Backstabber: Is Rick Santelli High on Koch
Interesting - Playboy does investigative reporting? Seriously, evidence emerging that Santelli's rant was pre-planned and funded by the Koch family in an effort to undermine the Obama administration.
Reminds me of the VP debate, when Biden says he learned as a young legislator that questioning the motives of his colleagues was offensive and counterproductive, but questioning their judgment was always legitimate and absolutely necessary. Here may be a case when the judgment is legitimate, but the motives are more complex.
Update: The Atlantic Business Channel takes apart the article, and has a copy of the text (now removed from Playboy's website). Looks like there might be concern about libel charges. Still not sure if Santelli is innocent or not - what is clear is that it probably was premeditated at the very least with his contract renewal in mind.
2 comments:
Thanks, Ryan, for the post. Actually, Mark Ames (the co-author of the piece) cut his teeth in the early/mid 90s in Moscow as one of the co-founders of the infamous English-language underground fishwrap, The Exile. Glad to see he is still out and about and muckraking. It appears that there's a concerted effort underway by opponents of the package of Obama programs (that we can cumulatively refer to as his 'economic plan') to try and prosecute their campaign through astroturf campaigns, as opposed to the more traditional, PR-and-lobbyist Beltway-centric approach.
Keep up the good work. I don't often have the chance to read your blog, but I enjoy it when I do. It's a strong start.
dh
Thanks for the comment David. I updated it with a post from the Atlantic Business Channel. It looks like there's concern about libel charges. We'll see how this plays out.
On a side note, I'm finding that traders are a pretty conservative bunch. Not surprised, but some of them have been treating as Santelli as the next great American patriot. It's a little surreal.
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