Rick Santelli Rant a Fraud?
At risk of being a "too frequent" poster, ran across this and couldn't help but bring it to your attention, just in case you've missed it.
Apparently there is some question about whether or not Rick Santelli's rant was as random as it seemed, or rather the carefully planned trigger for the "anti-Obama" campaign.
According to Playboy Magazine (now don't have a heart attack! I ran across it through another channel and went back to the original source rather than send you on a circuitous route to get to it! - I can hear it now...What is Stilli doing reading Playboy???) the website that launched the "Chicago Tea Party" revolt (www.ChicagoTeaParty.com) within hours of the rant, got it's domain name back in August of last year, and has been associated with some interesting characters in the Republican Party.
The article that sent me to this link has some other links you may find interesting.
Hmmmmm...it's just a lttle smelly.
Apparently there is some question about whether or not Rick Santelli's rant was as random as it seemed, or rather the carefully planned trigger for the "anti-Obama" campaign.
According to Playboy Magazine (now don't have a heart attack! I ran across it through another channel and went back to the original source rather than send you on a circuitous route to get to it! - I can hear it now...What is Stilli doing reading Playboy???) the website that launched the "Chicago Tea Party" revolt (www.ChicagoTeaParty.com) within hours of the rant, got it's domain name back in August of last year, and has been associated with some interesting characters in the Republican Party.
What we discovered is that Santelli's "rant" was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a "Chicago Tea Party" was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced. Namely, the Koch family, the multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America, and funders of scores of rightwing thinktanks and advocacy groups, from the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine to FreedomWorks. The scion of the Koch family, Fred Koch, was a co-founder of the notorious extremist-rightwing John Birch Society."
The article that sent me to this link has some other links you may find interesting.
Hmmmmm...it's just a lttle smelly.
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You can post any time you wish. You are good at it. The best. I despise Santelli
Santelli lace
Has an ugly face
His lies abound
A wriggle and a sneer
He'll smear with fear
Who is ever in his path
Will feel his wrath
HIS LIES ABOUND
That is the best I can do on short notice
February 28, 2009 9:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Orlando is bringing out the poet in all of, isn't she?
February 28, 2009 9:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is interesting Still
=D
Now who would think something like that?
February 28, 2009 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ummmmm...let me think!
February 28, 2009 9:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
She only reads it for the articles. :P
March 1, 2009 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
And by extension wouldn't that make Santelli a fraud...
And of course the parent company saw fit to replay the whole staged event on that night's edition of the 'news'. Tsk, tsk, tsk...
February 28, 2009 10:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why those dirty, stinkin' no-good sons-a..........
Now, who would think the extreme rightwingnuts would stoop so low? I mean, aren't they upstanding patriotic citizens who go to church every Sunday? Sometimes twice? Such innocents couldn't be involved in such an underhanded attempt to rip holes in the fabric of our society, could they? Why, they're such nice people....and no where near smart enough to have been planning this since last August....and using Santelli as the shill.....just because his contract is up in a few months and times being what they are........you know, people in the media losing their jobs and all......and sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do to put bread on the table.....when you're not anybody anyone really listens to in the first place and you don't really have anything much to lose by looking like a jackass........and now the Prez's press secretary is speaking your name and all of a sudden you have something to add to your resume...and, well, I'm rambling. I'm tired, snarky, and I'm rambling but thank you, stilli, for bringing this up.
PS. It would have never occurred to me to find it unusual for you to refer to Playboy magazine because as we all know, everybody only reads it for the articles. ;o)
February 28, 2009 10:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whooa big fella. No more Red Bull for you. A right wing conspiracy from the folks who get a tingle up their legs just from the sight of Obama? I don't think so.
You folks are scary.
February 28, 2009 11:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right. Because we're the ones who want the government to tap everyone's phones, start wars on false pretenses just to show the world how tough we are and torture people because it works for a character on a TV show. Terrifying. You'd better set the threat level to red and duck tape your windows.
February 28, 2009 11:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is that you, Rush? Almost didn't recognize you w/ the dark glasses and bandana...
February 28, 2009 11:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Assuming NBC doesn't just use the Playboy snicker factor to blow it off, this would be a firing offense for Santelli if true.
February 28, 2009 11:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
You would think so...it's going to be interesting, that's for sure!
February 28, 2009 11:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't believe you mean that his rant was a fraud, I think you mean it was concocted and deliberate as a rant rather than having been some unscripted moment of personal truth.
Right?
I think you are smart to "think" behind the scenes, but caution about getting into tinfoil hat territory. I do think there is a "hidden battle" going on, and one which might leak out as you've noted. It could become quite the spectacle.
February 28, 2009 11:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
hmmmmmm...what he allegedly did may not meet the legal definition of fraud, but what he said and how he said it was certainly meant to imply something other than what it was...close enough to fraud for this venue...
But, yep...could be a spectacle, indeed.
March 1, 2009 12:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
"what he said and how he said it was certainly meant to imply something other than what it was"
What implication did you take? I watched it quickly on the internet when the story first broke, so I don't recall what false insinuations etc. he might have made.
March 1, 2009 1:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
I took it as being a spontaneous eruption, and I believe that is what he intended that we think. If it was, in fact, a deliberate trigger, as is being alleged, fraud may be a bit of a strong word, but not by much, so I stand by the word fraud...That's all I'm sayin'. You are quibbling with the word "fraud," but that doesn't change the fact that IF the story is true, (and at this point it IS an "IF") it's not a good thing...
March 1, 2009 3:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not quibbling, I'm asking what implication you took which is worth noting. How does it matter just how scripted or unscripted it was? Is it his rant or the subsequent web activity which really interests you?
If you're up in arms because something on TV may have been partly scripted... well, good luck with that! Otherwise, what "story" might be true, something in Playboy? What about it?
March 1, 2009 3:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
What kind of game are you playing? I'm not "up in arms" about anything. I saw a rant, it made news in a big way, including Santelli practically saying that the White House "threatened" him, now I find a piece on the net suggesting that the whole thing was a set up, and I think it smells...
I'm curious, as are others, and now I'm waiting to see what unfolds...I don't know how I can explain it any better.
March 1, 2009 5:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
From here it does read like you are quibbling. Is it or is it not fraud, was it scripted or unscripted, was it real emotion or Acting!!!!
Stillidealistic... thanks for posting this. I thought it seemed a little staged and just too convenient, and was bothered that CNBC and MSNBC kept replaying the thing as if it was news.
The other thing is that there has been no coverage that I have seen of the "success" or "failure" of these tea parties.
March 1, 2009 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I read they had about 400 in Chicago, some of whom had driven up from Indiana for the highlight: tearing open a tea bag over the river. Seriously.
March 1, 2009 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is blatant manipulation, or what they used to call yellow journalism. It is bad for obvious reasons.
I know you like to be precise, but intuition has it's place.
March 1, 2009 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't see it quite that way, but it's not a big deal here. I was curious about:
"what he said and how he said it was certainly meant to imply something other than what it was"
I still don't get that, and I did review the video. I suggest a tinfoil hat realignment to those who see windmills as giants.
March 1, 2009 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe this is what the OP considers an orchestrated deception:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/stillidealistic/2009/02/rick-santelli-rant-a-fraud.php#comment-3392871
The coverage of the rant, not the rant itself?
March 1, 2009 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes.
March 1, 2009 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
You do have a way with a word, bwak. Thanks for the chuckle.
March 1, 2009 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, the evidence so far is pretty thin. I'm not saying that the chicago tea party site is not evidence, I'm saying that it's evidence of something other than a plot at NBC as far as I know.
I suspect some progressives are worried that right wing internet activity might be catching up in speed of response if not in quality of discourse. Maybe that's what the real issue is here, competition.
March 1, 2009 7:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmm. That's an interesting take. In my case, it is evidence, thin or not, of political collusion employing yellow journalism.
I don't find the idea too farfetched as it has certainly happened in the past, during similar times.
Nothing is really all that new. My take may not be based on logical evidence, as you consider your own to be; but intuitive evidence, in that the scheme sounds familiar because it has been done before for similar reasons.
As I said, there is something to be said for intuition. Many times it is found to be a sort of logic.
March 1, 2009 8:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, follow your hunches!
My hunch is that the ratio of hot air to essential conspiracy here is about what Lehman Bros. had in its assets to capital ratio, post 2004.
March 2, 2009 4:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
I kinda figured that.
=D
March 2, 2009 8:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ed, I just know you are smarter than this...If Rick Santelli was involved in a fabricated attempt to make it look like a grass roots uprising, when it appears that it MAY have been set in motion by the conservatives, using Rick Santelli to get it started...it stinks.
Simple as that...I recognize that there are a lots of ifs, mays, and appears to be here, but without asking the questions, how do we discover the truth?
In the grand scheme of life is it really all that important? Perhaps not, but since when do we only deal with nothing buy life and death issues here?
March 1, 2009 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, but my first comment did not chide you for that!! Did you forget my closing remark?
"I think you are smart to "think" behind the scenes, but caution about getting into tinfoil hat territory. I do think there is a "hidden battle" going on, and one which might leak out as you've noted. It could become quite the spectacle."
I do believe there are forces at work behind the scenes, whether they amount to Hillary's "vast right wing conspiracy" or something else.
Let me apologize in case I had unduly ruffled your feathers... didn't mean to!
March 1, 2009 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Stilli - do you watch CNBC regularly? He says crazy stuff like this all the time. I don't see it as anything more than a rant. He rants everyday about topics like this. I think you're reading too much into it
March 1, 2009 12:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
If that is the case, that being this is a common occurrence for Santelli, why did NBC run with it on their national news telecast as a spontaneous display of anger from The Street? It isn't the rant that bothers me per se, it was the way it was covered.
March 1, 2009 12:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have no idea why NBC decided to do what it did. But if you are a regular viewer of CNBC you would know that he says stuff like this all the time.
March 1, 2009 12:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well that is the $64,000 question for me. It was portrayed on the NBC's national news as 'out of the ordinary' and 'spontaneous'.
March 1, 2009 1:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Since NBC is so left-wing, I would have thought that they'd just ignore anything Santelli has to say
March 1, 2009 1:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
NBC isn't left wing Bill...nor is any other part of the MSM. Norquist still laughs about people buying the 'left wing media bias' meme he concocted all those years ago.
I view all the network's news divisions as more interested in protecting their collective bottom lines than necessarily reporting 'the news'. In a business model isn't that what large corporations, and for that fact all businesses, are supposed to do and do?
March 1, 2009 1:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
And in case you bring up Maddow and Olberman...the real 'gatekeepers' of the news are the national anchors. What goes out on the national network news is supposed to be the hard news. Olberman and Maddow at MSNBC, along with Santelli at CNBC, Lou Dobbs at CNN, Sean Hannity at Fox et al on cable (ad infinitum) are like editorial writers...to use a newspaper analogy. I know the editorial writers are giving their opinions...but would any credible newspaper carry one of the editorial writer's opinions as front page 'news'?
March 1, 2009 2:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, Bill, I do...I saw the original flame out and thought (as I always do) what a jerk he was...I'm not the one that tied this additional info to him...just ran across it, thought it smelled funny and brought to everyone's attention. If it turns out that it was nothing more than an honest rant, I'll still think he's a jerk. If there is something more nefarious going on, he should be called out on it...
March 1, 2009 12:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
His ranting is no different than that of Olberman or Madow. They're all nuts and you shouldn't let it bother you
March 1, 2009 12:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
MCB,
So you think Santelli IS a nut? I agree! In regards to Olberman and Maddow I can say that unlike "Lush", "O'raly" and Hannity etc.. Olberman and Maddow actually use FACTS that they back up with video or stats etc...
Once again your willingness to accept ANYTHING the RIGHT says as gospel amazes me.
OH and BTW, I heard a CBOT trader, that was in the background that day said they had rehearsed that "spontaneous" vote at least 3 times that morning!
March 1, 2009 5:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Santelli likes attention. But that doesn't mean what he says in wrong. They all (including Keith and Rachel) selectively pick their facts and don't present the other side of the story. You agree with those two because they say what you want to hear.
But why do you throw around insults that say I just accept everything the right says??
March 1, 2009 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
middleclassbill, you seem to want to make legitimate issues diffuse. Or derail them or take bits and drive coherent discussion into infinite regression. I've noticed it on other posts. It's a pattern.
March 1, 2009 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's a reason "obtuse" has two definitions: acting like you're dense and actually dense.
The evidence strongly indicates that Santalli's supposedly spontaneous rant was, in fact, deliberatly planned as the public launchpoint of a long-planned astroturfing campaign funded by the Koch family. The Kochs are the owners of Koch Industries, the largest privately held corporation on Earth and the funders of numerous right wing and libertarian causes, from the John Birch Society to the Cato Institute to a chunk of the VRWC's activities back during the Clinton years. (In fairness, they've also occaisionally done some non-political stuff with their money that's done good, like funding the Tall Grass Prarie National Reserve.)
If Santelli was using his position as a journalist to further a carefully laid plan by the top .05% to manufacture a fake grassroots movement against the President's policies, it would be a very, very, very serious breach of journalist ethics. If the MSM, and NBC in particular, refuse to acknowledge that they were played because this whole fake tea party thing is so much better a story if they ignore the fake grass, that's a very serious thing too.
Whether Santelli rants like this all the time is irrelevant, except to the extent that his reputation for doing that gave cover to this very non-spontaneous rant in furtherance of a hidden scheme.
March 1, 2009 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, Steve...You just explained the "problem" much better than I did...I just assumed that by bringing up the subject people would get it...some didn't. You nailed it!
March 1, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Steve - you use the word "evidence". What evidence do you have that's not just circumstantial?
March 1, 2009 8:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just saw it on TV again...
March 1, 2009 1:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I saw the clip somewhere of Santellis 'rant' and my first thought was the people in the background were coached. The 'rant' was just waiting to happen. The defense of this staging is going to be - most people 'know' that these things are staged so no damage and if we offended anyone we are sorry. Once again the MSM is acting like we expect the MSM to act - with duplicity. I understand the desire to yelp and point at what you have posted stilli, but I think it is only more of the the same right wing bs.
March 1, 2009 6:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Of course it was a stunt! But what excuse does Brian Williams have for making it a leading "news" story on the NBC news that night? Anyone else notice how often the supposedly legitimate "news" program is plugging CNBC?
March 1, 2009 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
The chance of anything posing as spontaneous but broadcast on TV actually having been scripted in advance...95%? Santelli's rant was mentioned on a marketing blog (along with Obama's traveling around the country to promote the stimulus plan...) as an example of the "power of brand people."
If Santelli's rant is looked at through a branding lens, then the uh...marketing plan behind it does seem..less surprising. Full post
March 1, 2009 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Performance Art!
Is he a politician or a performance artist? That is the question!
March 1, 2009 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
could someone post a link to the Santelli clip for quick reference?
March 1, 2009 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here you go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZB4taSEoA
March 1, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Santelli "rant" was referenced by other news networks in proceeding broadcasts as evidence of this taxpayer/day trader "revolt". Ooo, I can hear the rumble of marching Berluti's on the pavement of every city in America! This phony set-up is totally fabricated - and has some big-boy money behind it, including, evidently, NBC parent General Electric. Are we fooled yet? Again?
March 1, 2009 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think this demonstrates the growing ineffectiveness of traditional mass media. Or corporate media.
And also, the apparent inability of corporate titans of "top-down" news to grasp the concept of how grass roots movements, or rather, the "down-up" dynamic gains traction.
March 1, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it goes a bit deeper then that. I think they realize the value of the grass roots and try to think of ways to co-opt it. So they manufacture something and try to trick the people into thinking what they have cooked up comes from the grass roots. It is an attempt to trick the people into believing that it is their best interests to be opposed to their best interests...Orwellian newsspeak. So they settled on 'Oh, look at the outrage of the American people about getting help from the government they feel they don't deserve'...so here I sit and wait for that massing of the public in Washington to demand our leaders not help us. And of course if that ever did happen NBC News would be there to cover it...on the network and all cable outlets. What the hell were they thinking? I guess they really do take the American public for idiots...
March 1, 2009 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Astroturf.
Didn't Josh coin that phrase?
At any rate, it isn't new.
March 1, 2009 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
And as an aside I find delicious irony in the fact that Playboy has more journalistic integrity on this story then the MSM does...
It speaks volumes about the state of the MSM...
March 1, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
indeed.
Rich corporations trying to incite a grass roots movement.
From their ivory towers, shouldn't it be called a "keep off the grass roots movement?"
March 1, 2009 3:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, absolutly delicious!
March 1, 2009 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good sleuthing, Stilli. Thanks.
March 1, 2009 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I saw the link from Rawstory.
Democratic Underground has some backround on the
web hostings. Looks like Kos has picked it up too.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5159165#5159781
March 1, 2009 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Playboy has been a good source for investigative journalism.
The corporate underwriting is on the wall.
March 1, 2009 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink