Yesterday, President Obama’s Press Secretary made the odd choice of commenting on Rick Santelli’s now-famous rant:
Gibbs attacked Santelli by name repeatedly, accusing him of not having read the president’s housing plan and mocking the former derivatives trader as not being an effective spokesman for the little guy.
“I’m not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives,” Gibbs told reporters, his voice dripping with derision. “Mr. Santelli has argued — I think quite wrongly — that this plan won’t help everyone. This plan will help, by the money that’s invested in Freddie and Fannie, will drive down mortgage rates for millions of Americans.”
Later, Gibbs added: “Now, 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. 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.”
Well, here’s Rick’s response:
Give `em hell Rick.
We are in big trouble with what Obama has done and is promising to do. The TARP is a failed trillion dollar flop. The “stimulus” will cost $2 trillion and 90% of the money is going to preserve gov’t jobs created in the unsustainable boom generated by boom property taxes. See what MD gov is doing with the funds: revoking his layoffs.
Then we go to Obama’s mortgage plan. His plan is to put the worst mortgages unto Fannie and Freddie, which the US gov’t has basically nationalized. So far, the mortgages that the FDIC “fixed” have a 55% default rate within two months. That is pretty bad.
Fannie and Freddie have $10 trillion of mortgage liabilities. Do we want to add to this? If they default, the US will lose its AAA credit rating and this is becoming more likely to happen as we add up the liabilities.
Oh, and then there is the FHA. This federally (taxpayer) insured gov’t agency has relaxed its standards to prop up the housing market. While the market adjusted and said no more mortgages that do not pay 20%, the federal gov’t said, we will take ones with 3% down. Oh and taxpayers will insure that. A very scary fact is that two years ago 3% of loans were FHA insured and now 40% are.
I will not even go into the disaster of the federal insurance of retirement plans.
Seems to be the normal tactic of the White House in dealing with critics. Slime them and call them nuts and ignore the lies, flip flopping and most importantly do not address the issues.
I never thought I’d long for the honesty of the Clinton regime or the adroitness of Carter, or the cohrenence of Nixon.
All of the attacks I have seen on Mr. Santelli about his rant have been full of name calling and inaccurate statements. The comments that praise his honest statements and righteous anger are full of thoughtful comments and thought-provoking debate.
The naysayers will not win this war for the minds of America!
I really expected so much more from this administration. Gibbs says he reads and studies the issues. Haaa! If that were so he would have googled Rick’s bio and seen that he speaks from experience. A seasoned PR person would also research how the public viewed their target before releasing such a condescending attack. Mr. Gibbs will soon find that his bitter response has only stirred up a hornet’s nest and if he and Santelli meet face to face he’s going to be far outgunned. As Rick suggests, Mr. Gibbs, if you meet up ya’d better drink your caffeine.