From a March 16 Washington Post online discussion:

Falls Church: Tucker: saw you on Reliable Sources talking about Cramer v. Stewart. You know, the whole world is not divided up into the vast left-wing conspiracy and the brave moral right that fights against it.

There are legitimate journalistic questions about the role of a financial channel and how much cheerleading it should do or if the interviewers sometimes treat business leaders like Access Hollywood treats celebrities or if they should be in the business of investigating corrupt businesses and business practices.

But to dismiss those questions as an Obama surrogate hit job... No wonder the majority of the country thinks the right is out of touch with reality.

Tucker Carlson: It's completely legitimate - necessary - to ask those questions, and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I'm not defending Cramer, CNBC, greedheads on Wall Street, criminally overpaid CEOs or anyone else. I was trying to make two points:

Cramer humiliated himself the other night (and on many previous nights on his own show) but that doesn't mean he and his network are responsible for the meltdown. That's way too simple. In fact it's demagoguery. And by the way, where was Jon Stewart when the bubble was swelling? How many shows did he do on the coming financial collapse? Why didn't he warn us?

Stewart's answer invariably is: I'm a comedian. That's not my job. But that's a dodge, and increasingly unsustainable. In fact, Stewart is a player in the national conversation. He seeks to influence politics and policy, and he succeeds. It's time for him to admit that, and be held to the same standards everyone else at his level (including Jim Cramer) lives by.

Previously: Tucker Carlson presented faulty timeline as purported evidence Stewart's criticism of Cramer “was a partisan attack”