RUSH: Jim Cramer, poor guy, his head’s about to explode out there, the CNBC reporter. He continues to be appalled by the Drive-By Media, when they’re simply acting the way the Drive-Bys always act without fail. Now, Jim Cramer is experiencing what I have been talking about and dealing with for two decades, and he doesn’t understand it. He was an Obama supporter. He is a liberal Democrat. But I want say, ‘Welcome to the club, Jim.’ Because you’re finding out what it’s like to run afoul of your own guys. Now, his laments are part of a piece that he has written at his website, MainStreet. And, Jim — he might be out there, he’ll certainly hear about this, because I certainly mean this as assistance. I’m trying to help Mr. Cramer here.
‘Suddenly,’ he writes, ‘I find myself in the center of a firestorm over Obama’s economic policies, taking enfilading fire from the ‘liberal’ media (from serious columnist Frank Rich to entertainer Jon Stewart) while being defended by Rush Limbaugh, the standard-bearer for the Republicans. I’m uncomfortable being in the crosshairs of columnists and comedians I enjoy, and I find the embrace of Rush Limbaugh most certainly strange if not antithetical to many of my viewpoints.’ Now, Jim, maybe since you’re so smart, it should have dawned on you over the years just how many undeserving people do get in the crosshairs of people like this. This isn’t new. You are by no means the first. For some of us, Jim, this is part of the day, this is part of our careers: to be in the crosshairs of the White House on down through its PR media. You’re uncomfortable being in the crosshairs of columnists and comedians you enjoy? And you find the friendly embrace of Rush Limbaugh most certainly strange? Just trying to help here, buddy, because you’re right about what you’re saying, and that’s why you’re being taken down. Jim, it’s also because you’re being effective, just like Santelli was effective. They’re trying to take you down, Jim, because you’re effective about this, and you’re on television, and you are influencing the way people think.
He says: ‘Take Frank Rich and Jon Stewart. Both seize on the urban legend that I recommended Bear Stearns the week before it collapsed, even though I was saying that I thought it could be worthless as soon as the following week. I did tell an emailer that his deposit in his account at Bear Stearns was safe, but through a clever sound bite, Stewart, and subsequently Rich — neither of whom have bothered to listen to the context of the pulled quote — pass off the notion of account safety as an out-and-out buy recommendation. The absurdity astounds me.’ Jim! Shazam, Jim, you find out personally that your liberal media buddies take sound bites out of context? Really? Who knew, Jim? Jim, this is what happens on a daily basis to people on my side of the aisle. Now that you find yourself on our side of the aisle, in that you question whether Obama’s policies are gonna light a fire under the private sector, you’re getting the same treatment. This has been part-and-parcel of people like me’s career and day for 20 years.
And then he writes this: ‘It is funny how the right is certainly very civil as my old friends and new allies as of last week, Fred Barnes and Sean Hannity, don’t hold my left wing social view against me when they talk about my criticism of the president! I always love anyone from Fox on the team because they are fierce in their defense with much less gratuitous slamming.’ Now, wait a minute, Jim. See, I thought those of us on the right were always the mean-spirited ones, and you’re finding out it’s your buddies on the left who are the mean-spirited ones and you’re finding out that people don’t hold all of your views against you when they agree with a couple or three of them. See, Jim, we’re talking about the country here, and that’s why you’re welcomed by people on our side because we generally fear for the kind of country we’ve known. We fear for what it’s going to become. We fear a total transformation from a country based on individual liberty and capitalism and free markets to Central Planning, control of outcomes, and general expansion of the welfare state, all for the purposes of expanding the power of a particular political party, and in this case President Barack Obama.
So there’s no strange fact that we welcome anybody to our side on this who agrees with us in our thinking, and who cares whatever else you believe about things. Those things come into play down the track, but we’ve got priorities here now. And then he closes by saying: ‘But if it stays ad hominem,’ meaning the attacks, ‘we will all be betrayed and the train wreck will become inevitable.’ Count on it to stay ad hominem, Jim. See, you’ve never noticed it because it’s not ever been directed at you, but this is how Democrat White Houses and Democrat media deal with their enemies. They demonize them, they villainize them, they never discuss the merits of their issues, Jim. They never talk about substance, it’s always discredit the image, the reputation of whoever is an effective, in their minds, critic. You have joined the club of effective critics, so you’re not to be engaged and debated. You are to be cleared away; you are to be disreputed, disrespected; you are to be impugned, and your reputation is subject to assault and attack, which is happening now. The more you keep it up, the more the assaults will continue on your reputation and the effort to demonize you and distance you from the people who you’ve always thought were your friends. I gotta take a quick time-out. Rush Limbaugh, the little commentary there aimed at Jim Cramer, trying to help him understand what has happened to him and why, why it will continue if he remains to be effective, and why it’s not so bad to have us as friends. We all want the same thing. We want to save America.