Jim Cramer

Colby Cosh works to extract a signal from the noise while offering a lesson from the Alberta election

He cannot, and doesn’t want to, let this go.

I was a little underwhelmed by the Stewart/Cramer showdown, but even I can enjoy the fun of Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen — one of the most clueless of all tenured op-ed columnists, possibly even more clueless than Maureen Dowd — writing a whole column about how Stewart was being mean to CNBC and blaming them unfairly and taking a “cheap shot at business media.”

Two stories have dominated American news coverage in recent days: the first involved a public condemnation of the excessive rhetoric of Rush Limbaugh by a prominent and respected GOP operative; the second featured Jon Stewart’s frustration with the quality of reporting on a popular business news TV show. The spat between Limbaugh and David Frum speaks to a theme this blog has touched upon in recent weeks—namely, that the Republican party must come to grips with a new reality and start work on becoming a viable alternative to Obama and the Democrats. This is essential for a sound democracy. The showdown between Stewart and Jim Cramer, on the other hand, put a spotlight on news shows that try to justify the erroneous and contradictory information they reported regarding investment choices. What both media events have in common is that they are likely to become defining moments for both the future of the GOP and the coverage of the economic crisis hitting America and beyond. I believe it was about time both conflicts occurred, and I would like to add another ongoing source of frustration that needs to be addressed: the public resurfacing of Dick Cheney. But first, let us deal with the Republican infighting over Rush Limbaugh.

Hotly-anticipated interviews by Jon Stewart can’t help but be anti-climactic