Jon Stewart - Jim Cramer Smackdown

Jon Stewart is all about pointing out hypocrisy, as his recent takedown of financial network CNBC demonstrates. But who knew it would spark a war of words between Stewart and Mad Money host Jim Cramer. Here's a play-by-play of how it all went down:

Wednesday, March 4
After CNBC analyst Rick Santelli unleashed an angry tirade about how "loser" homeowners don't deserve mortgage bailouts, he canceled his guest appearance on The Daily Show, prompting Stewart to retaliate.

Monday, March 9
Mad Money's Jim Cramer was less than thrilled with Stewart's CNBC smackdown, which implied that Cramer recommended that his viewers buy Bear Stern stock a week before it tanked. Cramer says he was taken out of context in an article he wrote for MainStreet.com.

Monday March 9
Stewart apologizes for taking Cramer out of context, but then produces two other clips that clearly show Cramer advising his audience to buy Bear — five days and seven weeks earlier. Roll that tape!

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Tuesday March 10
Here's where things start to get ugly. Cramer flexes his Peacock muscles by appearing on two NBC morning shows: Today and MSNBC's Morning Joe. Cramer doesn't dwell too much on the "comedian" and his "variety show" with Meredith Viera (click here jump to 3:35 mark), but there's no avoiding Joe Scarborough's disdain for Stewart:

Tuesday, March 10
It's Cramer vs. Not Cramer! Just hours after the Mad Money host made his morning-show rounds, Stewart declares the Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09 is on! Peacocks beware, because Stewart's Viacom crew, including Dora the Explorer and The Hills' LC, have his back.

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Where It Stands Now: Cramer will appear as a guest on The Daily Show Thursday, March 12 at 11 pm/ET for the highly anticipated face-off. Smell the ratings gold?

Jim v. Jon: Who will prevail?