(h/t Ben P in "Quick Hits") Apparently, Rick Santelli's televised rant was at least 6 months in the making, according to Playboy online, which reports that the website pushing the "spontaneous" outpouring of support for Santelli was registered by name by a rigtwing Chicago media figure back in August. Whatever you think of it, Playboy has a long history of breaking stories the traditional media overlooks, and it looks like they've done it again. Because that's just the first level of the story. The deeper level is that all this pre-planned organizing is backed by the Koch family and their foundations, in much the same way that Richard Mellon Scaife supplied the main push behind Whitewater. Although there are obvious differences, and we're just at the beginning here, there are obvious similarities as well: a big bucks clandestine conservative operation speaheaded by a single family outfit, in coordination with people on the ground of the home state of a popularly elected Democratic President, fronting themselves as part of a populist opposition.
Before getting to the Playboy quote, here's what Ritholtz wrote:
I was interviewed by several journalists last week about Rick Santelli's Rant - my exact quote was it had a "Faux" feel to it. (I haven't seen it in print yet)
What was so odd about this was that Santelli is usually on the ball; we usually agree more often than we disagree. He's been responsible for some of the best moments on Squawk Box.
But his rant somehow felt wrong. After we've pissed through over $7 trillion dollars in Federal bailouts to banks, brokers, automakers, insurers, etc., this was a pittance, the least offensive of all the vast sums of wasted money spent on "losers" to use Santelli's phrase. It seemed like a whole lot of noise over "just" $75 billion, or 1% of the rest of the total ne'er-do-well bailout monies.
All this is, of course, patently obvious to anyone. But Ritholtz isn't just anyone. He's someone money people listen to. And he goes on to quote from Playboy, but mostly just about the first level....
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