT? Video of Obama on Rachel Maddows show.

33 million people watched Obama's infomercial on Thursday. Plus, Obama's appearance on the Daily Show on Thursday night gave Jon Stewart his highest ratings ever. "The 11 p.m. episode, which featured an appearance by presidential candidate Barack Obama, averaged 3.6 million total viewers, beating by 600,000 viewers the previous record set October 8 when his wife Michelle Obama appeared on the show." Call it the "Obama Bump."

And just this afternoon, Obama's interview with Wolf Blitzer aired on CNN. "Obama was asked to name his top priority from a list of issues, including taxes, health care, education, energy policy and immigration.

"[The] top priority may not be any of those five. It may be continuing to stabilize the financial system. We don't know yet what's going to happen in January," he said. "None of this can be accomplished if we continue to see a potential meltdown in the banking system and financial system. So that's priority No. 1: making sure the plumbing works."

Obama said priority No. 2 is energy independence: "We have to seize this moment, because it's not just an energy independence issue; it's also a national security issue, and it's a jobs issue. We can create 5 million new green energy jobs."

Priority No. 3: Health care reform.

Priority No. 4: "Making sure we have tax cuts for the middle class as part of a broader tax reform effort."

Priority No. 5: Reforming the education system.

Apparently Obama has picked up more Reagan support, as Ken Duberstein, Reagan's former Chief of Staff announced today on Fareed Zakaria's show, that he'll be pulling the lever for Obama this year. "Well let's put it this way - I think Colin Powell's decision is in fact the good housekeeping seal of approval on Barack Obama."

And in an NPR interview, former Sec. of State Lawrence Eagleburger, whom McCain has touted for his endorsement of the Republican, admitted that Palin is not ready for the presidency: "Asked by the host whether Palin could step in during a time of crisis, Eagleburger reverted to sarcasm before leveling the harsh blow. 'It is a very good question,' he said, pausing a few seconds, then adding with a chuckle: 'I'm being facetious here. Look, of course not...Give her some time in the office and I think the answer would be, she will be [pause] adequate. I can't say that she would be a genius in the job. But I think she would be enough to get us through a four year... well I hope not... get us through whatever period of time was necessary. And I devoutly hope that it would never be tested.'" Let me help you out, Larry, I can say, SHE WOULDN'T BE A GENIUS AT ANYTHING. Of course, as soon as the words were out of his mouth he thought...ooops. And in an interview on Fox today, he tried to backtrack. "'I made a serious mistake yesterday. I was quoted correctly,' Eagleburger said. 'I wasn't thinking when i said it -- in fact, I was discussing foreign policy, and this was in that context, and I was just plain stupid, and if I had given the flim-flam artist Barack Obama some success with this I am deeply apologetic.'" Yeah, that's what we call a "Freudian slip."

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Just Do It Edition

Barack Rocks

Know what? I just like hearing him talk. I tune into CNN every day because I hope they'll broadcast a few minutes of one of his rallies. I sit through the inevitable McCain segments thinking, yeah, but in ten minutes they'll have Barack on. Imagine having a president whose voice doesn't make you cringe. Imagine WANTING to tune in to see what the president is saying, not only because he makes you feel positive, but because he makes you feel motivated..... Six days, everyone. Six days.

The man is freakin' brilliant. I'm watching his rally in Raleigh, North Carolina this morning on CNN and Obama is pushing early voting in North Carolina. He asks, how many of you have early voted? People put their hands up. And then he said, "Now keep your hands up. Those of you who have voted early, talk to the people next to you and tell them how easy it is to early vote."

He doesn't miss a trick. There's a commotion in the crowd when an audience member faints, and he calmly stops mid-speech, calls for emergency services, tells them to give the person some space and water, passes over his own water, and then picks up his speech without missing a damn beat! When a second person fainted, he sent over an EMT, and then said, "I just want all of you to eat before you come to these rallies!"

=======================
Apologies for the shorter edition today -- too much actual...um...work I gotta do today. *Sigh.* Doesn't mean I'm turning CNN off though!

(Renate and Daniel, this photo is for you, Obama in Wynnewood, PA during his whistle-stop train tour of Pennsylvania last April.)

WaPo reports that Barack Obama's 30-minute informercial airing Wednesday night "will feature vignettes of people and families whom Obama has met during his nearly two-year campaign, and it will include a live component from a campaign rally in Florida, campaign sources said tonight. Barack Obama: American Stories is the name of the unusual telecast that will air on network television and some cable stations. It comes on a busy day, as Obama also is set to appear on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and to cap the night with another rally, in Orlando, with former President Bill Clinton, timed to make the late-night news broadcasts in the Eastern and Central time zones." Interestingly, they also report that there will be a Spanish language version to air on Univision.

The description at the NY Times (who got to see a minute of the show already!) makes me think of Obama's intro video from the convention -- could that possibly offer a sneak peek at some of the themes in his half hour program tonight?

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Delusions of Grandeur Edition

"Some are able and humane men and some are low-grade individuals with the morals of a goat, the artistic integrity of a slot machine, and the manners of a floorwalker with delusions of grandeur."

--Raymond Chandler

Daily Shot of Schadenfreude

Yes, it's become a daily shot. I'm addicted to it. Like caffeine. If I don't get my daily dose of Republican gaffes I feel sluggish...sleepy, like I just can't get my day going.

Let's start at Politico: "Beleaguered congressional Republicans woke up Tuesday morning thinking they'd gained traction with their focus on offshore oil drilling and hoping that they could pin the "culture of corruption" on Democrats. By lunchtime, the longest-serving Republican senator in history had been indicted on charges that he hid $250,000 in gifts from an oil company looking for favors. Can it get any worse for the GOP?

Ted Stevens found guilty on all counts. After 40 years in the Senate, the most senior Republican is found guilty of not declaring gift on his Senate financial disclosure forms.Making false statements on his Senate finance disclosure forms about gifts he's received from 2001-2006 including $250,000 gifts of home renovations. This, folks, was a "speedy" trial, and even so, it was a circus, with jury drama, and hijinx -- one of the jurors even noticed that the prosecutors had made an error in the indictment which no one had caught-- before the final unanimous verdict came down this morning here in lovely San Francisco.

Oh, I can't resist. In honor of Sen Ted Stevens' conviction, I give you a reprise of the Daily Show's legendary "Coot-Off" between Ted and Sen Robert Byrd. Enjoy. Dag-na-bit.

Determined not to get dragged down by Ted Stevens ---oh....ooops--McCain "called for him to resign his seat, saying, 'I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will be spurred by these events to redouble their efforts to end this kind of corruption once and for all.' Mr. McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, also called on Tuesday for Mr. Stevens to quit, CNBC reported. The cable channel said Ms. Palin had called for the senator's resignation in an interview with Maria Bartiromo.

"This is a sad day for Alaska and a sad day for Senator Stevens and his family," Palin said at Richmond International Airport yesterday. "The verdict shines a light on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state. And that control was part of the culture of corruption that I was elected to fight, and that fight must always move forward regardless of party affiliation or seniority or even past service. As Governor of the State of Alaska, I will carefully now monitor the situation and I'll take any appropriate action as needed." Hmmm.. As needed...hmmmm...

Anyhoo, Ted says NO! He will NOT drop out. NO! I said "Good day,sir." Next up-- Would Ted ACTUALLY get re-elected? And then, would they expel him from the Senate??? Apparently there's no law against a convicted felon serving in the Senate, and to expel him, would require a two-thirds majority --not inconceivable from the mostly Democratic Senate. LOL. But the other kicker is that if he decides to keep on running in the election, Stevens may not be able to vote for himself because Alaska laws state that convicted felons are not eligible to vote. Shoulda sent in an absentee ballot.

Electoral-Vote.com has a scary thought: "If Stevens is reelected anyway, then expelled from the Senate in January, a vacancy will be created and there will be a special election. No doubt Sarah Palin will be very tempted to run and would surely win. This would inject her into national politics in a big way very fast. But the chance of Stevens being reelected next week is small." Maybe she'd figure out what the VP doe in the Senate.

Palin the fruitcake
Thanks to Teri who sends along this item from Salon about Palin's disturbing ridicule of scientific research -- it has the added bonus of advising that she check the website of my old place of employment, the Exploratorium! Speaking about earmarks in Pittburgh, "A troubled look crossed her face. 'And sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good, things like ...' she grinned, shaking her head side to side, her voice rising to a facetious pitch '... fruit fly research in Paris, France.' Feeling in tune with the guys in her audience, she added, 'I kid you not.'"

Speaking of flies, this very funny YouTube imagines what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall when the "Maverick" decision was made.

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Memory Lane: My favorite Obama speeches

Some of my favorite speeches:

• Obama's DNC Keynote 2004: "There's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America."
• Launching the presidential campaign: "By ourselves, this change will not happen. Divided, we are bound to fail. But the life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible. He tells us that there is power in words. He tells us that there is power in conviction. That beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people. He tells us that there is power in hope."
• Yes We Can: " But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people. Yes we can." (The video that was inspired by this speech)
  
• Just Words: "Don't tell me that words don't matter. I have a dream. Just words. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. Just words. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Just words... Don't tell me words don't matter, don't tell me ideals and inspiration don't matter, don't tell me hope doesn't matter. It's fascinating to me to see my campaign criticized because I talk about hope too much. 'He's talkin' about hope again, he's so naive, he's so idealistic, his head's in the clouds, he's a hope-monger...Nothing in this country worthwhile has ever happened except that someone was willing to hope. That's how this country was founded..."
  
• "A More Perfect Union" Speech on Racism: "I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes."
• Speech in Berlin: "People of the world – look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one."
• DNC Acceptance 2008: "What the naysayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me; it's about you."

• 

  Obama's Closing Argument: From Canton, Ohio "I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics – one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans. Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are. Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That's how we've come so far and so close – because of you. That's how we'll change this country – with your help. And that's why we can't afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake."

=========================

ONE WEEK TO GO !!!!

7 DAYS to the election!

Tomorrow, October 29, is official Happy Fun Day:

• Barack campaigns in Florida with Bill Clinton.
• He will also air his half hour of prime address-the-nation time at 8 pm local time. It appears from our DirecTV guide, that the speech will air on the West Coast at 8 pm PT on NBC and CBS (though oddly, not on ABC), and a half hour later at 8:30pm PT on Fox (delayed by the World Series Game 6), however, those of us on the West Coast can watch it at 5 pm PT on BET if you have cable. Woo-hoo!
• And extra bonus: Obama will be on Jon Stewart's Daily Show that night !!!! Double Woo-Hoo!!! (Stewart has a page on his site: What should Jon ask Barack....?)

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Shocked Edition

"I am shocked...SHOCKED to find that gambling is going on in here!"

"Your winnings, sir."

"Oh, thank you very much. Everybody out at once!"

--Claude Rains, Casablanca

Greenspanning the Nation

He was once the "Professor," the guy everyone consulted as if he were an oracle. Deregulator extraordinaire and free-market maven. But yesterday Alan Greenpan showed up on Capitol Hill to probably the most scathing skepticism he's ever gotten in his life. And it was good. As reported in the NY Times: "Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief," he told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In a contentious Q&A session, Greenspan declared that a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami'' has engulfed financial markets and conceded that his free-market ideology shunning regulation was flawed.

"Yes, I found a flaw,'' Greenspan said in response to grilling from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "That is precisely the reason I was shocked because I'd been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well.''

Lemme get this straight. You slashed interest rates to below anything seen before, allowed housing prices to balloon, basically created a giant housing bubble, while fighting regulation of the mortgage market tooth and nail. You permitted the growth of this shadow market of bizarre credit and derivative instruments and then knowing how much cash could be "made" with all that low-hanging fruit, you expected the banking industry to regulate itself. In fact, you were shocked--SHOCKED--that there might be people out there who would work against the interests of their own company in favor of serving their own personal aggrandizement? You're shocked that human beings might be greedy? I haven't been on this planet for 40 years and _I_ could have told you that.

You know what? Maybe Obama's not an "economic guru" like you, but looks like you pretty much sucked, so I for one, am willing to give the new guy a shot.

Check out Obama's speech in the Richmond Coliseum. Scary good. This guy is scary good...Remember, this is Richmond, Virginia. He's drawn a crowd of 12,500 to a speech in the city that served as the capital of the Confederacy. (35,000 came to his speech in Leesburg earlier that day.) The Richmond event started a half an hour late because Obama apparently stopped to greet some of the estimated 7,000 people who couldn't get into the coliseum for the speech.

And here is Obama giving a quiet commentary on his visit back to Hawaii to see his sick grandmother at a critical moment in the campaign.

Not that Obama has been without his gaffe-moment, but check out the Daily Show clip from last night, as McCain STILL manages to outgaffe him...Astonishing.

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