“Something has gone awry in our country when a financial guy is screaming and throwing pies on television and a comedian is giving really cogent economic analysis.” – Stephanie Miller

“To call me a partisan hack is ludicrous. I am the least partisan person I know. I have zero interest in party politics. Zero interest.” – Tucker Carlson

Sometimes paybacks can be difficult, and at others times they can backfire and spin out into the uncomfortably ridiculous. Listen to Tucker Carlson’s purse-swinging whack at Jon Stewart on CNN’s Reliable Sources, below. (Why any show with the word “Reliable” in the title would have Tucker Carlson on any panel is beyond me.) In 2004 Stewart humiliated Carlson on CNN’s Crossfire, which Carlson, on the ‘right’ side of the table, co-hosted with Paul Begala (The show was cancelled in 2005.) Stewart not only hammered Carlson, he also accused him of “partisan hackery” then ran over the bow-tied “ideologue” with, “You’re as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.”

Obviously Carlson has been carrying the weight of that public drubbing around for a while, as well he should. Public thrashings can produce deep, hard to lick, psychological wounds.  Ask George Foreman about that, though over time he was one of the lucky ones able to finally rise above it. Tucker Carlson is obviously no ‘Big George,’ and short of a catastrophe that turns TC on his head, I doubt that we will ever see him smiling and effectively selling mufflers on television. But then again, as long as Fox News is in business, I guess anything is possible for the articulate and low-browed bitter ones among us.

In a review of Stewart’s judicious dismembering of Mad Money’s Jim Cramer on The Daily Show, Reliable Sources included Carlson in the discussion with Stephanie Miller and David Zurawik. Carlson did everything but froth, destroying everything in his path, including the unfortunate Mr. Cramer:

“Can you imagine Jim Cramer sitting there and taking a sanctimonious lecture from Jon Stewart. Yes, Cramer was craven and sweaty and pathetic, and I’m sure his wife was ashamed of his behavior, the butt-sniffing he gave Jon Stewart.”

Wow! If there was the least bit of question who came out on top in the Stewart-Cramer tussle, Carlson removed all doubt. But Carlson, on his March to Stewart, didn’t stop there. He then unleashed 4+ years of pent-up hostility and adolescent venom, much like the middle-aged guy who can’t get over the other guy who stole his girl, and, in the stealing, ended up calling him a “dick” in front of his object of desire. What a wonderful meltdown! I imagine Jon Stewart seeing this and smiling hugely, while working his surgical knife back and forth over the whetstone.

Miller and Zurawik took Carlson to task, further neutering the “least partisan … ideologue” who somehow manages to still get his head on camera as a guardian of the right. I guess you can do anything once you get your clown’s license.

The video below proves once again that Stewart was spot-on in his 2004 Crossfire visit.

If somehow you’ve missed the Stewart vs. CNBC brawl, go to the Daily Show and watch for several days in the lead up to the bumbling Cramer interview. Or just Google it. It’s everywhere, as well it should be, but not for how the news folks are spinning it. Joe Scarborough of “Morning Joe” was particularly lame and off the mark, and he showed just how far off when he whipped up the hapless Jim Cramer, a minor off-the-bench player, into believing that he was their Goliath. But Stewart didn’t slay him, since that wasn’t the point. He wounded him pretty badly but stopped short of cutting his throat and watching him bleed out on camera.

AIG is on deck, and I can only hope that Stewart will do to them what he has done to CNBC. Or maybe, just maybe, CNBC and most other mainstream news orgs will have the stones to side with the people instead of their corporate bosses and sponsors this time around. (I know, I’m dreaming.) The list of recipients of the AIG “rewards for colossal failure” bonus package will eventually become public, by hook or by crook, and those who are on it will be outed. Then things will get very dangerous. The AIG folks have but one realistic choice: publicly renounce the bonuses and just walk away. Will they do that? It’s money, and reason rarely prevails when one-eyed greed is running the show. This may very well lead to large-scale problems that will not be able to be adequately addressed by Comedy Central.

Today I read a suggestion for a “million taxpayer march” on Wall Street. That might be something that would finally get me to travel back to the US., though, realistically a mass rally on what has become known as the center of unimaginable corruption would probably lead to mass violence. The NYT is reporting that the Obama White House is concerned about a populist backlash:

“We’ve got enormous problems that need to be addressed,” David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said in an interview. “And it’s hard to address because there’s a lot of anger about the irresponsibility that led us to this point.”

Perhaps that is what Washington finally needs. Now we’ll find out what Obama is really made of, if he has the qualities to become one of the elites. This is looking more and more like his metaphoric 9/11. He’s in the middle of a much larger minefield than he was at the end of last week, and where and how he treads will determine who will follow. This one is not a joke.