After my previous blog on Jim Cramer, you may feel that I have a strong opinion of the person and the show. I thought I should perhaps sit through an entire show of Mad Money to justify my decision, and guess which show I saw? It was funny watching the students at the University of Michigan egg on Jim; turning the show into a financial version of Jerry Springer with all the hooting, hollering and let’s not forget the booyahs.

Obviously my opinion has not changed regarding Cramer. But I realized that Cramer is like a durian. For those who don’t know, the durian is a tropical fruit I loved eating as a child. You won’t find anybody without a strong opinion of it. Fans will call it the king of fruits, while others will call it the stinkiest thing they’ve ever smelled. There are simply no middle-ground opinions.

If I’m blogging negatively about Cramer, some people must be liking him right? I searched and found Frank Barnako’s blog about 3 Cramer fan sites. For those who don’t know Frank, he is a CBS MarketWatch editor/exec. I am a long-time reader of Frank’s MarketWatch columns and wish Frank good luck in becoming a blogger

I enjoyed the comment thread on Frank’s blog. Jim Cramer certainly has his supporters and detractors. Most enjoyable of all was the comment by Asher Z. Haft of Merdian Capital Group. I always thought I’d remember everything about The Intelligent Investor, until I was humbled by Asher’s comment:

On page 16 it speaks about Jim Cramer and the “spectacular” performance of his favorite picks made in February 2000. The book states “By year-end 2002, 1 of the 10 had already gone bankrupt, and a $10,000 investment spread equally across Cramer’s picks would have lost 94%, leaving you with a grand total of $597.44.

Loyal viewers of the show will often see Jim recommend one stock and a few weeks later chastize the same stock into his “House of Pain”. Jim Cramer’s style is a trader, he works with momentum and has a gift of seeing where the market is going in the short-term period. But investors who are looking to invest in companies that stand the test of time would be better served by staying away from his emotional roller-coaster-like advice.