White House Declares war on Santelli

[David]

By now you have seen the rant. I posted Santelli's rant in the thread on the mortgage bailout outrage. White House is clearly worried about Santelli's sentiments catching on.

White House declares war on CNBC ranter

WASHINGTON -- The White House has declared war on Rick Santelli.

The CNBC squawker is already, by now, infamous for his rant about "the losers' mortgages." Matt Drudge and the conservative blogosphere tried to turn him into the new Joe the Plumber -- or perhaps something even bigger. Now, if White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has his way, Santelli may become something quite different -- the public face of opposition to President Obama's plan to stabilize the housing market.

Gibbs tore into Santelli today, blasting him from the White House podium with language that would cause an international incident if CNBC were a sovereign nation. "I'm not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives, or in what house he lives, but the American people are struggling every day to meet their mortgage, stay in their job, pay their bills, to send their kids to school, and to hope that they don't get sick or that somebody they care for gets sick and sends them into bankruptcy," Gibbs said, all the usual Southern charm drained from his voice, replaced with venom. "I think we left a few months ago the adage that, if it was good for a derivatives trader, that it was good for Main Street. I think the verdict is in on that." If Santelli didn't like the housing plan, Gibbs said, it was because he didn't have any idea what was in it. "Every day when I come out here, I spend a little time reading, studying on the issues, asking people who are smarter than I am questions about those issues," Gibbs went on. "I would encourage him to read the president's plan and understand that it will help millions of people, many of whom he knows. I'd be more than happy to have him come here and read it. I'd be happy to buy him a cup of coffee. Decaf."

And then he twisted the dagger a little: "Let me do this, too. This is a copy of the president's home affordability plan. It's available on the White House Web site, and I would encourage him, download it, hit print, and begin to read it." He wrapped up the Santelli portion of the briefing with one final zinger. "It's tremendously important that for people who rant on cable television to be responsible and understand what it is they're talking about," Gibbs said. "I feel assured that Mr. Santelli doesn't know what he's talking about."

Watch Gibbs here:

The move was deft; the digs made Santelli into another heartless rich guy who doesn't care about your troubles, rather than the populist voice of outrage Drudge tried to make him out to be. And Gibbs conflated Santelli's blustery bloviation with any other criticism of the plan. If the White House can fight Santelli -- who isn't a sympathetic figure unless you're the type who believes Montgomery Burns is a hero of American capitalism -- instead of actually engaging with questions about whether Obama's plan is letting homeowners off the hook, it's winning. White House aides knew a question about Santelli's rant was probably coming, and they clearly expected Gibbs's attacks to make news (which the briefings don't often do). It was a classic case of seizing an opportunity when it lands in your lap.

Fighting Santelli, after all, just isn't all that difficult. Within minutes of the briefing's end, Santelli was on CNBC, burbling happily about being invited to the White House. "I want to let him know, I would love to accept, and the decaf sounds good," he said. "I do prefer tea."

SOURCE

[David]

More the Santelli rant.

SOURCE

[schaabdl]

I believe he said something that regular Joe's understand - why are they paying for someone else's problems. This is not charity, this legalized theft. This is the taking of the most basic of rights - property - at the point of legally imposed gun. Naturally, most of us understood this now and with any governmental program that attempts to legislation from the false premise of fairness (and we've ranted against such stupidity REGARDLESS of administration or who controls the congress!) We need more "reporters" to speak truth and even show some emotion than just drinking the kool-aid.

[blaze]

White House is clearly worried about Santelli's sentiments catching on.

THE COMING POPULIST BACKLASH
By Charlie Sykes

Against the Democrats. Michael Lind wonders whether the Democrats have any idea what is building out here in fly-over country.

First they came for the bankers. Then they came for the CEOs. Then they came for the liberals. That might be the epitaph of the Democratic Party, if Democrats cannot learn to surf the tsunami of populism created by the economic earthquake.

If the Obama administration doesn’t start to deal with the populist wave headed for Washington, Republicans will tap a reservoir of resentment that could destroy his presidency. ...

As more Americans lose their jobs and their homes, as more businesses crater and banks topple, popular anger is rising like a wall of water over a suddenly quiet beachfront resort. You’d think that the Democrats in Washington would be aware of the danger. After all, the massive expansion of Great Society spending in the 1960s, followed by the stagflation of the 1970s, allowed the marginal conservative movement to tap populist anger and dominate American politics for a generation. Substitute stimulus for Great Society and years of possible “stag-deflation” for stagflation, and you have a scenario in which the Obama’s overwhelming majority could collapse as quickly as LBJ’s.

http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/charliesykes/39772417.html