Friedman: Jim Cramer has become an embarrassment

Marketwatch media columnist Jon Friedman called out “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer, calling him an embarrassment.

Friedman says he has no grudge against Friedman, and that CNBC probably hates him complaining, but the time has come to speak out. Cramer was once a distraction from the typical business journalism seen on TV, but now, wrote, Friedman, Cramer “has become a caricature of himself. I hope he changes my mind soon, but I won’t hold my breath.”

Friedman wrote, “I caught his act — and that’s exactly what his daily program ‘Mad Money’ has degenerated into — the other day. He was in the midst of a rant against the new Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

“Within seconds, Cramer was carrying on to the point where an uninitiated viewer might fear that he would have a heart attack on camera. But experienced Cramer-watchers know this is simply cornball Jim doing his thing.

“What I found disconcerting was when Cramer pulled out a box of Uncle Ben’s rice and made a mockery of the Fed — which, natch, was the whole idea. Still, this prop seemed to be way over the line.”

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