The anti-Santelli
Advocating for fringe political causes in the most despicable of segments, the “Call of the Wild” is not journalism…it’s political bullshit! They should be fired and thrown in prison for good measure!
Here’s an Economist story that links to Krugman’s spot-on accusation that these are yet more astroturf bullshit!
A CNBC story by John Harwood shows strong support for Obama and the policies it has planned but the last paragraph tries to use a poll’s poor wording to support the Santelli cry against “losers”. The poll asked people whether they favored homeowner assistance described as “financial assistance”, which to me sounds like cash handouts. Even still, a majority supported it, although John Harwood focuses on the 46% who oppose it. It is easy to construct a straw horse of “financial assistance” to troubled homeowners. The homeowner plan would use mortgage cramdowns and interest rate reductions to reduce the mortgage burden on near-foreclosure properties to a manageable amount (less than 38% of income) to stave off further foreclosures where people are still paying on time, but have large payments (perhaps from a teaser rate that was only cursorily disclosed.
The text from the article is:
“A third comes in differing assessments of the administration’s housing plan. Though a majority expresses support, when that plan is described as “financial assistance” to homeowners in trouble, a 48 percent plurality calls that assistance unfair to others.”
The way the question is worded (“financial assistance”) makes it seem like it is unfair to others. It is another example of CNBC bending over backwards to try and support the astroturf revolution started by Santelli.
The Managing Editor of CNBC.com says that “Santelli going off on air is not unusual. His passion often flares up … as he himself notes in a recent column.” While he is often more expressive than some other people on CNBC, he usually confines this expressiveness to the bond market and other financial market issues. The defense of Santelli in this case tells the astro-turf wing-nuts, “Please, let us help you be legitimized as a ‘grassroots’ movement”. It is not good for the network’s credibility as a NEWS CHANNEL.
Rick Santelli has an article on CNBC.com essentially arguing that he is generally passionate about what he talks about and has no connection with the websites that have sprung up (but which appear to be ‘astroturf’ grassroots movements started by right-wing fringe groups). He also continues to argue that the general reaction to his ‘rant’ was spontaneous and shows that people don’t like the bailouts and that he doesn’t like the bailouts. He also says that his registration as a Republican had nothing to do with the ‘rant’ and had no ‘political agenda’ in his comments’.
I think that whether or not Santelli was coordinating the ‘rant’ with the ‘sympathy’ websites that sprung up from people with strong right-wing, astroturf connections is irrelevant. The Playboy blog (linked in a previous post) was focused on his contract situation (it is up for renewal soon) and thus it would be reasonable to assume that he is trying to make himself more ‘popular’ with right-wing viewers (and maybe some of the anchors) as well as providing him with an alternative path should CNBC decide to lay him off (it’s a challenging environment in the media field and GE’s financial woes from it’s finance arm are well known).
A few selected quotes:
“First of all let me be clear that I have NO affiliation or association with any of the websites or related tea party movements that have popped up as a result of my comments on February 19th, or to the best of my knowledge any of the people who organized the websites or movements.”
“The one spot in particular that occurred on February 19th at roughly 8:15 est time and maybe lasted for a minute probably wasn’t even in my top 5 in terms of intensity, energy, or controversy. It was unique in that it obviously struck a chord with the public thus inciting what can only be described as a groundswell of feedback from the public, the White House, the Internet, and the media at large.”
“The real nerve struck seems to be the pent up emotions felt by millions of Americans regarding spending TRILLIONS of dollars to fix the housing market, the banks, and the economy. SPECIFICALLY WHO WILL PAY….WHO WILL BENEFIT….and above all the governments role in all of this.”
“Just for the record I have NOT been in favor of any of the bailouts not in the Bush administration nor the Obama administration. Not for the banks, the insurance companies, or the homeowners that purchased homes they can no longer afford. I have consistently questioned the notion that hard working Americans that have played by the rules should be on the hook for others ill fated financial behavior.”
“Many millions of Americans seem to agree with my position otherwise why would this “rant” be so much different than many of my impassioned comments of the past. Why would the Internet light up the way it did if people did not feel so strongly. The answer seems pretty obvious; the nerve I struck resonated across the country.”
It seems to me that whether or not Kudlow is actively being paid by the Republican lobby (or some conservative think tank), he does his very best to expunge CNBC of any liberal opinions when he is on the air. Actually Rick Santelli is joining him on this (and we know all about Santelli’s astroturf base) this morning on the “Call of the Wild”. The crux of my complaint here is that loudmouths like Kudlow are not just irritating for their yelling, their insistence on shouting down any commentator who does not espouse their discredited supply side ideology.
It doesn’t just make segments useless, it is a systematic effort by Messrs. Santelli and Kudlow to remove an alternative perspective from the airwaves.
The rick santelli rant has been greeted as a spontaneous criticism of the stimulus package, but it is more likely a politically-run ‘astroturf’ (fake grassroots) campaign designed by far-right wing groups linked with the Koch family.
“What hasn’t been reported until now is evidence linking Santelli’s “tea party” rant with some very familiar names in the Republican rightwing machine, from PR operatives who specialize in imitation-grassroots PR campaigns (called “astroturfing”) to bigwig politicians and notorious billionaire funders. As veteran Russia reporters, both of us spent years watching the Kremlin use fake grassroots movements to influence and control the political landscape. To us, the uncanny speed and direction the movement took and the players involved in promoting it had a strangely forced quality to it. If it seemed scripted, that’s because it was.”
The full article is over at the Playboy blog.
