Think Progress

Begala on CNBC’s Santelli: ‘Every circus has a clown.’

Yesterday, ThinkProgress asked progressive pundit Paul Begala for a response to CNBC’s Rick Santelli’s ridiculous — and inaccurate — rant about Obama’s mortgage plan. Begala called it “pathetic” and blasted Santelli, a former derivatives trader, for calling people who had lost their homes “losers.” “Every circus has a clown,” Begala said. Watch it:

The right wing is touting a Rasmussen poll purporting to show that, as Politico put it, America is a “nation of Santellis.” Unsurprisingly, by asking a loaded and misleading question, the poll found that respondents agreed with Santelli’s loaded and misleading indictment of the mortgage relief plan. (Other, fairer polls show that Americans overwhelmingly support the plan).



45 Responses to “Begala on CNBC’s Santelli: ‘Every circus has a clown.’”

  1. Nevar says:

    Ladieeeees and Gentleman!
    In the center ring!
    The Psychotic Santelli!


  2. spearNmagicHelmet says:

  3. kasinca says:

    The good that came out of this is that Rick Santelli replace Joe the Plumber as the leader of the party. They both know the same about the facts, zero, but that never stopped a good gooper from trudging right along that same old failed path of delusion. Rick Santelli is part of the problem but is too ignorant to realize that.


  4. McWars says:

    Smelly Santelli, the source of our economic putrid. Nothing says economic screw-up like “derivatives trader.”


  5. DutchHenry says:

    Politico is a Pro Repuke site.Their credibility is as good as the Washington times,non,zero ,zilch cred.


  6. Badmoodman says:

    America is a “nation of Santellis…

    – - …that are all Georgians.


  7. jacambece says:

    I like Begala, he speaks truthiness to power….

    to wit…

    BEGALA: We cannot win with egg heads.
    We cannot win with egg heads and African-Americans. OK, that is the Dukakis Coalition, which carried ten states and gave us four years of the first George Bush.


  8. McWars says:

    I never heard a single right-winger complain about these exotic loans before the house of cards came crumbling down. In fact, right-wingers campaigned on the “prosperity.”

    If they were stupid enough to turn these exotic interest-free, pick-a-payment loans into securities and buy them up like hotcakes and expect a lavish return on the backs of poor- and middle-class people, they’re stupid enough to misplace their criticism about what got us into this mess.


  9. McWars says:

    But please, please, please don’t give out the address of Mr. Santelli’s compound in some Ill. suburb. He’s the winner here, you know.


  10. Zooey says:

    Well, he’s certainly no journalist…


  11. lokidog says:

    …as Politico put it, America is a “nation of Santellis.”

    Wow. If that’s true, we need to change our name to “Guyana” and get a new “leader” like Jim Jones.

    Quickly. Very quickly.


  12. stateofthedivision says:

    Santelli was outraged at citizens bailing out citizens. The much greater outrage is taxpayers bailing out corporations, who fire tens of thousands of workers.

    Santelli’s anger should be directed at America’s abysmal leadership. From the board room to our hallowed halls of government, we have greedy, hapless leaders.


  13. Badmoodman says:

    #12: Wow. If that’s true, we need to change our name to “Guyana” and get a new “leader” like Jim Jones.

    – - With a name like ‘Santelli’ I think we have change the name to Guinea.


  14. stateofthedivision says:

    Don’t cry for me Argentina…

    America is a hapless third world crony economy. Thanks to the reds and blues and their corporate sponsors.


  15. Jackie says:

    Move over Tweety Matthews a new clown has taken the number one spot and he to gets paid by GE/NBC.


  16. PatrioticLiberalChristian says:

    To paraphrase Lloyd Bensen, Mr. Begala I am a clown and I know a lot of clowns. Santelli is no clown. If he is anything in a circus, it is the elephant droppings. (Think about it!)


  17. Xisithrus says:

    Just so people know AIG is being bailed out, tens of billions, because of its involvement with derivatives traders.

    And today they say they are losing another 60 billion and these ‘losers’ are expecting more bailouts.

    Let them sink.


  18. liz09 says:

    what’s really pathetic is santelli scaring his own kids with his paranoid delusions


  19. Teowens says:

    “Every Circus has its clowns”

    I could’ve said it better myself! Where was he when we bailed out coporate CEO who got us into this mess. The same argument Santelli made could easily be said about Wallstreet.


  20. raynman says:

    In a battle of wits, Mr. Santelli is bringing a pocket knife to a gunfight….


  21. Xisithrus says:

    I have said, weeks ago, that the derivatives should be declared null and void.

    Paul Craig Roberts [Reagan Treasury Sec] has said the same thing:

    The US government should never have used billions of taxpayers’ dollars to pay off swap bets as it did when it bailed out the insurance company AIG. This was a stunning waste of a vast sum of money. The federal government should declare all swap agreements to be fraudulent contracts, except for a single swap held by the owner of the asset. Simply wiping out these fraudulent contracts would remove the bulk of the vast overhang of “troubled” assets that threaten financial markets. http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02242009.html

    We need to stop bailing out these derivatives.


  22. Xisithrus says:

    Santelli has donned his hypocrite space suit, his helmet of greed, climbed into the rocket of free market myth and pushed the bailout button.


  23. PatrioticLiberalChristian says:

    Rick Santelli – Rick Santorum

    There HAS to be a joke there somewhere (besides just the two of them per se, I mean).


  24. kasinca says:

    Whoever created the default swap should be imprisoned. It is supposedly an insurance policy but called swap to bypass regulations of insurance departments requiring actuarial premium setting and requiring reserves to be set aside to pay off losses or defaults. The swap was created so that they would not have to honor the losses. This is a criminal matter and the SEC as well as the lending institutions who practiced this crime should be hauled into jail.


  25. Perry logan says:

    But the U.S. is more like a lifeboat than a circus these days. And we all know the clown is the first one they throw overboard.

    Myst


  26. Buckie Boy says:

    …..and he is a lying clown at that.


  27. Marie says:

    The rightwingnuts in my local papers are cheering Santelli and his rant – they ignore that Santelli is part of the problem; that the pigs like him on Wall Street have been feeding at the trough for years and selling snake oil to unsuspecting investors. It is the trading of derivatives which exacerbated a growing problem.
    Santelli is Wall Street’s Joe the Plumber.


  28. SP Biloxi says:

    “Begala on CNBC’s Santelli: ‘Every circus has a clown.’By Ali”

    And the original former President clown, Bobo, certainly created 8 years of hocus pocus in the Oval office is now gone and replaced with an intelligent President.

    Hurray, hurray, hurray.. Step right up folks. CNBC [Clown News Broadcasting Company], has their clown Santelli polluting the airwaves with rants. Santelli is certainly in competition with the blowhards and buffoons like O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, and so on.


  29. Deuce Coupe says:

    McWars Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    I never heard a single right-winger complain about these exotic loans

    You must be referring to the right winger Chris Dodd who got a sweetheart deal from Countrywide on his two mortgages. As Dodd is the Chairman of the Banking Committee, would Countrywide be trying to buy a little influence? I think it is called a bribe.


  30. SKdeA says:

    Deuce Couple, what are you smoking?


  31. tombaker says:

    SKdeA

    y’know what they say

    every circus has its clown

    every troll has its day


  32. Xisithrus says:

    Perry Logan says: And we all know the clown is the first one they throw overboard.

    I hear clown are pretty tasty


  33. scytherius says:

    Rasmussen poll is routinely a joke. Oh they do have some polls where they ask fair questions, but outside of the “if the election were held today . . . “type, they are pretty bad.


  34. Hoodathunk says:

    Nice little projective rant, Philby, since that is just about exactly what President Obama is trying to undo.

    And in case you missed it, your buddies have been fighting it since they already spent billions to get us in this position.


  35. Sumo says:

    Begala is clearly spewing untruths about Santelli: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-1g0OZJIdk&feature=PlayList&p=28F92FD76E8BFCF1&index=37

    Santelli was against all of Bush’s ridiculous bailouts. We can’t say the same about most of the republicans and democrats in congress, however.


  36. WAYNEBRO says:

    Mr. Philby Says:

    Simply, they are trying to turn the United States into a one-party country and to put the Republican Party out of business once and for all.

    And the down side of that?


  37. Nevar says:

    “Instead, spending will go on for five to 10 years.
    There is no mystery here, as the answer is simple: These billions in taxpayer funds will fund the Democratic political machine for many years to come.”

    Happy days are here again! Jobs! A cleaner environment! Less war! Bridges and highways repaired! Fast rail transit! Polar bears and marsh harvest mice! And more jobs!


  38. dbearton says:

    You can get a poll to say anything you like and the RepubliCons have sure made use of that.


  39. Deuce Coupe says:

    SKdeA Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    Deuce Couple, what are you smoking?

    Deuce Coupe replys

    A quality cigar accompanied by a very dry, cold and up Absolut martini with two olives.


  40. Tim43 says:

    Santelli was right. Don’t you get it? Irresponsible home owners who bit off more than they could chew by buying a bigger house than they could afford will end up getting bailed out by the rest of the tax payers who are responsible.

    In short, your neighbor who bought the bigger house down the street with an extra bedroom and bathroom using a 5 year ARM at 1% KNOWING FULL WELL THAT THE interest rate would increase gets bailed out.

    If you were responsible and actually bought a house that you could afford with a 5% fixed, guess what, you DONT GET JACK. Regardless of how tight your bills may be, you will have the priviledge of paying the taxes that will help bail out your irresponsible neighbor.

    I hope you enjoy bailing irresponsible people out suckers.


  41. A Patriot Acting says:

    Tim43 Says:
    “I hope you enjoy bailing irresponsible people out suckers.”

    You are talking about the corporate welfare that Bush gave to the banking industry with no strings, right?


  42. drew3rd says:

    Santelli speaks for me. As an insurance and real estate professional I can tell you that there are investors with cash waiting to buy up these bad mortgages. This bailout has made that impossible. So, instead of smart people taking this and making it a positive, the federal government has interfered so that these “poor people” won’t lose their homes. They had their chance, they failed and now they need to move on. 94% of Americans are having no trouble meeting their obligations. Time to focus on them. They should have never been asked to pay these losers’ freight. Default swap or not, this needs to be allowed to correct itself. No more banks getting off scotte free. No more Barney Franks’ or Chris Dodd’s getting off scotte-free.


  43. Tim43 says:

    A Patriot Acting Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    Tim43 Says:
    “I hope you enjoy bailing irresponsible people out suckers.”

    You are talking about the corporate welfare that Bush gave to the banking industry with no strings, right?

    A Patriot Acting – You might need to reread the this article. We are talking about Obama bailing out irresponsible people who bought houses that they could not afford.

    This recent welfare bailout for irresponsible people has nothing to do with Bush’s bank bailout so stop living in the past.

    However, if the writer was talking about the bank bailout THAT OBAMA has also urged congress to pass then perhaps we could talk about that topic. Any thoughts on this article from Associated Press Acting Patriot???(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gJtu6feXwh3MMv9r9c9mWdZS6DCgD96IAME80 ).

    Looks like president Obama is continuing the failed Bush policies by urging congress to bail out the banks too. Please do explain the differences in a Bush bank bail out to an Obama bank bail out.


  44. EugeneDebs says:

    Mr. Philby Says: 37

    YOU are nothing more than an ignorant brainwashed PUNK


  45. EugeneDebs says:

    Tim43 Says:

    Timmeh. YOU moron. So THIS is what Rush told you to think recenty? You do realize that besides being stupid and brainwashed you are a moron dont you? MANY people were swindled into bad loans and MOST of the bad loans were REFINANCE you incredibly stupid weasel. You are so ignorant its just pathetic



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