Since CNBC's Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer took an outspoken stance on the shortcomings of the Obama administration, left-wing storefronts have been popping up all over the place wanting to capitalize on the network after it took a vicious attack from Comedy Central "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.
After CNBC "Squawk on the Street" co-host Mark Haines took on a couple of sanctimonious Democratic congressmen, Reps. Brad Sherman, Calif., and Charles Rangel, N.Y., for being advocates of a 90-percent retroactive tax on bonuses, he has found himself as the subject of a main headline on the Huffington Post on March 23, for being concerned about some of the populist rhetoric promoting compensation limits after wrapping up an interview with Nick Debenedictus, the CEO of Aqua America (NYSE:WTR).
"There were some scary stories in the paper over the weekend about this kind of thing, regulating somehow impacting executive pay, even among financial companies that didn't take government money," Haines said. "It's getting scary.
Since Jim Cramer's appearance on "The Daily Show," some on the left have engaged in a concerted effort to shutdown any opinion that is contrary to their point of view. An e-mail sent by the left-wing Campaign for America's Future suggested subscribers to "hold CNBC accountable."
"When The Daily Show's Jon Stewart grilled CNBC's Jim Cramer last week, he did what few others in the traditional media were willing to do: Expose CNBC's strategy of climbing in bed with the CEOs who created this financial crisis, instead of aggressively reporting on them," an e-mail from Bill Scher, the online campaign manager for CAF said. "But one decent interview is not enough to ferret the truth out of those now clamoring for taxpayer bailout money."
The e-mail included a link to an online petition that included several prominent liberals including:
- Dean Baker, Co-director of the Center for Economic Policy
- Christopher Hayes, Washington Editor, The Nation
- Eric Alterman, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
- Markos Moulitsas, Founder, DailyKos.com
The Huffington Post was less concerned about former DNC chair and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean being named a CNBC contributor earlier today. Citing an unnamed source, Sam Stein of the Huffington Post reported Dean's hiring can't be viewed as a direct result of public pressure.
"This was in the works long before the Jon Stewart stuff," Stein wrote citing the source. "But, it will be good for our side to have him on."
